Gnarnia!

I waited three years to write that headline. (Back then it would have been more original ...) We finally saw Narnia (full name: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe), and it was indeed gnarly. Like a blend of The Wizard of Oz, Pan's Labyrinth, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it tells the story of four brothers and sisters who stumble upon a hidden world and get involved in a battle to save Good from Evil. Oh, and they go there from WWII blitz-era Britain.

It lacks the rustic gloom and weird resonances of Pan's Labyrinth, but there is some welcome complexity to its characters. They kids act their ages and squabble like real siblings. The creatures in Narnia feel like real beings rather than just coming to life for our amusement. And Tilda Swinton, whom I've tried to avoid ever since her insufferable performance in Orlando, was wonderfully over the top as the White Witch. As for the special effects, it's hard to separate them from the makeup, costumes, and art direction. It really looks like a single, coherent world, with the help of a story that (usually) holds our interest. Cowabunga!