My wife and I saw The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe today. We are both fans of the book, my wife a relative newcomer -- I read the books when I was in grade school.
First, I'll assume everyone knows this is shaping up to be a SPOILER FILLED thread, and my review is no exception. Please do not read any further if spoilers bother you.
The Good:
* The movie is VERY true to the book (exceptions below).
* CG was "good enough". Some rough edges (noticeable green screening on the stone tablet set when the girls go to mourn Aslan), and a few things that kept it from a polished A+++ movie, but very good nonetheless.
* Seeing Narnia on the big screen! I haven't seen a movie in the theater in a looong time. It took this movie to motivate us to go out.
* Aslan's sacrifice really does pull at your heartstrings and in all of the ways it is supposed to.
* I didn't think of Kinsey when hearing Aslan speak.
* The children pulled off their roles competently. I shudder everytime I see Lucy from the BBC live action version. That one reminds me of the boy from Small Wonder *shudder*.
The Bad:
* Some modern psycho-babble crept in -- esp. in regard with Edmund and the picture of his father versus looking at Peter as the father figure. Could have done without this.
* How the kids run away from trouble when they break the window, and go running into the wardrobe. This seems out of character to me, and an unnecessary change from the book where the kids are trying to avoid a stuffy group of visitors/spectators on a tour with Mrs. Macready (I think that's her name).
* The extra scene on the ice. Not sure why this was really necessary. Didn't add that much to the movie, and seemed like a cheap shot to add some more special effect wizardry to the movie. *meh*
The Ugly
* The soundtrack. Very intrusive, and seemed like it was trying too hard to tug at your emotions. It seemed out of "synch" with the picture in general. My biggest nitpick in the entire movie. Seemed like a bad version of a typical epic movie's soundtrack. Really bugged me.
* Father Christmas. Though this is a problem in the book (and not a problem introduced in the adaptation), and is the biggest thing that can break the Narnia fantasy. He was treated as well as possible in the movie, and I don't even recall anyone mentioning his name in the movie. To be fair to the cutting of the battles getting ugly with girls comment from the book, it is somewhat implied when St. Nick gives Lucy her weapon, but not actually said -- which I'm fine with, considering how faithful the rest of the movie was to the book.
My Verdict:
A GREAT movie to go see with the family, and to relieve the magic of Narnia. I am going to reread the Last Battle and the Magician's Nephew now just to put everything into perspective. I cannot wait to see the other books turned into movies if they are as faithful as they were to this one. With some polish on the FX and the costuming, the others could very well be masterpieces.
Total agreement on the music. It really irritated me.