The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

Duration: 172 minutes, 6 episodes
RRP: $14.99

Target audience: 6 - 10 year olds

Themes/values: resisting temptation, learning from mistakes, forgiveness, good versus evil, self-sacrifice, family

Review:
It's very hard, if not impossible, to avoid comparing the BBC's 1988 television production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe with the 2005 Disney film of the same name. So why fight it? Let's compare.

The BBC production is a low rent, low budget (I'm assuming), stilted and awkward rendition of CS Lewis' beautiful and lyrical novel. For anyone from a sad, impoverished childhood where there was no reading, love or light, the novel's synopsis is this: it's 1940 and four children (two brothers, two sisters) are billeted to the grassy knolls of the English countryside to stay with their dotty uncle while bombs fall on London during World War II. They have a host of wonderful, icy adventures that begin with a musty piece of bedroom furniture. No it's a great story, really. More later.

To paraphrase my discerning viewing companion: there's no real benefit to watching the BBC version of this story, unless you particularly love over-acting. And this is the problem from the outset: the acting is simply not good. Yes, some of these mini thespians are young, and should possibly be excused while they spread their actorly wings, but really, is this the best the BBC could do? And what's the adult actors' excuse? The Professor (Michael Aldridge) and the faun Mr Tumnus (Jeffrey S Perry) really carry the load with some passable scenes (my one star belongs to them alone), whereas The White Witch (Barbara Kellerman) and her rabid cohorts truly ham it up with unnecessary vaudevillian flair.

Special effects are neither special, nor effective; even the youngest viewer will be hard-pressed to feign delight in the 'magic' of this series. In the vein of I Dream of Jeannie, there's some abracadabra-style hocus-pocus from The White Witch who manages to produce Turkish delight and a frothy beverage from thin air, but there's little of the supernatural and more of the super disappointing as the clunky editing limps from frame to frame.

The production mixes live action with animation, but without the seamless transition that this type of fantasy narrative requires. The lack of continuity in the presentation of the various characters is at times bizarre: for example in one scene there are humans, humans in life-size animal costumes (think Dorothy The Dinosaur), a taxidermied lion and animated cartoon characters. In another episode a modestly sketched winged unicorn shuffles onto the screen with all the grace of a hobbling dwarf. Speaking of which, there are plenty of dwarves, and goblins too, one with the nastiest case of 'foundation applied with a trowel' that you're ever likely to encounter this side of a Clinique counter.

Which brings us unavoidably to our next comparison of the 1988 and 2005 versions, where the latter won both an Oscar and BAFTA for make-up. And well-deserved, given that the impossibly pretty James McAvoy was made to look almost creepy as the hirsute and rodent-like Mr Tumnus. And unless Angelina Jolie was hiding underneath this dwarf's lumpy, pock-marked skin, there were no such feats achieved back in the 1980s version.

Now, let's be clear, it was the 1980s and yes, a lot has changed in the last twenty-odd years. This television series was made almost two decades before Disney's polished, multi-million dollar production. The point therefore (and yes, there is one) is not to completely denigrate the early series, which may well have been the Avatar of its day, but more to analyse it with a view to a modern-day audience. Purists will certainly appreciate how true the script is to the original novel but more importantly, one needs to consider the contemporary child and their viewing expectations, which certainly won't take into account such provisos as the small budget of a public broadcaster's film production, or the fact that there was life before CGI. Try explaining that to your DS-wielding six year old.

So, if you happen to have seen the 2005 version of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardobe, or better still have read the book, you are likely to be quite devastated by this butchering of CS Lewis' magical story. You have been warned.

Language: English

Violence/distressing scenes: Some scenes may scare young children, particularly those featuring The White Witch and Maugrim the wolf. There are less than subtle religious references with the lion Aslan, a conspicuous Christ-figure, and infinite references to 'sons of Adam and daughters of Eve' that may not suit all viewers or their carers.

Nudity: None

Drugs/alcohol: Very little: Mr Beaver drinks beer; the White Witch pours something unnamed into a wine goblet for Edmund.