**½

The movie was really hurt by the Lord of the Rings setting the bar for the fantasy genre, by the indecision on whether to make it a kiddy movie or an adult movie, and by being preachy or pandering depending on your point of view for Christ's sake. But there was just enough of the vision of Lewis to avoid the movie crap heap of stinking turds, well, that and one great performance by the White Witch. This movie struck me as a well-lighted Lord of the Rings, I mean it was bright to the point of shimmering, which must have proven helpful to well meaning parents (let's expose our kids to a classic novel that's been altered by greedy marketers because the chances of them actually reading the book are pretty long) so they could check out the sports scores in the newspaper when the film sunk into kiddy-, little ms. lollipop land. It's hard to recommend tripe like this flick, so I can't, but if you're stuck watching it make sure you bring your Blackberry so you can see how your stocks are doing. Good F/X btw, derivative, but good.