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100
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San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A movie of intelligence and power, of beauty, universality and largeness of spirit.
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90
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Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano
What's best about it is that it seems real by the logic of childhood - it looks as things SHOULD look, if kids had it their way.
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90
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Washington Post Stephen Hunter
Well told, handsome, stirring and loads of fun.
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80
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The New York Times Dana Stevens
The next two hours might not have quite delivered on that initial promise of wonder - we grown-ups, being heavy, are not so easily swept away by visual tricks - except when I looked away from the screen at the faces of breathless and wide-eyed children, my own among them, for whom the whole experience was new, strange, disturbing and delightful.
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75
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Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is a film situated precisely on the dividing line between traditional family entertainment and the newer action-oriented family films. It is charming and scary in about equal measure, and confident for the first two acts that it can be wonderful without having to hammer us into enjoying it, or else. Then it starts hammering.
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75
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Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The movie, for all its half-baked visual marvels, remains remarkably faithful to Lewis' story, and the innocence of his passion begins to shine through. It's there, most spectacularly, in Aslan, the lion-king messiah.
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75
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USA Today Claudia Puig
An engaging and exciting family film that at times feels a bit like "The Lord of the Rings Jr."
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75
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Boston Globe Ty Burr
A gracefully subtle metaphor about life's Deep Magic has become a war film; what was a one-chapter battle toward the end of the book is now a ripsnorting Armageddon that looks like something Hieronymus Bosch might dream up after a heavy meal.
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70
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Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
That's not to say that this first visit to a live-action Narnia on screen isn't enjoyable, or promising for the future of what will surely be a successful franchise. But there's not a lot of humor along the way, and the epic struggle between good and evil plays out in battles more impressive than thrilling.
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63
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Rolling Stone Peter Travers
This PG-rated movie feels safe and constricted in a way the story never does on the page. It leaves out the deep magic of a good movie, or a good sermon: the feeling that something vital is at stake.
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