The Chronicles Of Narnia Super Thread

[areaseven]

On December 6, Walt Disney Pictures will premiere the much-anticipated film adaptation of C.S. Lewis' epic novel series. It's been a long time since Disney made a live-action film that doesn't suck, but The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe looks very promising. Will it be as good as The Lord of the Rings? Only time will tell.

The Chronicles of Narnia

[GRAND CANNON]

Thanks for starting up a new thread! Posted one way back in January, but then turned into a religious overtone review thread, but....

Let's see ...... Premieres on my b-day and has the guys from Weta working on it ..... it's got at least 2 things going for it already!

Seriously, I'm looking forward to this - albeit impatiently. I does look promising and would have to end up being so if they plan to continue with the other books in the series you'd think.

Oh, and I'll stay away from "Will it be as good as The Lord of the Rings?" for now. Thems be some lofty heights.

[chrono]

Given how it's also a Walmart product how can it fail? I mean they got a coupla thousand chinese grip boys......

[yellowlightman]

I grew up watching the BBC miniseries version, so I'm wondering how I'll like this new big-budget version. Definately excited to see it though.

[Apollo Leader]

I grew up watching the BBC miniseries version, so I'm wondering how I'll like this new big-budget version. Definately excited to see it though.

346089[/snapback]

How many of the books did the BBC complete as part of their mini series? At Walmart over this weekend, I saw that they have the three-DVD set of the BBC's production of The Chronicles of Narnia... it looks like the first three books are covered. How far along did the BBC version go?

(I ended up picking this up as a Christmas gift for my parents... my dad has much, if not all of C.S. Lewis' works)

[yellowlightman]

How many of the books did the BBC complete as part of their mini series?  At Walmart over this weekend, I saw that they have the three-DVD set of the BBC's production of The Chronicles of Narnia... it looks like the first three books are covered.  How far along did the BBC version go?

(I ended up picking this up as a Christmas gift for my parents... my dad has much, if not all of C.S. Lewis' works)

346104[/snapback]

From http://www.narniafans.com/movies/mov_bbc.php :

The BBC Produced mini-series based on these four of the seven Narnia books. They never even attempted to film "The Horse and His Boy," "The Magician's Nephew," or "The Last Battle." The BBC is cited as saying that "The Last Battle" would have been far too complex to shoot, however, rumor has it that the message of the book was far "too Christian."

Since their run on the BBC, the mini-series were edited down into three, three-hour long, feature-length versions for home video. "Prince Caspian" was combined with "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Created on a miniscule budget, it really shows. But within the context of the time of filming, it is understandable, and very well done.

[Graham]

I have vague memories of reading and liking the books as a child, about 25 years ago, but don't really remember them that well.

I may give this a try if the reviews are positive.

Graham

[Black Valkyrie]

Memories ! the last time I saw it, it was over 20 years and the only thing I remember was the Wardrobe and the lion scene.

Edited November 21, 2005 by Black Valkyrie

[David Hingtgen]

My all time fave books. And I am a staunch believer in the "original" order for reading them.

Anyways----going through all the new Narnia stuff at the local Barnes & Noble, I found that there's a lot more illustrations in the newer printings. I've been missing out on like 2/3 or more of the art all these years! I got my set when I was 10 or 11 I think, and have re-read them every few years. I just re-read them a month ago to get ready for the movie, and now I find I'm going to have to go buy a whole new set and re-read it again to get the new (old) art...

All these years I had based all my ideas of how Narnia looked on the scant few illustrations in my books---I never knew there was art of so many more things.

As for the movie---I thought LOTR was much better as movies than books. However, I feel Narnia will be much better as books than movies. Mainly, I can't help but feel that they "LOTR-ized" the movies as much as possible, to both hope to replicate LOTR's success as well as "that's what people expect nowadays for famous/beloved fantasy books made into movies". I'm seeing all these toys and collectibles based on characters that weren't in the books (mainly talking animals etc---I certainly do not recall a prominent centaur general in Book 1)

PS--saw the BBC series when I was probably 13 or 14. Liked it, but since "A Horse and His Boy" is my favorite book and "The Silver Chair" is my least favorite, I was rather disappointed.

Edited November 21, 2005 by David Hingtgen

[Twoducks]

I remember the animated version. Never heard of the books but reading about the movie made me recall watching the cartoon. Are the books good reading for an adult?

[areaseven]

Only six more days before this movie hits theatres. And so far, the reviews are good.

Rotten Tomatoes Rating (as of 12/3): 75%

[Stamen0083]

So when's the damned soundtrack getting released?

