Georgie Henley, Anna Popplewell, William Moseley and Skandar Keynes enter the land of Narnia. Click photo for larger image. "The Chronicles of Narnia" Rating: PG for battle sequences and frightening moments Starring: Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes Director: Andrew Adamson "Chronicles of Narnia" Web site Post-Gazette Family Film Guide review of "The Chronicles of Narnia" Related articles Despite controversy, Narnia books retain popularity 'Narnia' tales steeped in Christianity

You gotta love C.S. Lewis, and worldwide millions do so for reasons of adult spirituality or youthful fantasy or -- in the case of "The Chronicles of Narnia" -- both. So many children and ex-children have so loved that epic seven-book series, its transfer to film was a minefield of possible pitfalls and impossible expectations.

Somehow, director Andrew Adamson has avoided most of the former and fulfilled most of the latter in the beautiful Disney $180 million rendering at hand -- perhaps with a little inspirational assistance from above. Lewis' field was Christian apologetics and his focus on the eternal struggle between good and evil.

That's the big issue in "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," along with courage in the face of fear and forgiveness in the wake of betrayal, appropriate themes for a genre-descendant of the medieval morality play. Multiwork chronicles (Shakespeare was a master of them) flourish in times of intense national crisis, and there was none greater in England than World War II.

Narnia opens with a terrifying air raid of London that the four Pevensie siblings barely survive. It's a close-enough call to make their mother decide they should be evacuated to the country. They arrive -- four frightened pieces of human luggage, with tags around their necks -- and take up residence in a stately mansion. Peter (William Moseley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell), the serious elder two, try to keep an eye on the younger pair, angry Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and adorable Lucy (Georgie Henley).

	Aslan, the lion king. Click photo for larger image.

But little Lucy keeps her eye on an amazing magic wardrobe upstairs: When she steps into it and steps backward, she enters a parallel wintry world called Narnia, where animals talk, a White Witch rules, and an apocalyptic battle is planned to restore the rightful lion king, Aslan, to power. One by one, Lucy's siblings join her and the good fight.

Narnia's Coalition of the Willing is nothing if not inclusive, and so is the Axis of Evildoers: Humans and fauns, witches and dwarves, heroic centaurs and villainous minotaurs, satyrs and talking beavers, cyclops and Santa Claus himself, plus Knights of Something Like the Round Table. Mutant harpies and goblins in service to the White Witch are menacing the messianic Lion King, who goes out like a sacrificial lamb. Every fabled figure is here, it seems, except Bigfoot.

The characters and characterizations are mostly wonderful, especially the fine restrained performances of the kids. Georgie Henley's wondrous, wondering eyes make Lucy luminous. Scowling, kvetching Skandar Keynes suffers with an enormous chip on his shoulder and a tendency to betray. William Moseley is a noble Peter, the rock on which Aslan's church-like future kingdom will be built. The performances of these juveniles are always dignified, never cute.

Tilda Swinton plays the White Witch in a scene with Skandar Keynes, who plays Edmund. Click photo for larger image.

But, oh, that Tilda Swinton as the Witch, eminently creepy with her solid black irises, frosty demeanor and upswept icy hair. She is a terrific original villainess instead of a Cruella caricature, while James McAvoy plays her sweetest victim -- Mr. Tumnus, the faun -- to perfection. Liam Neeson supplies the adequate voice of Aslan. (I'm just relieved they didn't let James Earl Jones do it.)

Leave it to those beavers -- just their luck -- to be assigned cockney accents and family values. They're the weakest anthropomorphic link, and it's nobody's fault but C.S. Lewis'. Beavers are just too short and shouldn't be wisecrackin' on a crackin' ice floe, or talking at all. How can you lip-sync without lips?

Having cleared up that issue, we must salute the lavishly beautiful production design and cinematography. You'll remember the snowflakes on Lucy's eyelashes and the frozen statues that used to be people. The animatronics and relatively minimal special F/X play second fiddle to the goal of meticulous realism.

Director Adamson ("Shrek") is a New Zealander with a David Lean-type sense of deliberate pace geared to a patient British audience more than an antsy American one. At the preview screening, two unattended boys-from-hell (7-8 age range) in the row in front of me threw popcorn at each other for the first 15 minutes -- there wasn't enough ACTION! -- but settled in and paid close, quiet attention for the next two hours. The on-screen kids' problem wasn't the "home alone" kind. It was the World War II kind, at its base.

The film "Chronicles" preserves Lewis' page as faithfully as it could, I think. It has tremendous warmth and heart. Unlike the Tolkien "Ring" triology and Harry Potter pix, it is not so much "for kids and adults alike" as "primarily for kids." Compared to Harry (whose creator, J.K. Rowling, says she was much influenced by Lewis), these "Chronicles" are less hip and more soulful. Lewis' eclectic theology has Christian, Old Testament, animist, pantheist, pagan and Greek mythological elements bouncing around the story, picking up steam from British historical legends along the way.

But the fascinatin' rhythm of all the religious allegory -- like Lewis' personal trek from atheist to believer -- is for grown-ups, thinking about it later. No offense to "Mere Christianity" (1943), but for children who enter Narnia, mere fantasy is more powerful.