Customer Reviews

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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Score = 5 stars
Bonus Songs = 0 stars
DVD content = 1 star (for the interview with composer Harry Gregson-Williams)
Packaging = 0 stars

This is a very poor package, something knocked off at the last moment in Disney's marketing department and unworthy of such a wonderful score.

There is precedent for creating special edition releases of soundtracks to major films that are truly special. The soundtrack to the most recent Star Wars film, "Revenge of the Sith," included a DVD with one hour of original content made specifically for the soundtrack release, an audio and video montage of Williams' work from all six films with introductions by one of the film's main actors. The first of the most recent Star Wars films, The Phantom Menace, also saw a special release that featured the entirety of the film's score on a two-cd set.

This special edition of the Narnia soundtrack features only 50 minutes of the original score, about half of what was composed (according to information from an interview contained in this set's DVD). Four "bonus songs" are appended featuring insipid performances by vocalists ill-suited for creating music for this style of film - Alanis Morisette, Imogen Heap and Tim Finn. The one vocalist with the appropriate pedigree, Lisbeth Scott, who has performed on Paul Schwartz' "State of Grace" neo-opera projects and on films such as Mel Gibson's "The Passion," is forced to sing beyond her range in a performance that is painful to listen to.

The bonus DVD is a collection of edited versions of behind-the-scenes films likely to appear on the extended DVD version of the film. There's a 10-minute interview with composer Harry Gregson-Williams, followed by 3-minute versions of featurettes such as The Director, The Story, and The Special Effects. You also get a trailer for the film, a photo gallery, and an art gallery, plus an extended television commercial for the Music Inspired By cd, featuring pop-rock dreck from artists you've likely never heard of (and never want to hear of again). If you plan to purchase the extended DVD package there is likely nothing in this Soundtrack Special Edition that won't be replicated in more detail there.

The packing for this special edition is nothing special - no leather, no metal studs, no book format, just a typical cardboard digipack that someone along the way apparently screwed-up. Either the original plan was to have the back panel be blank, or an error was made in the contents of the package. The back panel is now a vinyl sticker affixed to the cardboard.

If you want to purchase this soundtrack, stick to the standard release. You get the same score (plus the same insipid "songs") for approximately $10 less.

After seeing the movie I knew I wanted to buy the soundtrack. I absolutely fell in love with the score. I think it is one of the most brilliant scores I have ever heard. It is almost up there with John Williams score for Star Wars and it definately rivals some of the pieces from Lord of the Rings. But in this case the score is more magical and has a child-like innocence quality to it. And at the same time it has epic themes and pieces that really tug at the heart.

I am extremely pleased with this special edition soundtrack. It comes in a very nice package that has a strong Narnian feel to it. It comes of course with the soundtrack itself, which you can also put into your CD-ROM to access special internet features. And then it comes with a dvd that has several features pertaining to the making of the movie itself and also a special mini-documentary on the making of the score with the composer. In additon to that, it has two very cool art galleries and stills from the movie set to music from the film. And if that wasn't enough it also features the full-length trailer in excellent quality and sound and another featurette about the making of music inspired by the film. Finally, it also contains a 40-page souvenir booklet about the film that includes snippets of interviews pertaining to the movie and to the score surrounded by goregeous stills from the film itself.

This special edition soundtrack exceeded my expectations. I absolutely love it! I've listened to the score in it's entirety 4 times now, and I've only recieved it yesterday! I highly recommend it to all!

