Slow reactions in Narnia

I was a huge fan of the "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" when I was a kid, but I'm not a huge fan of the new movie. Maybe my nine year-old self would love the film (and, who knows, I haven't read the book in 25 years... maybe I would loathe the book now.)

For one, the movie is too long. A good 45 minutes could be cut if they didn't have so many reaction shots of the children smiling at or gazing with wonder at the magical creatures of Narnia.

Reaction shots are tough for actors. Especially when they have to do the same look of amazement over and over. How do you make them unique? Meryl Streep could do it, but no one should have asked that of the kid actors. (And if you do have a reaction shot, make them a half second shorter and they would have been easier to handle. Every one of them seems to be a beat too long.)

By the third reel, I wanted to strangle the little brobdignagian-toothed girl playing Lucy, but it wasn't her fault. The fault lies with director Andrew Adamson who has directed before, but only animated movies. Flesh and blood child actors are not his forte and, unfortunately, they get a lot of screen time.

Just an FYI: it's "brobdingnagian". Quite cruel, I must say.