My rating: Glossy, beautifully well-crafted.

I work with a guy who's been dying for this movie to come out since it was announced about a year and a half ago. Maybe longer, I don't know. At any rate, it seems that by the time it did come out, the C.S. Lewis fans and all those that the record-setting promotion budget had garnered to flock to this movie were really, really frothing to see it. I can't say that I was one of those... but I was quite impressed from whatever point of view I may have had going for me.

The beauty of this movie would make it worth seeing, even if there wasn't a single word of dialogue in the whole thing. The makers have gone to painstaking measures to make sure that every frame is lush, filled with rich colors and compelling images. As a person who conjures in art for a living, I was totally taken in by that. Still, there was a whole other element that inevitably becomes a part of the movie... the story itself. And if I could fault anything to this movie, that's sort of where I would say it falls short. (Short like a 6'6" compared to a 6'9" guy.) That shortfalling really only comes from a story that seemed, at times, rushed and hurried. Feels like we've barely arrived at one place before we reach another. Still, even in that sort of out-of-breath run, we're helped along by another great strength-- great characters. The children, Aslan, the professor, the white witch... there's literally not a single character in the movie that wasn't interesting. I found myself getting wrapped up even in the minor characters like the Fox, and the general of the centaurs. The latter of which, by the way, I'd label as my favorite character. They're all so well done, nobody gets left out as understated or unimportant.

This is a movie I'll be watching over and over, I know. The CGI is so very well done, it's gonna be worth a whole different viewing just to feast on that again. Director Andrew Adamson made a wise, if not obvious choice, by also drafting Weta Workshop (who did the Lord of the Rings creatures) to do all his creature costumes. That and the CGI mounted together left me totally unable to discern where the computer stuff ended and the costume magic started.

Lastly, I'll comment on the emotion of the piece. When I say the story was rushed, that doesn't mean they don't pause every now and then for some really poignant moments. The most obvious to me being Aslan's grave predicament (I won't say anymore, there may be a few folks out there who really don't know the story yet) and the emotions that were conveyed on the face of a lion. It moved me almost to tears. It moved Heather to having to watch her feet-- which means she would have been moved to tears as well. Several of those little stopping points along the way made for a generally emotional story, that carried some very overt Christian overtones.

Do I recommend this movie? Stoutly. Lord of the Rings enthusiasts like myself might find it a bit more tame than the LOTR stuff, but hey, it's written from a children's book. Andrew Adamson did the same thing with this movie that he did with the "Shreks," though-- took a story which could have easily been strictly for children and made it for everyone. And for that ability he possesses so richly, I applaud him.