Blu-ray Review: The Chronicles of Narnia

THE MOVIE: 3 stars out of 5
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is based on C.S. Lewis’ literary classic of the same name published in 1950. C.S. Lewis was a close friend of J.R.R. Tolkein and created a series of 7 books from 1950 to 1956 that have themes, settings and characters similar to those found in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In the first book and film, the initial setting is England in World War II. Due to the extensive bombings in and around London, children were relocated to the countryside out of harm’s war. Here, the four Pevensie children, Lucy , Edmond, Susan and Peter, are relocated to a mansion in the English countryside where they come across a magical wardrobe chest which is a portal to the kingdom of Narnia which is inhabited by elves, fauns, giants and talking animals of all sorts and which is controlled by the evil white witch (Tilda Swinton) who has ruled over a winter of 100 years. As foretold by prophecy, The Pevensie siblings join forces with the side of good lead by a former king of Narnia, the lion Aslan, to defeat the White Witch and restore goodness to the kingdom.

I will say that I was somewhat disappointed by the quality of this film. I guess you can say that I have been spoiled by the Lord of the Rings trilogy which tells the tale of good vs. evil in a much more compelling manner. I would describe this film as Lord of the Rings lite. While it is enjoyable in its own right, it simply does not compare in terms of dramatic effect, character development and dialogue with the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkein’s work. Therefore, I can rate this one as a rental only.

THE VIDEO: 4 7/8 stars out of 5
Encoded with AVC and presented in its original aspect ratio of 2:40:1, this is a wonderful looking film. Don’t judge this encode by the opening few minutes before the discovery of the portal to the kingdom of Narnia which I felt to be rather drab looking, flat and lifeless. Once the action starts in Narnia, the picture becomes much brighter, with bold colors and a beautiful three dimensional image. The color here are incredible although a bit skewed to the color blue giving the parts of the film set in snow a very steely look. Flesh tones are excellent as is the rendition of detail including shadow detail which is excellent. Black level is deep and solid giving the film a very three dimensional look. Once we enter Narnia, this is a five star encode all the way. However, due to the rather lackluster opening 10 minutes of so of the film, I had to drop the overall rating down just a tad. Other than the opening sequences of the film, this is a reference encode.

THE AUDIO: 4 3/4 stars out of 5
Presented in an uncompressed PCM track at 48 kHz/16 bit, this is a wonderful sounding film. The audio fidelity here across the board is excellent with a smooth, open and airy sound with excellent bass response that is deep and tight. Dialogue is clear and distinct and well placed in the mix with the exception of a very brief sequence in the dramatic battle scene near the end of the film where it become difficult to understand the White Witch. There are scenes here which are of reference quality as in the scene with the sled pulled by the reindeer which really thunders though the room. Other than the brief dialogue scene noted above, the only issue I had with the audio was the lack of immersion in parts of the film. In those scenes, the sound field did not completely capture the total acoustical environment in the way I would expect for a perfect 5 star score. Most of those scenes occur in the parts of the film set in the English countryside. Other than those two very minor items, this is a reference audio encode.

IN CONCLUSION
While I was not impressed by the film in general, this release on Blu-Ray boasts wonderful video and audio and is an excellent effort by the folks at Disney/Walden Media and is well worth checking out, albeit as a rental only.

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