Chronicles of Narnia, The: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (film)

Chronicles of Narnia, The: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (film) Four Pevensie siblings—Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter—in World War II England enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of hide-and-seek in the rural country home of an elderly professor. Once there, the children discover a charming, peaceful land inhabited by talking beasts, dwarfs, fauns, centaurs, and giants that has become a world cursed to eternal winter by the evil White Witch, Jadis. Under the guidance of a noble and mystical ruler, the lion Aslan, the children fight to overcome the White Witch’s powerful hold over Narnia in a spectacular, climactic battle that will free Narnia from Jadis’s icy spell forever. Directed by Andrew Adamson. Released on December 9, 2005 after a world premiere at Royal Albert Hall in London on December 7. A production of Walt Disney Pictures/Walden Media. Stars Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), Anna Popplewell (Susan), William Moseley (Peter), Tilda Swinton (White Witch), James Cosmo (Father Christmas), Dawn French (voice of Mrs. Beaver), James McAvoy (Mr. Tumnus), Rupert Everett (voice of The Fox). Skandar Keynes is the great, great, great grandson of naturalist Charles Darwin. 140 min. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won for Best Makeup (Howard Berger and Tami Lane).  It became the highest grossing live action Disney film, though soon passed by Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. From the novel by C. S. Lewis. Filming, in Super 35 Scope, took place in New Zealand, the Czech Republic, and London.