La Marche de L'Empereur

Stunning!

I watched the English version of this French documentary this evening. The cinematography was absolutely amazing, and the penguins, although slow and cumbersome, were spellbinding. It's impossible to get tired of watching these sometimes awkward, sometimes graceful and sometimes remarkable human creatures as they face incredible odds to ensure the continuation of their species.

The icy landscape became a second charcter in the drama, and the segments showing the glaciers and ice flats were awesome. I'd love to visit Antarctica, but I don't think I'd quite survive the -40 deg C cold.

I would like to have followed the original French commentary, but Morgan Freeman did a reasonable jo with the English version. Overall a very interesting and beautiful documentary.

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

Although I enjoyed the few that I read, CS Lewis's classic tales of Narnia, were never among my favourite books as a child. I only really became interested in the stories after watching the movie Shadowlands and finding out a little about Lewis's personal life and interests. Speculating about the author's intended message and motivation often makes literature far more interesting.

The film version of "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" was in general very faithful to the original book. I found that it was similar to how I imagined it (although the monsters in my childish mind were much less horrific), despite the fact that when I reread the book, I found that Lewis did not really go into a lot of detail about many things. Watching the film, I felt that the director captured the spirit of the book well, and the characters' motivations were well explained by the screenplay.

The special effects and creatures were very believable, and the actors were perfectly suited to their characters. I really enjoyed the film, and would definitely recommend it.