Besides seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I was really looking forward to the original score, especially when I found out that Harry Gregson-Williams would be writing the music, especialy after his excellent score for Kingdom of HEaven. It is unquestionable that Gregson-Williams gives Narnia a beautiful voice on screen, and at firt I didn't think that the cd measured up to the film. But over the last month, I have found that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is dominating the music I'm listening too. I simply cannot stop enjoying this music. There are several themes that go throughout the film, from the Nazi theme that is transferred to the White Witch to the Lucy/Tumnous theme which practically defines Narnia. There is also a heroic main theme, heard as the children first escape from the wolves on an ice flow and later heard with thundering effect in the battle track. There are only two disappointments, the four contemporary songs at the end of the cd are songs that I don't care for and I found that I wanted more of the score to be on this cd. I'm hoping a complete version is released, like the complete edition of Fellowship of the Ring, that was recently released, epsecially since this is a special edition collection of the soundtrack. The DVD included with the cd is cool and a nice little addition. Whether or not it makes the price worthwile depends on what you're looking for. Overall I would rate this score highly. Not as good as the Lord of the Rings score, but then again, it doesn;t have to be, because The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe score by Harry Gregson-Williams stands tall in its' own right.

Not too far removed from his earlier 05' ethnic smash score for Kingdom of Heaven, the talented Harry Gregson-Williams has returned to create another exciting environment. This time, it's pure enchantment. Howard Shore sculpted Middle Earth, John Williams and Patrick Doyle have co-built Hogwarts, and now HGW has visualized Narnia out of the darkness with Aslan-like adeptness. From the adventurous "Evacuating London", the inquisitively innocent "Lucy Meets Mr. Tumnus", and the ultra-enchanting "Narnia Lullaby", to the malevolent "White Witch", the triumphant "To Aslan's Camp", and the climactic "Battle", Gregson-Williams first installment lays wonderful, celestial groundwork for the beloved world of Narnia. This is only the beginning of the adventure.

This special edition does not have any extra music, as I had hoped; but it does have a DVD disc with some decent features on it and some cool liner notes - all encased in an embossed burgundy and gold cover - for those of you who like such things. If you do, definitely spend the extra five dollars and get this edition.

When I first saw the movie "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" just this past weekend, listening to Gregson-Williams' score very much added to the drama, to every scene of the movie as I watched. This is a soundtrack of epic proportions, drawing you directly into the world of Narnia. To sum it up in a word, I declare that it is moving, because that is exactly what this music did for me: it moved me deeply, touching the very depths of my heart and soul. My particular favorite track is The Stone Table Score: it was at this point in the film that I was in tears and, if you have either read the book or seen the movie, perhaps you will also relate.

This is a must for anyone's collection; whether you are a true "Narniac" or simply enjoy high quality music, Gregson-Williams has prepared a grand treat to be enjoyed for many years to come.

This was originally intended to be an EXTENDED SCORE release but the idea was cut short. As much as more score would be appreciated, this album does make up for it with the DVD. [Its always fun to learn how the music was composed.]

This release contains a booklet with excepts from an interview with the composer where Harry explains his inspirations when writing the score. Also, there's plenty of nice pictures from the movie.

Highlight tracks:

-Evacuating London (Tense and thrilling)
-To Aslan's Camp (Sweeping and heroic before becoming soft)
-Stone Table (Mournful, moving and touching)
-Battle (Energetic mixture of orchestra and vocals) "Best Track"

This is a promising start to the next franchise film scoring! Also, check out Kingdom of Heaven.

I have no need to elaborate on how fantastic I feel that this soundtrack is, as other people have already done so quite eloquently. But I do want to mention that the jazz song that plays when the children play hide-and-go-seek is missing from the CD; however, you can get this song off of iTunes for 99 cents if you want it. It's called "Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!" and it's by Glenn Miller and the Andrew Sisters.

This is what I would call a good soundtrack. I am not writing this review for the music of the Narnia soundtrack, because there are enough of these already. You should be able to form an opinion of it by reading other people's reviews. But, I do REALLY like it! There was some information that I needed, when I was buying my soundtrack, regarding which edition of soundtrack I should get. If I had the information I needed, I probably would not have bought the special edition soundtrack I ended up getting. I got it because I found a good deal, on Amazon actually, and I wanted to compare the DVD to the second DVD in the special edition movie, which we own. So...this is the information I needed, a comparison.

