100-year winter hits London for Narnia premiere

British actor Skandar Keynes, who plays Edmund Pevensie, at the premiere of "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Picture / Reuters

LONDON - A small corner of London was transformed into a "100-year winter" tonight to mark the world film premiere of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

New Zealand director Andrew Adamson walked up an ice blue carpet, instead of the traditional red one, to attend the opening night of his $220 million film at the Royal Albert Hall in the country where the original story was set.

Adamson said today that he hoped the movie would satisfy all Narnia fans, who had been concerned it would not be a true rendition of the book.

"Hopefully it would reassure them we made an accurate interpretation," he said ahead of the premiere.

"It's about recapturing that sense of childhood wonder ... it's also about human forgiveness which is still relevant today. Maybe we wouldn't have as many wars around the world if we were more able to forgive."

The Shrek director was joined at the premiere by stars from the movie, including Tilda Swinton (the white witch), Jim Broadbent (Professor Kirke), Ray Winstone and Dawn French (Mr and Mrs Beaver), and the Pevensie children, William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan), Skandar Keynes (Edmund) and Georgie Henley (Lucy).

Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were the guests of honour after the movie was chosen as the 2005 royal film performance to raise money for the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund.

Crowds gathered in the grandstand outside the Hall which was bathed in ice blue lights and decorated with large blocks of ice, to watch the arrival of the royalty, stars and other celebrities, including Sir Cliff Richard, Jennifer Saunders, Dannii Minogue, Elle MacPherson, Joan Collins, Annie Lennox, Jodie Kidd and Girls Aloud.

But the real winter spectacular took place afterwards at an exclusive party in Kensington Garden, which was decorated with large frosted trees, ice carvings and a giant ice chandelier. "Snow" fell on guests who took to a specially made ice rink and indulged in Turkish delight, the sweet used by the white witch to tempt Edmund into betraying his siblings in the CS Lewis classic.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the first of seven books Lewis wrote about the fantasy world of Narnia into which the children stumble through a magical wardrobe. Here, with the help of the lion Aslan, they fight to overcome the witch's curse of eternal winter.

The Disney film, which opens to the public on December 8, has received mixed reviews in Britain. A review in the Times said it was "about as believable and as moving as a pantomime horse" and fell "far short of filling a Rings-shaped hole".

However, the Guardian described it as "a triumph". "It is gorgeous to look at, superbly cast, wittily directed and funny and exciting by turns."

The movie has also renewed controversy over the stories, which have been described as sexist, racist Christian propaganda. However, Los Angeles-based Adamson has tried to steer clear of the debate, saying it was up to moviegoers to interpret the story for themselves.

He has also shied away from comparisons with Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, despite the similarities between scenes filmed in the Southern Alps.

"It definitely has epic scale and all of those kind of things but really it's more of an intimate story," he told NZPA earlier.

- NZPA