'Narnia' faithful to book says director

Narnia director Andrew Adamson is confident that fans will not be disappointed with his depiction of the fantasy land in Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Although filmmakers are often pressed to make sacrifices in terms of abandoning authors' original visions and plot elements for adaptations of their novels, Adamson stated in response to fans during a Q&A session for a fansite that such sacrifices have been kept to a minimum.

He explained: "I don’t feel that we’ve had to make any significant compromises in making this film. I think it ultimately lives up to what people imagine Narnia to be."

Adamson also stated that he had to find ways to depict elements of the book not specifically described by the author. "C.S. Lewis could write something like 'I can’t tell you how bad it was or your parents wouldn’t let you read this part.' In the movie we had to deal with visualizing those moments," he said.

"There are dark moments, there are scary moments, emotional moments, tragic moments. I wanted to bring these to life in a way that dealt with the reality of life and death situations but in a way that wouldn’t prohibit younger children from
enjoying the film. Kids like being scared as long as there is relief at some point, there is no need to be traumatizing or graphic to get the emotional effect that the book reached for."

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe hits screens on December 9, 2005.