Chronicles of Narnia-The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1988)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Main Menu Audio Scene Selection Audio Gallery-Photo
Rating
Year Of Production	1988
Running Time	172:46 (Case: 165)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Marilyn Fox
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	None Given

    The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of the few epic stories which managed to capture my imagination as a child, such that I read the whole novel avidly (several times in fact). It presents a journey through a fantastic altered universe almost as credible and well conceptualised as Tolkien's Middle Earth - indeed Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were friends who formed part of a cadre of Oxford writers known as the Inklings. Lewis wrote The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as the first novel in a series (published in 1950), chronicling the fate of a mystical land known as Narnia. The subsequent novels (Prince Caspian, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Silver Chair) are also available on DVD courtesy of the BBC. The final novels in the Chronicles of Narnia are: The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle.

    This DVD presents the six episodes from the first novel, as follows:

• Episode 1 - (29:28): Four young children - Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy - are evacuated from London during WWII, to the relative safety of the countryside. While staying at the huge country house of a charming but absent-minded old Professor, they must find novel ways to amuse themselves. One day, exploring the mansion, they stumble across an old wardrobe, tucked away in the attic. Lucy, ever the inquisitive one, wanders into the wardrobe, only to discover that it is open at the back - revealing a whole new world. She steps into this wintry landscape only to come across a walking, talking faun - known as Mr Tumnus - who tells her that she has entered the land known as Narnia. After taking tea with Mr Tumnus, she returns through the wardrobe to find that her siblings think she has been away for mere seconds. Later that day, whilst playing hide-and-seek, the snotty Edmund decides to use the wardrobe as his hiding place, and meets...



• Episode 2 - (29:04): The White Witch introduces herself to Edmund as the Queen of Narnia. It is apparent that while she fears the entry of humans to her domain, she realises that Edmund may have his uses. Lucy, meanwhile, makes a return to Mr Tumnus' house. When the two return, they have very differing opinions of the nature of the White Witch. When Edmund denies the existence of Narnia to Susan and Peter, Lucy becomes infuriated with his spite. Peter and Susan seek the advice of the Professor, fearing that Lucy has gone crazy. When hiding from the mean housekeeper forces them all into the wardrobe...and into Narnia, they discover that Mr Tumnus has been imprisoned by the White Witch for consorting with humans.



• Episode 3 - (29:00): The children are befriended by a couple of overgrown beavers. They learn that the Queen Edmund met is in fact the White Witch - and she is not a pleasant lady - having turned her enemies to stone. Lucy fears for Mr Tumnus, as he is destined to become a statue following his friendship with Lucy - a "daughter of Eve". They also discover that the saviour of Narnia is a lion, named Aslan, who will free the land from the Witch and from the grip of eternal winter. When Edmund deserts to join the Witch, the beavers undertake to lead the children to meet Aslan.



• Episode 4 - (27:47): Peter, Susan and Lucy begin their journey to meet Aslan at the Stone Table, while the petulant Edmund begins to regret his hasty alliance with the Witch. Maugrim, the wolfen Chief of Secret Police is despatched to the beavers' house with instructions to kill anyone he finds there. Father Christmas manages to enter Narnia, for the first time in years, flowers begin to bloom and the snow begins to melt as the Witch's power weakens - it seems Aslan is moving through the land!



• Episode 5 - (29:10): The children finally get to meet Aslan, and he reveals that Peter is to be made High King of Narnia. The Witch summons her minions - Werewolves, Wraiths and Dark Trees among them - with the intention of killing Aslan and the "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve". To fulfil the prophecy, the Witch insists that Edmund is killed at the Stone Table, but he is wrenched from her grasp by Aslan's disciples. Aslan agrees to meet with the Witch, provided she leaves her wand behind. The Witch claims that as Edmund is a traitor, his life belongs to her as decreed by the Deep Magic from the Dawn of Time. If she does not receive blood in payment, then Narnia will be consumed by fire and water. (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) Aslan is forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, and surrenders his life to spare that of Edmund. The Witch and her evil minions prepare for war, in a bid to enslave Narnia forever.



• Episode 6 - (28:17): The final episode sees the power of good magic used to reanimate the statues in the Witch's castle to help fight in the battle to destroy the Witch once and for all. The ending...is something you will have to discover for yourself!

