This past Thursday, at 10:30pm, the last FX shot was completed and this morning (Saturday) at 10am, I was privileged to be in the audience of the first public showing of the finished film.
Wow! Did they get it right.
I thought it was an excellent interpretation of the book, but to a fault. In other words, I thought it was a home run, but it wasn't knocked out of the park. It's very obvious that the filmmakers went through great lengths to get it right, and it shows (although, I am disappointed one small *hint* character was left out of the film.) However, where I think the movie goes wrong is that it was made very competently, but did not go beyond that to make it special or magical. While I was blown away by what I was seeing, there were still moments missing to take it from a faith rendition to a true masterpiece, but I'm sure I'm gong to be in the minority in thinking that. I think the film will make tons of money, get good reviews and be a crowd pleaser, and deservedly so. But, after getting a film like Batman Begins this summer, a film that took that leap to masterpiece, it's a mild disappointment for me. I think in the hands of someone like Christopher Nolan or Alfonso Coarun, it would have been truly special.
As for the FX, Aslan was superb. There was one awful shot at the stone table sequence, but other than that, he was incredible. Tomnes was another amazing example of great work, I looked hard for flaws with his legs and found none. Some of the fight sequences could have been rendered and animated better, but they are definitely passable for today's audience.
I hope you all enjoy it.