So it must totally suck to be making fantasy films post-LOTR. Because, yes, Jackson showed that it’s now possible to do it well, but he demonstrated that by doing it amazingly, enormously well. So now you finally have a chance to make a Narnia movie that doesn’t suck — but it has to be compared to LOTR. Which means that, in this case, you’ve made one of the ten best fantasy movies of ever; but all I’m going to say is that compared to LOTR, you basically are pathetic and stupid.

Oh, it’s not a bad movie, but it’s definitely no LOTR. There’s no depth to it at all, it’s just generic mythmash fantasy with some particularly absurd plot elements and one of the worst endings I’ve ever seen in any work of fiction. But the filmmakers can’t be blamed for any of this; the fault lies with the source material, which is shallow, absurd, and has a horrid ending. The movie is far better than the book in almost every way, but it’s ultimately too faithful to the source material to transcend its limitations. (Contrast with The Last of the Mohicans or 2001.)