    The series is rather dated in its visual (puppetry and animated) effects, and of course in the plummy British language used (as per the books). Nevertheless, it is very well done overall, with some charming (if quaint) make-up effects and a story which transcends the limitations of the medium. During my research for this review, I was surprised to learn that C.S. Lewis was a well respected religious writer, and the Narnia stories are actually one long allegory. Aslan is supposed to represent Jesus Christ and the Witch is an incarnation of Satan, for instance. There are numerous sites on the Internet which go into great detail, drawing the parallels between the events portrayed in the Chronicles and those recounted in the Bible. With the benefit of hindsight, this analogy can be clearly seen in the themes running through the series.

    Although it is rather dated, many children will love this story - as does my own daughter - and parents will be able to enjoy it (once again) without too much effort. This is no Lord of The Rings, but can still be recommended for fans of the novels, and for parents with pre-teen children in search of something different to Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh!

Video

    The overall video transfer of this disc is typical of a fifteen year old BBC television series, and is fairly mediocre by today's digital broadcast standards. Nonetheless, although little better than VHS standard, it is certainly still watchable and far more accessible on our favourite medium. The issues noted are more of an issue on larger screens. On a standard television set, the image will be perfectly acceptable to a young (and less picky) audience.

    The series is presented in its original televised aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and it is therefore not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer, as might be expected for such material, is not without its problems. There is a distinct variation in the levels of sharpness evident, with the later outdoor scenes (after the thaw) appearing much cleaner than the earlier episodes. For much of the first half of the series, there is a fairly milky feel to the transfer with limited contrast evident.

     Shadow detail is often poor, falling into complete blackness rather too suddenly. Black levels are mediocre and there is some noticeable low level noise and pixelisation present during the darker scenes. Colours are very faded and washed out throughout the first three episodes, but as Aslan (and Spring) returns to Narnia, they become considerably more vibrant. By the mid-point of Episode 4, the colours have become fairly vivid and well rendered with no colour bleeding evident. Skin tones suffer from an excess of stage makeup, with a pasty pallor and rouged cheeks common amongst the children.

    The transfer does suffer from some annoying MPEG artefacts. The image is often smeared, with that badly processed digital look (where skin and hair seems to move independently of facial movement for example) cropping up frequently. This can be mildly disturbing at times. Moire patterns crop up on heavily patterned clothing such as Lucy's checked dress. Aliasing is not a major issue, with only a minor shimmer evident sporadically. There is some heavy edge enhancement noticeable as ghosting around characters and objects, again particularly in the earlier episodes (for example in Episode 1 at 27:50 around Edmund). There is some noticeable mosquito noise in the opening titles, but telecine wobble is absent.

    There are almost no film (video) artefacts in the way of scratches or specks.

    There is a well timed and legible English for the Hard of Hearing subtitle track present. It follows the dialogue very closely indeed and also provides appropriate musical and other audio cues.

    This series comes on a single RSDL disc. I was unable to locate the layer change, so I assume that it is sensibly placed between episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The overall audio quality of this disc is adequate but nothing more.

    The solitary audio track is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 encoded at 224 kbps. It has no significant blemishes, with hiss and dropouts absent.

    Dialogue was always perfectly clear and audio sync was just fine.

    The title music is composed and conducted by Geoffrey Burgon and is a classical, orchestral piece which fits the majestic theme of the epic story quite well. The strings add a suitable sense of drama to the on-screen action, but overall the score is not particularly memorable.

    The soundstage is fully frontal in nature, but perfectly satisfactory and totally suited to the pseudo-documentary nature of the series. With Pro Logic II enabled some sound is redirected to the surround speakers, but this adds nothing to the audio experience. I preferred listening to the series without Pro Logic enabled.

    The subwoofer is unused throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are a few minor extras on the disc.

Menu

    The menu is a nicely animated affair, accompanied by the theme music and various video clips in the sub-menus. The menu system allows the selection of individual episodes (each with five chapter stops), the option to play all episodes in sequence, subtitle activation or the following extra feature:

Photo Gallery

    Eleven rather nice (but useless) photographs from the series, unaccompanied by any music.

    The Region 1 DVD contains a few more extras than the region 4 release. The Region 2 release appears to be the same as our own (which is coded for region 2 and region 4).

• Interactive Game
• Bookworm excerpt on C.S.Lewis
• Turkish delight recipe

    The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is showing the signs of age - not from the perspective of the story, but rather from the dated and limited technical wizardry of the special effects. Nevertheless, the tale is considered by many to be a modern classic which children (and some parents) may still enjoy. Worth a purchase for fans of the novels, or those looking for a touch of nostalgia.

    The video quality is little better than VHS standard, but still perfectly watchable.

    The audio quality is functional but uninspiring.

    The extras are almost non-existent.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall