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

Set in 1940 during the Blitz, the Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are evacuated from Finchley, London, to the country home of Professor Kirke. One day while they are playing Hide and Seek, Lucy discovers a wardrobe and enters a fantasy world called Narnia. She spends several hours in the home of the faun Tumnus. Tumnus tells her that, due to a curse, there has been Winter in Narnia for the past 100 years. He seems friendly, but, as he later confesses, he planned to hand her over to the evil White Witch, in accordance with her orders that if a human is ever encountered, they must bring it to her. However, Tumnus likes Lucy and regrets his plan, so he sends her out of the Wardrobe. When she returns, no time has passed in the normal world during her stay. She makes the other children check the Wardrobe, but the portal is gone. Later, Edmund follows Lucy into Narnia, and meets the White Witch, who offers him turkish delights as well as the prospect of becoming king. She asks Edmund to bring some his siblings to her. After she departs, Edmund and Lucy meet again and they return to tell the others. Edmund does not confirm Narnia's existence to Peter and Susan, saying Lucy's gone crazy, causing distress in Lucy and bumping into Professor Kirke. The Professor does not understand why the others do not believe Lucy's story, saying, "What do they teach them at these schools?."

On another day, while hiding from housekeeper Mrs. Macready in the wardrobe after they break a window, the four siblings step into Narnia. Peter and Susan apologize for their earlier disbelief and Peter threatens Edmund unless he apologizes to Lucy. They discover Tumnus has been taken by the Witch and meet talking beavers that tell them about Aslan. According to them, Aslan is on the move to take the control of Narnia from the White Witch. The four siblings must help Aslan and his followers, as has been prophesied. Edmund sneaks off and visits the Witch alone. When he arrives at her castle, she is angry that he did not bring her his brothers and sisters. Edmund is chained in the dungeon and meets Tumnus in an adjacent cell, and is turned into stone. She sends a pack of wolves to hunt down the other children and the beavers, which barely escape with the aid of a fox.

While Peter, Lucy, Susan, and the beavers are travelling to the Stone Table, they see what they believe to be the White Witch in her sleigh chasing after them, so they run. However, it is really Father Christmas. He gives Lucy a bottle of juice of fire-flowers and a dagger; Susan a bow and arrow as well as a magical horn; and Peter a sword and shield. Father Christmas informs them that winter will soon be over. Unfortunately, this means the rivers are thawing, but with their weapons, the five escape by crossing a frozen river below a frozen waterfall.

Arriving at Aslan's army encampment, they encounter Aslan, who is revealed as a huge and noble lion. Aslan promises to help Edmund in any way he can. They are also reluctant to participate in a war after fleeing from London. However, they have to save Edmund and Tumnus. Peter joins Aslan's army. A little later, two wolves ambush Lucy and Susan while they are bathing by the river. When Peter intervenes, the head wolf, Maugrim, attacks him, and Peter kills him with his sword. Some of Aslan's troops follow the other wolf back to the witch's camp and rescue Edmund.

Aslan has a "private talk" with Edmund. When he is done, Aslan tells the other children to forgive and forget Edmund's previous actions and they reconcile. The White Witch then arrives and claims that Edmund is her property, based on an ancient rule of Narnia that traitors belong to her as lawful prey and that for every treachery she has a to kill. Aslan "negotiates" with the White Witch, who agrees to leave Edmund alone. In return, Aslan "sacrifices" himself and surrenders to the witch. As Susan and Lucy watch in hiding, Aslan is humiliated and stabbed to death. However, he is resurrected because "there is a magic deeper still the Witch does not know." Aslan takes Susan and Lucy to the Witch's mansion where he frees the prisoners of the White Witch, forming an army.

Peter's army is beginning to lose its battle against the White Witch's army, and Edmund is fatally injured though he has managed to destroy her staff, which turns Narnians into stone. She is doing battle with Peter when Aslan soon arrives with reinforcements. She takes advantage of this distraction and disarms him, so Susan tries to kill her with her bow, but she misses. Lucy revives Edmund and many others with the fire-flower juice given to her by Father Christmas, while Aslan frees more victims of the White Witch's stone-turning spell. They join the battle, and Aslan kills the White Witch. The Pevensies become Kings and Queens and stay in Narnia until they are older. When chasing a white stag to receive wishes, they find the lampost and the wardrobe and go back to England.

Henley, Keynes, Popplewell
and Moseley as Lucy, Edmund,
Susan, and Peter respectively
(left to right)

Cast

• William Moseley as Peter Pevensie, the eldest of the four Pevensie children.
• Anna Popplewell as Susan Pevensie, the second eldest child of the four Pevensie children.
• Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie, the third of the four Pevensie children.
• Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie, the youngest of the four Pevensie children.
• Tilda Swinton as Queen Jadis the White Witch, the evil witch who holds Narnia under an eternal winter.
• James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus, a faun who at first is on the White Witch's side, then, seeing his evil ways, turns to Aslan's forces.
• Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan, the great lion who was responsible for creating Narnia and who sacrifices himself for Edmund's sake.
• Ray Winstone voices Mr. Beaver, a beaver who helps lead the children to Aslan.
• Dawn French voices Mrs. Beaver, a beaver who helps lead the children to Aslan.
• Jim Broadbent as Professor Digory Kirke, an old professor who went to Narnia as a child although he has been unable for years to get through the Wardrobe. He let the children stay at his manor in the country during the war.
• James Cosmo as Father Christmas. He gives the Peter, Susan, and Lucy their Christmas gifts.
• Patrick Kake as Oreius, a centaur who is second-in-command of Aslan's army.
• Kiran Shah as Ginarrbrik, the White Witch's servant dwarf.
• Elizabeth Hawthorne as Mrs. Macready, Kirke's strict housekeeper.
• Judy McIntosh as Mrs. Pevensie, the mother of the four Pevensie children.
• Shane Rangi as General Otmin, a minotaur who is second-in-command of the White Witch's army.
• Michael Madsen as the voice of Maugrim, a wolf who is captain of the White Witch's secret police.
• Rupert Everett as the voice of a fox who helps the children along their way to Aslan.
• Noah Huntley as the adult Peter Pevensie, who has grown up as a king in Narnia.
• Sophie Winkleman as the adult Susan Pevensie, who has grown up as a queen in Narnia.
• Mark Wells as the adult Edmund Pevensie, who has grown up as a king in Narnia.
• Rachael Henley as the adult Lucy Pevensie, who has grown up as a queen in Narnia.
• Producer Philip Steuer voices Phillip, Edmund's talking horse.