Tolkien Tuesday: Rewatching "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe"
This spectacular adaptation of Lewis' beloved novel deserves to be remembered as one of the better adaptations of a canonical work of fantasy.
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I’m one of those fortunate souls who was alive in the early-to-mid-2000s, when the pop culture landscape was filled with big-budget film adaptations of some of my very favorite works of fantasy. Remember that this was the era of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter (before Rowling revealed herself to be a monster and the franchise wandered off into the hot mess that is Fantastic Beasts), when you could go to the movies and really lose yourself in a high fantasy epic adventure.
One of the best of these, though one that has been rather forgotten in the intervening decades, is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Now that it’s the film’s 20th anniversary, and since Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew is due out in 2026, I figured it was time to return to this adaptation. Though I remembered enjoying it at the time, I couldn’t help but wonder whether it still holds up when it comes to its movie magic.
Reader, let me assure you that it does.
This version of the story is remarkably faithful to Lewis’ novel, though of course it does expand some bits. There’s quite a bit more action than one might expect, particularly in the middle portion, but it’s really the cast that allows this film to sing. The four Pevensies are perfectly cast, with George Henley particularly shining as Lucy. James McAvoy makes for a surprisingly sexy and endearing Mr. Tumnus, a harbinger of the many other fantastic (and fantastical) roles that he would go on to play. Liam Neeson is suitably resonant and moving as the voice of Aslan, and I literally can’t imagine anyone else ever really capturing this magnificent Lion’s timbre. On the lighter side of things, both Ray Winstone and Dawn French are perfect as the Beavers.
The true highlight, though, is Tilda Swinton as Jadis, the White Witch.
To this day I’m still sort of amazed that they managed to get an actress of Tilda Swinton’s caliber to play the White Witch, arguably one of the most recognizable and terrifying of any villains in the fantasy canon (I said what I said). From the moment that she appears in her sleigh pulled by reindeer she manages to cast a spell, both upon us and on the feckless Edmund. Swinton is, after all, one of those people who is a true star, and her charisma shines from every scene in which she appears. This is very much in keeping with the way that Lewis described Jadis, for though the Witch is obviously a villain and as such to be condemned, even the author himself seems to have fallen a little in love with her.
More importantly, it’s Swinton’s existing star text that makes her interpretation of Jadis so deliciously and terrifyingly queer. The actress uses her well-known androgyny to great effect, with her slightly protuberant eyes and her small mouth and her fey voice capturing so much of what makes Jadis so compelling as a villain. Add to this the fact that she has one of the best wardrobes of any villain in fantasy–from her garb as self-annointed Queen of Narnia to her battle gear–and you have a queer icon in the making.
Swinton particularly shines in the scene in which Aslan sacrifices himself, and this entire sequence unfolds like something out of a horror movie, with its minotaurs and other misshapen residents of Narnia gathered around to mock the Lion as the Witch sacrifices him. This scene is even more terrifying and unsettling than it is in the novel, and much of that can be ascribed to Swinton’s performance. To this day, watching her scream “the great cat is dead” sends chills up my spine.
There are, to be sure, moments of softness and tenderness, too, and I particularly enjoy the scenes in which the Pevensie children reconcile. Though the feud between Edmund and Peter is a bit overplayed, in my opinion, it sets the stage for a nice bonding between the brothers later on. The young cast were given the task of bringing Lewis’ characters to life, and in this regard they succeed remarkably.
It all leads to the tremendous battle sequence that sees the vastly outnumbered Narnian forces arrayed against the White Witch and her hordes. This sequence might lack the sheer visual grandeur of what we see in, say, The Lord of the Rings, but it’s still a pretty stirring battle scene, with lots of overhead shots and moments of genuine excitement and terror. Watching Jadis arrive in her war chariot pulled by polar bears (!) is still one of the coolest moments that I’ve ever seen in a fantasy movie, and the earlier parts of the battle are particularly striking and exhilarating.
I do think that the film rather speeds up a bit too fast toward the end and that some parts, particularly the Witch’s demise, are given short shrift and lack a climactic/dramatic payoff, but that’s also true of the source material. I always did think that Jadis deserved a better send-off than to essentially be mauled to death by Aslan, but I suppose there are just some things that we’re never going to get. The film’s conclusion is even more abrupt than that of the novel, though there is at least a little mid-credits sequence between Professor Kirke and Lucy that explains how she’ll have to find some other way to get to Narnia (and hats off to Jim Broadbent, who is suitably daffy as the cannier-than-he-looks Professor).
Even though it’s now been 20 years since this film saw theaters, I must admit I was surprised at just how well it holds up. There’s just so much heart in it, and you can tell that the filmmakers approached this adaptation with a care and reverence for Lewis’ work. It honestly doesn’t feel like it’s over 2 hours long, with the possible exception of the bit where the Pevensies are fleeing from Jadis’ wolves. It’s the kind of film that really does see the value in big-screen spectacle and honest emotional storytelling, and if Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Lewis’ novels can achieve even a fraction of that, then she’ll have done what few other filmmakers today seem interested in doing.
In the meantime, I’m going to cherish this shiny gem of a film.