'Narnia' exhibit reveals why the White Witch looked so pale

Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his shoes. Furthermore, never judge a White Witch until you've sat a minute or so on her icy throne.

That's where I am now: Sitting on a refrigerated piece of molded plastic at the Arizona Science Center's new "The Chronicles of Narnia" exhibit. It's a chair, you see, designed to resemble the one in which Tilda Swinton's frosty hag rested her diabolical derriere in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."

And it's very cold. So cold that, for a split second, I actually do understand what it feels like to be the White Witch. Spoiler alert: It feels like wetting your pants.

Such are the somber scientific lessons proffered at the exhibit, a 10,000-square-foot menagerie of all things Narnia. It has costumes. It has video displays. It even has a shop in the back with all seven volumes of C.S. Lewis' legendary fantasy series.

What "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition" doesn't have, generally speaking, is much science. It feels more like a deluxe Planet Hollywood foyer, or an attraction at Disneyland, down to the excitingly cramped, Haunted House-style staging area that tickles your anticipation just so. This follows logically, since Disney - which distributed the movies - also helped conceive the exhibit.

"It's a fine line for us," admits science center public relations specialist Ashley Carter. "We try to emphasize learning and fun at the same time. And this one is very fun."

So, would the term "info-tainment" sum up the exhibit?

"Yes, that's about right," she says cheerily.

A few minutes after passing through the mock wardrobe doors at the front of the exhibit, I have to admit the designers got the fun part spot-on. For "Narnia" fans, this is comparable to Cooperstown. Just past the foyer is a meticulous restoration of Lewis' study - including the real antique wardrobe that, according to "Narnia" lore, first inspired Lewis to write the novels.

There are more than 150 articles of movie props and costuming in the exhibit, both from the original movie and the sequel, "Prince Caspian," released last month. Some of the movie costumes are good merely for ogling (like, say, James McAvoy's scarf). Others are interactive. One display invites guests to heft up Peter's chain mail tunic from "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." There are swords to lift, buttons to push and little places for pint-sized patrons to squirm into.

Jammed between the fun stuff, like sticks of dynamite hammered into a rock quarry, are the science lessons - a brief tract on deforestation, another on geology and a few others quickly forgotten. The best one demonstrates the engineering principles of an arch using plush, pillar-shaped cushions that practically scream "Kick me."

Science-wise, the exhibit - which runs all through the summer before packing up and moving to Philadelphia - has nothing on, say, the spectacular and eerily fascinating "Body Worlds" exhibit that visited the center in 2007. But, then, "Body Worlds" didn't have a section solely devoted to "Prince Caspian" teeny-bopper fantasy object Ben Barnes.

Now, that's " 'tainment."

If you go

What: "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Exhibition" runs through Oct. 26 at the Arizona Science Center, 600 E. Washington St., Phoenix.

Admission: $20 adults; $18 ages 62 and up and college students ages 18-25 with ID; $16 ages 3-17; $9 for science center members.

Information: (602) 716-2000 or azscience.org.