Disney does it again. They manage to make one movie that works and proceed to crap out the sequel. Take Pirates of the Caribbean for example. The first movie was brilliant. I had no faith that it would be worth the time to watch it but what can I say… my wife is a huge Johnny Depp fan. Result? I leave the theater surprised and wanting more. Bring out the next two Pirate films and the effort to make them blockbusters engulfs the films in fiery infernos of crap enclosed in paper bags that Disney leaves on their neighborhood theaters’ doorsteps. People could keep their fingers crossed, but it was too much to hope that the next Narnia adventure would escape similar treatment.
 
We return to Narnia where our four sibling champions have returned nearly 1300 years later to save the land from the invading armies of the Tameranians. A Tameranian prince, the true heir to the throne, escapes assassination from his uncle, who covets the throne for himself, only to discover creatures such as centaurs and minotaurs, previously thought to be myth, truly exist. He persuades the Narnians to follow him until the kings and queens (the siblings) of old return. When they do, differences need to be set aside to stand together against the armies of the Tameranians to save all of Narnia.
 
There are several major problems with this film. The first of which is that this film is BORING! The pace of the movie is pretty slow and even the characters seem flat and bored. It’s hard to stay interested when the characters make you yawn.
 
The next major obstacle this film faces is the first movie. There was a certain, infectious curiosity that you got in the first film that is horrifically absent in this one. There is a good bit of exploring, figuring out relationships in the first movie. Character development. Something the second film lacks. I don’t expect the main characters to do too much, as they’re already established but throw in a twist! Give us some emotional thread to grab onto!
 
Next up would be storytelling. I can’t imagine C.S. Lewis being really proud of this film. It’s as basic as you get and has the depth of a backyard kiddie pool. The Christian themes in the first film were fine. They were subtle and kept within the context of the story and, providing you have any literary background, are expected. In the sequel, all of those themes were not hinted at. They were explained. In very plain fashion. You can throw symbolism out the window because this film spells out the message for you so you don’t have to think. I tried giving it credit until “the waterwall of God” treatment. Once we got there, I was done. The religious iconography was just so obvious, it made me wonder if Disney might even think we had any intellectual capacity at all.
 
This movie could have been so much more but ended up feeling like the unfortunate and despised mutant step-child of Gladiator and Harry Potter. I would guess your kids would probably like it, but I’d advise against it as there’s a lot of graphic battlefield actions and the moral reward falls far short compared to how poorly this story was told.
If Disney put forth the effort into the storytelling that it does epic blockbusters, it would easily become the most unstoppable force in movie-making today.

Verdict | NOT

dwayne,

that doesn’t make for much movie magic, now does it?

i was cringing the entire time - i just knew she was going to meet some grisly death.

surprise, surprise!

Cindy,
I agree with you in a way. This movie is awesome… awesome how LAME it is!

Christy,
Death Proof is indeed badass. My only question was… at some point wouldn’t the girls figure out it would be safer to just stop instead of speeding through Hazzard County with their friend on the hood of the car?

you took the words right outta my head. loved the visuals from pan’s but was a little confused by the story.

some of those scenes are ingrained in my head…for instance, the bottle-face smashing. nasty!

have you seen death proof? now that was badass.

What the freak are you TALKING about?  This movie was amazing!

Oh, yeah. Hellboy II will rock. One of my friends talked to Hellboy creator Mike Mignola a couple months ago and he is really excited and loves the direction the film went (quite different visually from his original comics).

Pan’s Labyrinth was a bit weird for me and I normally love weird. But it was the story not the visuals that threw me.

If del Torro can mix the visuals from Pan, the action from the Blade movies he did and pump some money into quality digital effects then Hellboy should rule.

I can’t do it.  I can’t bring myself to go see this fiasco.  Redirecting my movie fund into something more immediately fulfilling - alcohol.

honestly, i didn’t expect much from this one. the first one was lame-o.

i’m more interested in seeing hellboy II - the people who did pan’s labyrinth are in on it. now that was some awesome animation.