The Movie Snob's last review of 2005:

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (A). I never read the Narnia books, but I was generally familiar with the plot of the first one before seeing this movie version. (Seems like I saw an animated version when I was a kid, maybe.) As everyone knows, it is a very overt Christian allegory dressed up as kind of a fairy tale. Four children in WWII England find a magical wardrobe that is a gateway to the fantastic kingdom of Narnia. Narnia is ruled by the wicked White Witch (played wickedly by Tilda Swinton), and it has been winter for 100 years but never Christmas. But the inhabitants of Narnia, such as a faun and talking beavers, await the return of the lion Aslan, whom prophesies foretell will return and defeat the White Witch when four humans come to Narnia. The children (Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy) get caught up in these events, and there's quite a bit of adventure and excitement. Although I had read that the moviemakers tried to soften the parallels to the story of Christ, I thought they were extremely obvious -- indeed, most of the plot would have had to be rewritten to avoid the parallels. A great movie to end the year with.