Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
(4-Disc Extended Edition/DVD-Video)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: A- Film: B-
This is
the third release of this film version of the C.S. Lewis classic Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the
Wardrobe. The three releases consist
of a single-disc edition, a 2-DVD Special Edition (reviewed elsewhere on this
site) and now this latest release of a 4-disc edition. In order to give a slight background of the
film and world of Narnia, this critic will now give a brief overview. The story takes place in the depths of World
War II, where England is under attack with bomb raids. In this hopeless situation three children are
sent to live in the country side with an elderly professor who has agreed to
take them in during the span of the war.
In a large, old, mansion the children are forced to find a means to
entertain themselves, while be instructed by the lady of the house to never
disturb the professor.
As the
tale unfolds we quickly are given insight into who these three children are
physically and mentally. They get cast
into a world of constant winter where an evil Ice Queen has stolen rule of the
land. Mystical animals infuse the
somewhat religious tone of the film (which was toned down from the novels) and
help guide the children to victory as the discover this world of Narnia. This story is also not purely based on
imagination but C.S. Lewis search for truth, as is viewed in the children of
the film as they search for who they truly are mentally and physically. The use of all digitally created creatures is
somewhat annoying, hurting the film to a degree as digital creations did to
George Lucas’s Star Wars Episode I
and II. The real life costumes and makeup of the
film, however, are simply amazing. Overall, a good film but not great. Disney plans to make more films in this
series, so let’s hope for improvement in terms of content, depth, digital
animation, and musical score.
The
technical aspects of this 4-disc extended edition box set are rather good but
no where near perfect. The picture is
presented in a 2.35 X 1 Widescreen Format that is mostly clear and crisp but
the colors come off dull (Was this intended to look like a water color?). The picture at times does demonstrate the
occasional light/dark issue, the quality seeming to lean toward the dark
side. The sound is a great feature
presented in DTS 5.1, with the Dolby Digital 5.1 version being good, but not as
good. The tale of Narnia has the
intended nature to be quite epic and utilizes sound and music to heighten the
sensation and emotion of each battle, tear, and soliloquy. The music of this film, however, was not
always so epic seeming blander than intended, maybe the musical scores will be
improved for future films. The sound is
clean, the music pops, and overall is good on the surrounds. The only part of the sound that had the
occasional issue was the surround sound balance not always being 100% perfect
and the voices at times sounding more distant then they should along side a
light soundtrack.
The
technical aspect of where this 4-disc set flourishes remains in the
extras. Since this film has already been
reviewed on this site mostly for film content, this reviewer will more focus on
the added features of this extended edition.
You can read about that at the following link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3583/The+Chronicles+Of+Narnia:+The+Lion,+The+Witch+&+The+Wardrobe+(DTS+2-DVD+Set)
Now, the
layout of this set.
Disc 1:
This disc
features the extended edition of the film.
For the most part, when viewing the regular or un-extended version of
the film this reviewer found certain aspects of the film to drag and bore. Adding these deleted or extended scenes to
the film did not make the film any better or worse, but for true fans of this
film and/or the C.S. Lewis book series these extended sequences may thrill
others more than they did for this reviewer.
By no means is the film boring, but Disney seems to have attempted to
create their own ‘Lord of the Rings
Trilogy’ with director Andrew Adams attempting to do what Peter Jackson did
for New Line. Strangely enough C.S.
Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien were great friends and it was C.S. Lewis who persuaded
Tolkien to finish his Lord of the Rings
Trilogy and it was Tolkien who persuaded Lewis to write the Narnia Series. In the end the extended nature would not be a
reason to purchase this film.
Also on
this disc there are Bloopers, which are not very funny as well as Narnia fun
facts. The fun facts are trivially
amusing and children as well as adults will enjoy. A final feature of disc-1 is director and kid
commentary, which was not very interesting along side a film concept where
imagination is supposed to reign supreme.
Disc 2:
This
feature was available on the 2-Disc edition of the film, where an in-depth look
at the two worlds of Narnia is explored.
The content overall is interesting and entertaining and the
picture/sound quality is surprising good in a world where most DVD extras seem
to be slapped on as an after thought. Reviewed
in this feature are the creatures of Narnia (computerized junk) and the lands
& legends, which is more interesting.
Disc 3:
This disc
features an ALL NEW full length film on author and Narnia creator C.S. Lewis,
entitled C.S. Lewis Dreamer of
Narnia. This reviewer found this
feature to be extremely well put together and interesting. For any fans of A&E Documentaries, the
History Channel, or TLC this is a must see.
The film basically follows C.S. Lewis’s Life from birth to death, while
emphasizing key points which shaped the brilliant authors life and mind set. He was a man of hopes, dreams, pain, and
imagination. The full length film is
infused with original sketches and drawings or C.S. Lewis and the artist he
used to illustrate his original Narnia series.
Disney even went as far as to bring some of these illustrations to life
digitally. This feature overall was impressive
and held this reviewers interest throughout.
Disc 4:
This
feature was not as interesting as the last two discs but had its merits. This feature explores the production of the
film, rather then the overview seen on disc-2.
Some of the content becomes monotonous especially after viewing the
content of disc-2 but has much too insightfully offer on how locations of the
film were chosen and how scenes were created.
Some find
this film boring and too far of a deviation of C.S. Lewis original intentions,
but this reviewer found it to be entertaining and was a great experience. Where the film is not perfect and possibly
will be revisited in 25 years, for now it is full of heart and to a degree
imagination. C.S. Lewis throughout his
life searched for truth beyond all reason, and where this reviewer hopes future
extensions of this series will improve, for now this film brings to life a
classic.
- Michael P Dougherty II