Soundtrack DVD

1. Film art gallery is good, if you like film art, although I thought it was boring.
2. Concept art gallery I find boring so to be honest I didn't watch it on this DVD since I looked at it in the book.
3. Behind the Magic of Narnia is all on the website except an interview with the composer which was quite good.
4. Theatrical trailer is on the website. You can actually get more trailers on the website for free.
5. Music inspired by the film I believe is all on the website also.

Movie DVD

1. Chronicles of a director was very funny and informative and fascinating.
2. The children's magical journey was also hilarious and you really get to know the children's personalities.
3. C.S. Lewis: From one man's mind was an interesting movie bio on C.S. Lewis.
4. Cinematic Storyteller's is an extremely interesting view of the movie from eight different minds; this also has an interview with the composer which is different from the Soundtrack DVD and very good.
5. Creating creatures was a FACSINATING look at the world of creatures both costume and CGI (computer generated images).
6. Anatomy of a scene: the melting river is all interesting ...

If you haven't guessed already, I could go on for a long time because there is much more but in the interest of brevity I will wrap it up. I enjoyed the movie DVD much more than the soundtrack DVD. The special edition soundtrack is not worth your money new. I would spend my money on the movie and not the extra DVD with the soundtrack although I love the soundtrack itself and think it is well worth the money.

Harry Gregson-Williams' score for Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is an enchanting score that compliments the film very well and is great to listen to on its own. I have heard people complain that it's not like Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings score and fault it for that, which is unfortunate, because Chronicles of Narnia is a very different film from LOTR. Yes, LOTR has set a standard both in cinema and in film scores, but I admire the fact that Harry Gregson-Williams took a different approach from what Howard Shore took with LOTR to distiguish Chronicles of Narnia as a stand-out film in the fantasy genre. It evokes the innocence and wonder of the children discovering a magical land and the evolution of their characters from English children living in the countryside to Kings and Queens of Narnia.

There has also been a lot of interest in the music used in the trailers for Chronicles of Narnia. Unfortunately, much of that music is unavailable for the general public to buy. The music used in the teaser and theatrical trailers are as follows (to the best of my recollection):
--When Lucy first discovers the wardrobe, the musical cue for that is from TREASURE PLANET soundtrack by James Newton-Howard.
--"Here Comes the King" is another popular cue done by X-Ray Dog (this cue is usually playing during the culminating montage toward the end of the trailers and involves a hard-beating and fast-paced chanting-like choir); "The Black Legend" by Immediate Music is the cue playing during the end-of-trailer logo where Aslan the Lion is roaring from atop a rock. Neither one of these cues is available on cd for the general public, as they are composed strictly for trailer use and is available only to production companies who wish to use these cues in their trailers (so we might very well here these cues again on trailers for different movies).

Despite the fact that these cues are not available on The Chronicles of Narnia soundtrack by Harry Gregson-Williams, this cd features an incredibly beautiful score that I will be listening to for years to come!

I don't remember being such a fan of instrumental music in the past, but when I saw the Narnia movie for the first time, I was amazed by the track playing while the Pevensies were evacuating London. The vocals were so haunting, the melody reflecting the mood of the four kids, and the sound effects matching the clacking of the train through the countryside. I loved that musical moment.

During the battle, I hadn't paid attention to the soundtrack because I was too busy being thrilled by the very aesthetically pleasing effects (PHOENIX), but when I heard the battle score on the soundtrack, I thought that was the best piece on the soundtrack alone. For a single score, it managed to capture every emotion the actors in the movie felt during the scene. Do you know how mad I was when the soundtrack wasn't nominated for an Oscar? I was MAD.

Listening to the music makes the movie so much more enjoyable. After I did, I felt I needed to see the movie again and again.

The lyrical songs aren't the soundtrack's high points in my opinion. It's the instrumental music.

Harry Gregson Williams has managed to create a unique "Narnian" theme that you can pinpoint in each track, and I'm really looking forward to his work in "Prince Caspian."