Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

Blu-ray Review

Walt Disney Home Entertainment

Release: May 13, 2008

The C.S. Lewis tale of a magical land filled with mythological creatures and characters filled up theaters in what is one of the best fantasy movies ever. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an amazing production from Disney, one which will capture the minds of the young and the old, and it has finally hit the Blu-ray format.

You are introduced to four Pevensie siblings who are caught in the middle of the London blitz during World War II. These four siblings, instead of just finding shelter, end up finding themselves in an absolutely magical land.

Here is where you meet some amazing characters, such as the youngest Lucy (Georgie Henley) who has been to Narnia before, traveling through the old wardrobe in the upstairs bedroom. You also meet her brother Edmund, as well as Susan and Peter.

They enter this magical place to find that it is quickly turning into a troubled locale due to the evil White Witch, Jadis. These four children, with the help of the heroic lion Aslan (Liam Neeson) lead Narnia into a battle to try and defeat the Witch forever.

This is an absolutely amazing production with some fantastic characters, a great story, and more. This is one of the finest epics done by Disney in a long time.

In terms of video quality, the film is presented in 2.40:1 theatrical aspect ratio and in full 1080p. The transfer looks tremendous with some great CGI characters, action scenes, etc. Colors looks spectacular and vibrant, especially when the kids are in the countryside.

The audio is presented in an PCM 5.1 track which does an absolutely masterful job of immersing you in all of the action. The musical score from Harry Gregson-Williams sound tremendous in the front channels and is spread out nicely to the rears.

The ambient sound effects used in the rear channels fit beautifully with the scenes, as the dialogue is also perfect.

This is an absolutely stacked 2-disc Blu-ray release to say the least with plenty of features on both discs.

On the first disc you get two audio commentaries, as well as pop-up facts which you can turn on or off while you watch the movie.

You also get an edited series of bloopers which run for just under 5 minutes, as well as other previews for Disney releases.

The second disc is where the true features kick into gear, as you get a large documentary called Creating Narnia. It is split up into six different segments, each standing as a solid documentary on their own.

The first is Chronicles of a Director, which runs for just under 40 minutes and featured director Andrew Adamson talking about how the film was made from the original story, etc. The Children’s Magic Journey is around 30-minutes an focuses on the audition process of the four children.

Cinematic Storytellers runs for just under 60-minutes and features the men and women who take care of the actual look of the film, from creature design, costumes, weapons, and more.

Anatomy of a Scene focuses on the two major action sequences of the film, running for under 20-minutes.

From One Man’s Mind runs for under 4-minutes and talks about the author C.S Lewis.

There are also some features which focus on the creatures and lands of the movie. These are called Creating Creatures, Creatures, Lands and Legends, as well as Creatures of the World. Combined these run for over an hour.

Finally, you get a 3D map called Explore Narnia, as well as a BD-Java interactive role-playing game called Battle for Narnia.

Walt Disney Home Entertainment has completely outdone themselves with this release. The film is tremendous, and the amount of special features make this one of the best Blu-ray releases to date. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a must-buy on Blu-ray!

Films: 9.5

An absolutely epic film with amazing characters, special effects, and an engrossing story.

Video: 10

A virtually perfect video release on Blu-ray, one of the best yet!

Audio: 10

Absolutely amazing audio with a great musical score, ambient noises, sound effects, and dialogue.

Special Features: 10

Final Score: 9.8

There are more than enough special features here to please any fan, an absolutely stacked 2-disc Blu-ray release.