This film was absolutely incredible. Evocative, heart-rending, moving, powerful and more, the story of four children destined to rule a kingdom and the lion that stood beside them is beautifully retold. I read the books back in middle school, but with a slightly refreshed memory (it’s hard to read any story about the film’s production or it’s ties to Christianity without remembering something about the story) it was like watching King Arthur: where your old friends start showing up in new and unexpected ways. What’s especially fantastic about the entire chronicle is that it’s an allegory for the Christian living. Not just the saving life of Jesus, which this movie deals with pretty exclusively, but the entire experience of being a Christian. Needless to say, I’m pretty darn excited to see Disney continue to adapt these books with the flair they did this one. About the only thing I walked away upset with was the fact that white tigers (my favorite animal) were on the White Witch’s side! Boo! But so were polar bears and all manner of snow inhabiting creatures, so as allegories go, I’ll forgive them this time. Sure did love seeing the cheetahs and rhinos…oh and did I mention the blissful over-abundance of CGI creatures? Not just real animals but minotaurs, centaurs, griffins (especially well done in my opinion) and ogres (surprisingly uglier than the Lord of the Rings trilogy)! Incredibly well done by the WETA wizards (and countless other CGI studios hired to work on this film). But like I said, the real focus of this movie is the story, which is so incredibly poignant and beautiful. Helping the story out was the music, which was just incredible. Harry Gregson-Williams does a fantastic job, adding tenfold power to the actors, both digital and real, and hitting the highs and lows of our first (hopefully of many) journeys through Narnia. I highly recommend this film for anyone who thought Lord of the Rings was fun (that way, people get the Christian allegory without realizing it by enjoying a fantastical flight of fancy).