[David Hingtgen]

Twoducks---good enough that there's many books devoted entirely to reading the series as an adult, adult interpretation of the plot, etc. Though I'll reiterate, read it in the "old" order, not the new one. IMHO.

1. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (now called book 2)

2. Prince Caspian (now book 4)

3. Voyage of the Dawn Treader (now book 5)

4. The Silver Chair (now book 6)

5. A Horse and His Boy (now book 3)

6. The Magician's Nephew (now book 1)

7. The Last battle (now book 7)

Reading it in the new order is exactly like watching Star Wars in "order" from Ep 1 to Ep 6. I think about 99% of people would say watch Ep 4-6, then 1-3. Same here--going in pure chronological order spoils massive amounts of plot points and makes many "mysteries" no longer mysteries, since you learn about them long before you were originally supposed to.

[uminoken]

So when's the damned soundtrack getting released?

349459[/snapback]

December 13th along with King Kong's....

[phatslappy]

My all time fave books.  And I am a staunch believer in the "original" order for reading them.

Anyways----going through all the new Narnia stuff at the local Barnes & Noble, I found that there's a lot more illustrations in the newer printings.  I've been missing out on like 2/3 or more of the art all these years!  I got my set when I was 10 or 11 I think, and have re-read them every few years.  I just re-read them a month ago to get ready for the movie, and now I find I'm going to have to go buy a whole new set and re-read it again to get the new (old) art... 

All these years I had based all my ideas of how Narnia looked on the scant few illustrations in my books---I never knew there was art of so many more things. 

As for the movie---I thought LOTR was much better as movies than books.  However, I feel Narnia will be much better as books than movies.  Mainly, I can't help but feel that they "LOTR-ized" the movies as much as possible, to both hope to replicate LOTR's success as well as "that's what people expect nowadays for famous/beloved fantasy books made into movies".  I'm seeing all these toys and collectibles based on characters that weren't in the books (mainly talking animals etc---I certainly do not recall a prominent centaur general in Book 1)

PS--saw the BBC series when I was probably 13 or 14.  Liked it, but since "A Horse and His Boy" is my favorite book and "The Silver Chair" is my least favorite, I was rather disappointed.

346156[/snapback]

I'm not much of a reader, so help me out here. Why would you want illustrations and art work in a book you're reading? I always thought reading was so that your mind could create for you the setting and story with your imagination. Don't illustrations and artwork take away from that? I actually read the books when I was a kid too and I remember loving it; but I don't remember any of the illustrations.

[Chronocidal]

Oy... I DO remember the BBC versions.. the bad parts that is... I personally couldn't get over how they filmed the people swinging swords, then drew in animated monsters for them to be swinging at.

One thing I realized recently though.. LOTR covered a much larger scope, as far as characters and conflicts went, and there was FAR more to cover in one movie than with this series. They had to cut LOTR down to fit in the movies. With these books, it's kind of the opposite. The books themselves are pretty short, I think I remember reading one in an afternoon once. So, putting this into a feature film gives you the opportunity to actually expand on the books. If I remember right, the final battle in Wardrobe happened mostly in the background, while Lucy and Susan were with Aslan bringing reinforcements.. so you never saw much of that battle. They only come in at the end, after the witch's wand is broken. So, they may have added quite a bit to fill in that section of the book, which is probably where that centaur general will come in. Also, I don't know how far the scope of this project is.. they might insert hints of Horse and his Boy into this movie, just maybe as an aside, in the last bits of the movie. I'm really curious how they'll do the time lapse though, since they stayed in Narnia for years, maybe even a decade or two (could be really off here, my younger sister has the books right now, otherwise I'd be reading em )

I'll probably be there on opening night, one last hurrah before finals start. But I'm also awaiting the soundtrack.. first time I saw the trailer was at Episode III, and being excited already, it really gave me chills hearing the music. funny actually... when the train whistled and I saw the four kids, my jaw dropped, and I went, "No WAY..." and everyone stared at me like I was nuts. Then they all joined in when the wardrobe appeared.

[areaseven]

Tomorrow's the big day. Hopefully, I'll be able to watch this movie this weekend.

[David Hingtgen]

I'll wait a few days---what will be seen as a "kid's movie" combined with one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year means it'll be insanely crowded and loud to go to theaters at the mall. (ALL the theaters here are in malls) Need to wait until Mon or Tues, so all the kiddies are back in school. (And gotta go before they get out for "Winter Break")

[Stamen0083]

Catch the matinee during the day. ;-)

I'm still not even sure what my plans are yet. Still in "break just started, need to veg" mode.

