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'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe': Faithful, and then some

News flash: Disney didn't screw up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe — in fact, it's nearly perfect!

Wonders never cease.

I can't be the only lifelong fan of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia book series or the now-primitive animated version who was a little worried that the House of the Mouse was going to a) either water down the story's religious allegory so much it'd be toothless, or b) translate it so heavy-handedly that it'd be annoying, or c) dumb down Lewis' language in an attempt to hip it up for the masses, or d) meddle with the text and decide to kill off somebody's momma, because Disney just loves little motherless children. I don't know why.

Buena Vista Pictures 'The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' The verdict: In this season of adaptations, it's a satisfying doozy. Director: Andrew Adamson Cast: Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, James Cosmo, Jim Broadbent, Elizabeth Hawthornetie Holmes, Cillian Murphy Run time: 132 minutes Release date: Dec. 9, 2005 Rating: PG for battle sequences and frightening moments. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

But surprise! Your Flick Chick is a happy girl this morning, because director Andrew Adamson and his co-writers Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely and Ann Peacock have figured out when to stay beautifully understated, as in early scenes of grim World War II-era England, and when to pull out the magical, mysterious flourishes, as in any scenes with talking beavers.

My biggest sigh of relief comes from the discovery that Adamson doesn't feel the need to dumb down the story's violence, terror and basic elements of evil for the kiddies, who have seen more than their share in your Harry Potters and your Lord of the Rings.

There are times that it drags ever so slightly, but it's still peppy and majestically fascinating enough that it got the kids next to me to shut up and stop fidgeting. I didn't hear a peep out of them for the whole two hours! And anyone who's ever been trapped in a theater next to sugar-saturated rugrats who haven't learned the concept of inside voices, courtesy or shutting the heck up, knows that this is a miracle.

For those of you who didn't grow up with the Narnia books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the first in a series of seven books about a mythical land called Narnia. A family of children evacuated from London during the war find this magical world through a huge wooden wardrobe in the house where they're staying.

Whoops! Turns out that the Pevensie kids, Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (the unspeakably adorable Georgie Henley) have escaped one war to wander straight into another. This one's between the armies of Aslan (voice of the calm, cool Liam Neeson), a wise, noble lion, and the eee-vil White Witch (Tilda Swinton, who appears to have been drained of all of her blood).

The Witch has terrorized the citizens of Narnia, including many talking woodland creatures, making them all either revolutionaries or dirty, lousy snitches. (I won't be ruining things for you newbies by telling you who's who.) In fact, I'm really loath to tell you much about it at all, because I hate it when critics assume readers already know the specifics of a story and carelessly spill, thus killing the breathless wonder and magic-type sensation for generations of potential fans. You're welcome!

Basically, this is all you need to know: The Pevensies are fairly realistic children whose lives were already pretty stressful before stumbling into Wardrobe-gate. Adamson's added a tense, scary scene in the beginning to punctuate the peril that the family is in while living in under-siege London.

And when they hit Narnia, their reactions vary — cutesy little Lucy, the first to find Narnia, has no trouble wrapping her little brain around magical lands hidden behind the furniture; logical Susan needs some more convincing; oldest boy Peter steps up as the protector; and Edmund, already a slight brat, proves all too willing to drink the evil Kool-Aid, you might say.

The casting's fantastic — all of these kids are unknown, at least to me, and at least two of them, Keynes and Henley, are brilliant. Henley, in particular, is such a natural, and wears the wonder and horror little Lucy sees on her wonderful little moon face. She's as adorable as the talking beavers, voiced by Ray Winstone and Dawn French, and regretful fawn Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy, who's so cute that it's disturbing, because I don't really like the idea of finding things with hooves attractive).

But the acting honors go to Swinton, who's been the best thing in bad movies (Constantine) and is now the best thing in a really wonderful one. She pretty much channels everything that was scary about the Witch in the book — vengeful, smoothly seductive, cruelly efficient with the killing and the turning of living creatures into stone — and cooly ramps it up without making it campy.

Cruella DeVille is campy. This chick is serious — serious about the armies of darkness ruling the earth. And that makes her one formidable incarnation of evil, as well as a perfect note in a near-perfect movie.

The Flick Chick's Bottom Line: In this season of adaptations, it's a satisfying doozy.