The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to the countryside, who find a wardrobe that leads to the fantasy world of Narnia. There they ally with the Lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) against the forces of Jadis, the White Witch (Tilda Swinton). The film was released on December 9, 2005, in both Europe and North America to positive reviews and was highly successful at the box office grossing more than $745 million worldwide, making it 2005's third most successful film. It won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Makeup and various other awards. An "Extended Edition" was released on December 12, 2006, and was only made
The Chronicles of Narnia "Narnia" stories. Lewis maintained that the "Narnia" books were not allegorical, preferring to term their Christian aspects a "supposition". "The Chronicles" have, consequently, a large Christian following, and are widely used to promote Christian ideas. However, some Christians object that "The Chronicles" promote "soft-sell paganism and occultism" due to recurring pagan imagery and themes. In later years, both Lewis and the "Chronicles" have been criticised (often by other authors of fantasy fiction) for gender role stereotyping, though other authors have defended Lewis in this area. For example, Lucy gets a healing potion and a dagger, while Peter gets a sword.