Most movie studios don’t have an established brand. That’s at least partially intentional. After all, studios want to release all different kinds of movies, and once you become associated with one thing, it’s hard to change that perception.
Disney has always been the exception to that rule. Thanks to its acquisition of 20th Century Studios and the integration of Hulu, Disney+ is now home to plenty of things that don’t align all that neatly with the Disney brand.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of the best movies on Disney+, even if it exists in a bit of a gray zone on the Disney brand continuum. Here are three reasons you should check it out.
It’s fit for people of almost any age
The Chronicles of Narnia has not gotten the same kind of widespread recognition that Lord of the Ringsreceived, but it does deserve some credit. This first installment, especially, manages to combine the (slightly heavy-handed) allegory of C.S. Lewis’s world with all the wonder and spectacle you expect from movies this size.
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The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe also has four central characters who all go on pretty amazing arcs over the course of the film, and those four characters are all coming of age in their own ways.
Tilda Swinton is perfectly cast
Casting Tilda Swinton as the White Witch is admittedly a bit of a layup, but she was perfect in the role. Swinton is just the right amount of malevolent, plausible enough as a temptress to lure the misguided Edmund to her side, but evil enough that you totally believe it when she straight up murders Aslan.
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Of course, it doesn’t hurt that her makeup and costuming are impeccable or that she seems like she was created for the purpose of taking on this role. Just because an actor fits the bill doesn’t mean they’ll nail it, though, and Swinton gets plenty of credit for that.
It indulges in a central childhood fantasy
One of the reasons The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe resonates so widely is because, like Harry Potter, it imagines ordinary children getting swept along on a grand adventure and discovering a hidden world that is totally within their reach.
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This movie gets at that elemental feeling that every child has of wanting there to be more magic in the world. It’s a story of three siblings sent away to shelter from a worldwide conflict who find themselves destined for great things themselves, and there’s nothing more beautiful and fantastical than that.
Stream The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on Disney+.
