through a magical closet, four siblings stumble into the ice-laden realm of narnia, fulfilling the prophecy that 2 sons of adam and 2 daughters of eve will come to aid qui-gon jinn the lion in vanquishing the white witch and put and end to her tyrannical rule. let the fantastic cgi war commence!
when i edited the two-mintue-plus mulawin movie trailer for television last year, the cgi didnt impress me at all. well, maybe the dragon looked good but overall, it bombed, for me anyways. then i read somewhere that exodus was boasting of having more cgi scenes than the lord of the rings. that was enough to tick me off with these darn movies. quality over quantity, you morons, and quality with proper usage. in a hilarious review of mulawin (read here scroll down to lupisan), some dude points out how the dragon never really interacted with the real players (and from the trailer i edited, there was this scene of two kid mulawins flying side by side, their wings overlapping. sheesh). when i saw narnia with layla and my sibs, it only stressed my point that no matter how they say that our film industry has come a long way regarding special effects, we're still eating dust from those who are way ahead. so until they could equal the seamlessness of the narnia griffon alone, they ought to shut the hell up.
kudos in big heaps to the geeks who made aslan come to life, and i mean really come to life. that was the most realistic lion animation ever. and apart from the aforementioned griffon, my favorite would be the cheetahs. in the scenes where they're part of the crowd, they were so human, the best cgi rendition of a curious bystander ive seen. then there's the centaurs which are just plain cool. which brings us to the climactic battle that is basicaclly all of these good things multiplied and mashed together in a ferocious fight frenzy. simply breathtaking. cgi is meant to suspend disbelief. we know it's not there, it's not real, but when the cgi is well-done and well-used, you believe for a moment that it is.
anyways, the sfx aint the only thing that made narnia work. although the kids werent very good actors, they did their roles justice. great performance by tilda swanton, the white witch, who played gabriel in constantine. awesome set designs (the ice statues were "cool") and costumes. ive never read a page of the narnia books, but the story was weaved fine in the movie. it's always good to watch a movie meant for kids and like it as an adult. wish i had a magic wardrobe as well. it should open up to the playboy mansion instead though.
the good: primarily, the special effects. those whol'll be making next pinoy sfx-heavy fantasy movie should learn from this film.
the bad: if the potion that santa claus gave to lucy cured all wounds with a single drop, how come edmund still had one on his lip?
the ugly: the scene where they're walking on a rock bridge formation and they get a nice view of narnia. obviously done with a green screen.
the score: 8 turkish delights.
the skiz.
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