Spectacular. Stunning. I'm real picky when it comes to animation, but this pulled me right in. I took my six year old son and despite it being over two hours long, he thought it flew over. The battle at the end is terrific, the witch is scary and the bloke out of Shameless is brilliant.

Negative points: Just one really, the blue screen colour balance - terrible in places, particularly close ups, where it was very, VERY obvious at times. A shame when so much work has been put in to getting the animation of the creatures hyper-realistic.

Impressive though. Better than the old cartoon.

Colin M

<Added>

I cut and pasted a bit of that review, in doing so missed out what blue screen colour balance is. For those who don't know, its the task of making actors in a studio look as though they are in the same environment that will be composited behind them, ie warm colours on characters and cold colours on the backdrop. It really breaks the illusion if it's visible.

I was wondering whether to go and see it, but will now, thanks. I have no children to take with me though, might have to borrow a couple.

I know what the blue screen is, sometimes they use green too. I often think it must be weird acting in front of a coloured screen, pretending you are flying or fighting monsters, I think I'd laugh.

I want to see 'King Kong' too, but someone said it is 3 hours long! Not sure I can sit still in a cinema for that long.

Kat

Depending on the director, three hours can fly by. Mind you, I found Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films very slow, but I'll make the effort to see King Kong - it looks terrific.

Yes, it looks brill doesn't it. I found it too much watching 'The lord of the Rings' films, that's why I was wondering about King Kong, it's ok if there is action most of the time, but if the film is really slow, then I end up falling asleep, or fidgeting and getting bored.

Shall we agree that whoever sees it first will review for everyone.

kat

Ha, Colin! Narnia and you liked it - told you!!! We went on Friday. I was so so excited beforehand, as was my 9 year old, but we loved it! I thought Aslan was brilliant - and he could have been so awful. Tilda Swinton is wonderful and beautiful as the White Witch. I almost cried when they "killed" Aslan even though I've read the book a zillion times and knew what happened. Really great! We had a fantastic time. Too bad we got home to find we'd been burgled!

Don't want to see King Kong though. It looks spectacular but also looks like I'll cry all the way through - I'm rubbish in films!

Saw the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and it looks great!

Sue

Colin
Hey, I just took MY six-year-old son too!
Are we actually married?

I completely agree that it was wonderful. I don't give a hoot about the controversial subtext and never have with the book either. It's just a great story and now they've made it into a great film.
Wonder if you felt, like me, that it actually skirted pretty close to being a higher certificate though? It was definitely very scary and violent in bits, which makes me think I've been right to deny him Goblet of Fire and Revenge of the Sith. What do you think?

Sue,

I'll probably cry when they kill King Kong too. I never used to be very emotional, but since I turned... aherm.. 40, I've become an emotional wreck and cry at anything.

I hate to admit that I watch Eastenders, but will sob my heart out when Nanna Moon dies this week!

Kat

I'm always emotional when I go to the pictures. No idea where it comes from; it might be that the whole thing is so much larger than life that I just get taken away with it all.

Agree with Goblet of Fire. Definitely not for the young, not only for the scary scenes but for the boredom factor in between, which was almost off the scale at several points.

Narnia, on the other hand, is very, very well crafted. I skirted around the subtext issue on my review because I think its bollocks, and if it is reflective of Lewis's beliefs, then so what? As a tale of folklore, the story of Jesus is a true belter, and to plagiarise it is not necessarily an act of spreading the word, but a means of telling a damn good story. Apart from the fact, Santa hardly appears anywhere in the bible, let alone a cyclops or a centaur.

Sorry to hear you were burgled Sue. Hope everything's okay.

Thanks Colin. It's all rubbish actually. I emailed you but you probably won't get it until the Spring.
S

Sue
Hadn't read the bit about you being burgled until now. Really sorry to hear that - hope you aren't feeling too traumatised.
I also cry very easily at the cinema. I didn't even wait for Aslan's 'death'; anything to do with wartime evacuation is a guaranteed choker for me too and so I was snivelling within about four minutes of the start!

Oddly enough it's watching other people crying in films that sets me off. I was OKish with Aslan until Susan and Lucy started sobbing. Then I had to try and wipe my eyes very casually without the sniggering teenagers behind me seeing!

I’m expecting my six, nearly seven year old, back from seeing it with his friends any time soon. I’ll let you know what he thought of it…

I got him the Narnia book set for Christmas, he’s a massive reader, I hope he likes it.

Grinder

He said he loved it, particularly “the big fight at the end.”

Typical!

Grinder