The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (film)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was a 2005 film made by Disney and Walden Media, based on the original C.S. Lewis novel. It opened in theaters on December 9, 2005. It was released on DVD, and had an Extended Edition version with flubs, etc, that was distributed until January 31, 2007. It added two new characters; Otmin the Minotaur general of the White Witch's army, and Oreius the loyal Centaur general of Aslan's army. Its sequel, Prince Caspian was released in theaters on May 16, 2008.

Plot
Set in 1940 during the Blitz, the Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are evacuated from Finchley, London, to the country home of Digory Kirke (now a professor). One day while they are playing Hide and Seek, Lucy discovers a wardrobe and enters a fantasy world called Narnia. She spends several hours in the home of the faun, Mr. Tumnus, who explains the White Witch cursed Narnia, and it has been winter for a century. In accordance with her orders, if a human is ever encountered, a Narnian must bring them to her. However, Tumnus likes Lucy and regrets his plan, so he sends her out of the Wardrobe. When she returns, hardly any time has passed in the normal world during her stay. She makes the other children check the Wardrobe, but the portal is gone.

Later, Edmund follows Lucy into Narnia, and meets the White Witch, who offers him turkish delights as well as the prospect of becoming king. She asks Edmund to bring some of his siblings to her. After she departs, Edmund and Lucy meet again and they return to tell the others. Edmund does not confirm Narnia's existence to Peter and Susan, saying he was merely playing with Lucy, causing distress in Lucy, who bumps into Professor Kirke. The Professor has a private talk with Peter and Susan; he does not understand why the others do not believe Lucy's story and presents to them the use of logic (which Susan is very fond of) in the situation: when they are given three choices for an explanation of Lucy's behavior--insanity, dishonesty, and sincerity--the others know she is neither mad nor dishonest, so she is "logically" telling the truth.

On another day, while hiding from the housekeeper Mrs. Macready in the wardrobe after they break a window, the four siblings step into Narnia. Peter and Susan apologize for their earlier disbelief and Peter threatens Edmund unless he apologizes to Lucy. They discover Mr. Tumnus has been taken by the Witch and meet talking beavers that tell them about Aslan. According to them, Aslan is on the move to take the control of Narnia from the White Witch. The four siblings must help Aslan and his followers; it had been prophesied that when two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve sat in the four thrones, the Witch's reign would come to an end.

Edmund sneaks off and visits the Witch alone. When he arrives at her castle, she is angry that he did not bring her his brother and sisters. Then the White Witch sends a pack of wolves to hunt down the other children and the beavers, which barely escape with the aid of a fox. Meanwhile, Edmund is chained in the witch's dungeon were he meets Mr. Tumnus in an adjacent cell. The Witch comes down and demands that Edmund tell her where his family is because her police couldn't find them; Edmund tells her some information, but hesitates when Tumnus looks at him, warningly (he also trys to tell the witch that Edmund doesn't know anything, but is injured by Ginnabrik). The witch sees that Tumnus is hindering the information, so she has him 'released' and brought over to her. After she tells Mr. Tumnus that it was Edmund's fault that she knew about his involvement, Mr. Tumnus is dragged upstairs and turned into stone, as Edmund sees with a horror when he is brought up.

While Peter, Lucy, Susan, and the beavers are traveling to the Stone Table, they see what they believe to be the White Witch in her sleigh chasing after them, so they run and hide--fortunately, it is really Father Christmas. He gives Lucy a bottle of juice of fire-flowers and a dagger; Susan a bow and arrow and a magical horn; and Peter a sword and shield. Father Christmas informs them that winter will soon be over. Unfortunately, this means the rivers are thawing, and the arrival of Maugrim and several other wolves makes the passage even more perilous. But with their weapons, the group manages to safely cross the river, leaving the Witch no real way to reach them by sleigh.

Arriving at Aslan's army encampment, they encounter Aslan, who is revealed as a huge and noble lion. Aslan promises to help Edmund in any way he can. They are also reluctant to participate in a war after fleeing from London. However, they have to save Edmund and Mr. Tumnus. Peter joins Aslan's army. A little later, two wolves ambush Lucy and Susan while they are frolicking by the river. When Peter intervenes, Maugrim attacks him, and Peter kills him with his sword. Some of Aslan's troops follow the other wolf back to the witch's camp and rescue Edmund.

Aslan has a "private talk" with Edmund. When he is done, Aslan tells the other children to forget Edmund's previous actions and they reconcile. The White Witch then arrives and claims that Edmund is her property, based on the "deep magic" of Narnia; it says that traitors belong to her as lawful prey and that she must kill them at the stone table. Aslan "negotiates" with the White Witch, who agrees to leave Edmund alone. In return, Aslan sacrifices himself and surrenders to the witch. As Susan and Lucy watch in hiding, Aslan is humiliated and stabbed to death. However, he is resurrected because "there is a magic deeper still the Witch does not know." Aslan takes Susan and Lucy to the Witch's mansion where he frees the prisoners of the White Witch, forming an army for battle.

Meanwhile, Edmund persuades Peter to join battle with the Witch's host. At first quite sucessful, Peter's army soon begins to lose the fight, and Edmund is badly injured, though he has managed to destroy the White Witch's staff, her most effective weapon. She is doing battle with Peter when Aslan soon arrives with reinforcements. She takes advantage of this distraction and disarms him. She is about to stab him when Aslan jumps on her, knocking her to the other side of the cliff and killing her. He then returns to Peter and tells him that "it is finished". Susan uses her bow and arrow to kill Ginarrbrik who attempts to finish Edmund off before there is a chance to save him. Lucy revives Edmund and many others with the fire-flower juice given to her by Father Christmas, while Aslan frees more victims of the White Witch's stone-turning spell.

The Pevensies become Kings and Queens and stay in Narnia until they are older. When chasing a white stag to receive wishes, they find the lampost and the wardrobe and go back to England. The Professor then tosses them the ball used to break the window and instructs them to tell him the story.

Later, at the end, Lucy attempts to go back to Narnia, but the Professor tells her that she (and the others) will probably get back to Narnia when least expected.

Cast

 * William Moseley - Peter Pevensie
 * Anna Popplewell - Susan Pevensie
 * Skandar Keynes - Edmund Pevensie
 * Georgie Henley - Lucy Pevensie
 * Tilda Swinton - Queen Jadis the White Witch.
 * James McAvoy - Mr. Tumnus
 * Liam Neeson - the voice of Aslan
 * Ray Winstone - the voice of Mr. Beaver
 * Dawn French - the voice of Mrs. Beaver
 * Jim Broadbent - Professor Digory Kirke
 * James Cosmo - Father Christmas
 * Patrick Kake - Oreius
 * Kiran Shah - Ginarrbrik
 * Elizabeth Hawthorne - Mrs. Macready
 * Judy McIntosh - Helen Pevensie
 * Shane Rangi - Otmin
 * Michael Madsen - the voice of Maugrim
 * Rupert Everett - the voice of the Fox
 * Noah Huntley - the adult Peter Pevensie
 * Sophie Winkleman - the adult Susan Pevensie
 * Mark Wells - the adult Edmund Pevensie
 * Rachael Henley - the adult Lucy Pevensie
 * Philip Steuer - voice of Phillip

Differences from Book
Der König von Narnia (Film)
 * In the book, the bombings of London were mentioned only, while in the movie adaption there is a sequence which shows the Pevensies hiding from death in their shelter.
 * In the film, Lucy is waiting at Edmund's side to see him recover. In the book, she runs immediately to aid the others with her gift.
 * The frozen river sequence was not in the book.