Cinematical Exclusive: Narnia Sneak Peek

by Martha Fischer Oct 7th 2005 // 3:03PM

Filed under: Animation, Drama, Disney, Family Films, Movie Marketing

Narnia still

Though The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe isn't due for release until early December, the people seen as its target audience will soon be getting special advance looks at parts of the film. Because of the obvious religious elements in C. S. Lewis' books, Evangelical Christians are of particular interest to those behind the film, both as an audience and as a group who might potentially use the film in their efforts to spread Christianity.

According to a Cinematical tipster who saw 10 minutes of the film at a Christian leadership conference in Atlanta, the advance looks have only just begun - in fact, viewers at the conference were told that they were the first to see the footage. In addition to the movie clips, Tipster and his fellow attendees also saw two chapters of what he thinks will eventually be turned into a making-of documentary. Our tipster was kind enough to provide us with a detailed report on what he saw; you'll find it after the jump.
1. I don't know if this is news or not, but they definitely talked about Narnia as a forthcoming series, not just the single film this December.

2. The preview started with bombers over London, a very well done and exciting shot. All the shots were very well executed special effects-wise, though there were a few that were obviously not complete and utilized pre-renders or partial composites of what the final film will be. Most of the footage was composited in the way you might expect an extended preview to be put together, so maybe we'll see a finished version of this hit the theaters.

3. Edmund is upstairs watching the bombers and Peter runs him to the backyard bomb-shelter at the urging of their mother.

4. Train station good-bye

5. Drive up to the Professor's house

6. Edmund opening the wardrobe

7. Lucy meeting Tumnus who stands behind a tree. In the house Tumnus entertains Lucy and makes strange things dance in the fire.

8. All 4 children outside in the snow... approaching a seemingly normal beaver (Mr. Beaver, who looks to be the size of a real beaver) as they slowly approach the beaver Peter holds something out and beckons "here boy". Finally the beaver is fed up and sits back and says: "Well I'm not going to smell it if that's what you want". They follow the beaver.

9. All sorts of stuff happens. Aslan (who the creators claim is two years in the making) seemed not quite finished in the shots he appeared in, but some test shots showed with him were amazingly life-like. The wolves seemed finished and amazing. The talking CGI ones mixed freely with live wolves... with no ability on my part to tell the difference. 3 production companies worked together on this film, sometimes on the same shot simultaneously.

10. There seems to be some drama with a river breaking up and the children floating along on ice chunks. (oh joy)

11. The battle is 5,000 vs. 15,000... using the massive software that was used in LoTR

12. The whole story is pretty well covered by the preview and the showing ended with the children tumbling out of the wardrobe and being greeted by the smile of the Professor.

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