[Eternal_D]

watched this on friday...never read the books or anything but film was entertaining.

starts off kinda slow, and all the kids are annoying throughout...but some of the animation was damn good.

[Keith]

Had this movie been made & come before Lord of the Rings, I'd have been really impressed by it. But unfortunately, it just feels "small" compared to any of the individual LotR films.

[yellowlightman]

Had this movie been made & come before Lord of the Rings, I'd have been really impressed by it. But unfortunately, it just feels "small" compared to any of the individual LotR films.

351675[/snapback]

I was worried they'd make the mistake of trying to portray the Chronicles of Narnia as the "next" Lord of the Rings, because ultimately they're very different stories told in different ways.

[emajnthis]

I read the book ages ago, and pretty much didn't remember any of it, but once the movie went under way it all started to come back to me. It was really well done, i always liked how the books gave you a lot of character development and in this movie (even though the kids are annoying) they did a good job of establishing the characters. It's difficult and unfair to compare a movie like Narnia to LOTR since like yellowlightman said, they're both very different stories told in different ways.

Another thing i saw this weekend was Les Miserables in DC. This was the first time i saw a play in the front row (anniversary gift for my wife). Another story i read ages ago and recalled as the play commenced, very awesome play btw if you haven't seen it.

[myk]

Did the movie feature numerous, sweeping camera shots that showed the vast land in all of its beauty and splendor?

[trueblueeyes]

Did the movie feature numerous, sweeping camera shots that showed the vast land in all of its beauty and splendor?

351805[/snapback]

You'll probably have to see King Kong for that. Or wait for Peter Jackson to remake this film.

[Macross73]

Saw the movie this past weekend, it was good. i never read the books or watched any other version. But i liked this ! and Yes there were a few scenes of the Sweeping landscapes.

[emajnthis]

There were a few, but nowhere near as many as there were in LOTR, after the first ten it just got old.

[wolfx]

Just watched it. Before watching it i didn't know what to think. Some people said it sucked and others said it rocked. Someone commented it was too PG for him. For me, it was alright. I haven't read the books before but watching the movie, i can see at the heart of this movie were the Christian values of sacrifice.

So anyway i heard this might be another triology? Where does the next story pick up?

[David Hingtgen]

Trilogy? Hmmmn. There's 7 books, but 2 and 3 go together and could be a single movie if highly condensed, 5 is unlikely (despite it being my favorite). 4 also unlikely. (though it's a direct sequel to 3)

My best guess would be to do books 6 and 7. (Note, I use "old school" numbering). They are the beginning and end of Narnia, chronologically.

[Apollo Leader]

I saw it with the Christian singles group I belong to on Saturday and most of us enjoyed it very much. My mom and dad saw it last night and they enjoyed it too.

When I was over at my parents on Sunday, I borrowed the first book in the Chronicles of Narnia, The Magician's Nephew (The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardobe is considered book #2 even though it was written before The Magician's Nephew). Hope to start reading that soon.

[jwinges]

My wife and I saw the movie tinight...We both believe this may be the very best movie we've ever seen. I felt like I was in the theater for 30 minutes not a couple of hours. This is a movie that cannot be missed.

[Stamen0083]

I'm only luke warm about Narnia as a whole. It's not as exciting as Harry Potter, and nowhere near as magical as Lord of the Rings. It's... childish, for lack of a better term, I suppose.

I like the movie a lot, though. I honestly expected to really hate the kids, but they were nowhere near annoying, especially compared to what's-her-name screaming bitch of a kid that I really want to shoot dead in War of the Worlds (I was rooting for the aliens to kill the damn girl.) Narnia's battle scene was really awesome. I didn't expect fauns to look that badass, but they are pretty badass in armor. The centaurs were very cool too.

The one thing I never gathered from the books was what time frame the kids are supposed to come from. The ending of the series was also anticlimatic and really pissed me off.

[David Hingtgen]

Saw it last night. Good, but not incredible/awesome. Favorite character was the White Witch. Actress was perfect and did a great job. Would love to see them do The Magician's Nephew with her in it.

[wolfx]

Saw it last night.  Good, but not incredible/awesome.  Favorite character was the White Witch.  Actress was perfect and did a great job.  Would love to see them do The Magician's Nephew with her in it.

353380[/snapback]

Was the actress for white witch the same as Gabriel in constantine? I could google it but i can't be bothered.

[Stamen0083]

Yes.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0842770/