Must See : The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

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Because it was written first and they are designed to be read in the order they were written. 'The Magicians Nephew' was the 7th book that CS Lewis wrote, and it was written as a prequel to explain how Narnia came to be; why the wardrobe was a way into Narnia; and how the lampost came to be there; amongst other things. It is my favourite of the series, but it wouldn't be right to film it first.
 
opps as i posted in an older thread , i really enjoyed just a shame that the cinema was full of kiRAB :p i have never seen so many people get up during a film and goto the toilet :p.

and people on there phones also

but i recomend going to see this
 
I think it is great that it has been made. I'm not a Christian but it is full of Christian symblosim (C.S Lewis was a Christian writer and philosopher.)

Aslan as a representation of Jesus is magical.

The 'Deep Magic' and 'Even Deeper Magic' should have been more thoroughly covered in the film though, it's such a huge part of the story.
 
NOOO!!!!! As I said above, it may be the first book, but is meant to be read after the others. It answers a lot of questions. Therefore it should be filmed last.

It is a prequel, not the first book.
 
Ruby, you have said almost exactly what I thought after seeing the film tonight. The Narnia chronicles were for me too an immensely important part of my childhood and seeing it come alive on screen was quite an experience. The books are so deeply ingrained in my psyche that I can't imagine how it must be to watch the film without having read them.

I don't think I've ever seen a film that was so faithful to the book and on so many levels. Visually, the original book illustrations (who did those, by the way? was it Lewis himself?) were often followed meticulously and just leapt out out of the page/screen They even used the original drawing of the map during one of the battle scenes. On that level the little things that really struck me were the fur coats, Tumnus' cave house, the doors to the White Witch's castle and the turkish delight scene. It was just like reading the book again as a child. Just perfect.

As for Aslan....it's a funny thing. As a child I found him to be a distant presence that I could never quite warm to - it was always slightly puzzling to me why the children, and everyone in Narnia, were quite so enamoured with him. It was always just too mysterious to be interesting. I would have been happy to just fight for the beavers and for the rights of fauns to drink wine and be merry. But then, I was brought up as a strict socialist and to believe that religion was the opiate of the masses :D

I'm glad they played down that side of things: for example, in the book don't Susan and Lucy actually
wash Aslan's body after he's sacrificed himself?

The only thing I didn't like were the creatures in the White Witch's army. They just seemed too 'Lord of the Rings' for me.

On the other hand, Tilda Swinton created a character that was even better than Lewis's version, I think. She was just magnificent.

edit: and all the child actors were just brilliant, all of them. Why does anyone have a problem with Peter (have any of you seen the Harry Potter films????).
 
I always thought Aslan was supposed to be God, not Jesus... ?
But you may be right.
I remember hearing that Philip Pulman, author of His Dark Materials, lambasted the Narnia books as ......

just done a bit of googling to find a quote and see that he has spoken more on the topic since the film:

I remember his worRAB on the ending to the final book in the Narnia series and I have to agree with him there.
Link here by the way if anyone's interested.
 
It was the 6th book actually...

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
2. Prince Caspian(1951)
3. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
4. The Silver Chair (1953)
5. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
6. The Magicians Nephew(1955)
7. The Last Battle (1956)

CS Lewis himself said he agreed with reading them chronologically.

1. The Magicians Nephew
2. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
3. The Horse and His Boy
4. Prince Caspian
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
6. The Silver Chair
7. The Last Battle

Incidentally, he started writing TMN after TLTWATW but abandoned it.
 
In the light of all the discussion, I am re-reading them all now. Can't wait to see Reepicheep and Puddleglum as movie characters - they are both very funny.

All the books will be much tougher to adapt than LWW I think - they pretty much slapped the book on the screen there with some tinkering. With the possible exception of the Magician's Nephew, I reckon they'll have to throw all the structures out the window for the rest and start from the ground up.

I'm sure this will outrage Lewisfiles, but I'd be all for it - whatever works!
 
I think the spirited debate is about to fizzle out.....your post is very well argued and I can't, right now, think of anything comparable to come back with. Having just googled for 'Pulman on CS Lewis' I must say that he (Pulman) comes across as quite vicious but without really saying much of substance. Most of the quotes seem to come from a few years ago when he seems to have gone to extremes in an attempt to explode the Lewis myth, as it were. (By the way, you might be interested to know that your post came up around about third in the list in the google search :) ).

However, my own gut instinct is that Pulman has raised valid points and although I can see why you say
I think there is a lot more to it than that.

As for making more Narnia films, personally I agree with Willowfae that the Magician's Nephew is best read after the others - it is more meaningful that way.
 
TBH, I think the only books worth filming are LWW and Magician's Nephew. As you say, the rest of them would need so much re-structuring and re-writing you might as well make up a whole new set of stories.

Mmmh, interesting thought that don't you think?
These were my two favourite books of the series as a child and it seems to me now, as an adult, that is because they are the only two that contain enough magical storytelling to capture my imagination so that I remember them now. And, possibly, the only two where, as a girl I could identify with either the characters or the narrative (eg, no endless battle scenes). ;)
 
Actually I've been quite surprised at how good the stories I'd mainly forgotten are, and usually its because of strong characters. And funny you should mention battle scenes, this was one area that LWW film vaguely bothered me... it seemed to want to take on Lord of the Rings on its own territory. Fine, there are battles to be found in some of the books, but there can never be a sense of each film outdoing the one before like the Rings trilogy. I was worried it might raise false expectations, ultimately.

I think Voyage of the Dawn Treader might be hardest, even though I really do like it - it is SO unblockbustery. LoaRAB of great events and places (lots of laughs and no doubt the place where dreams come true could be made quite terrifying on film), but the whole arc of the story is quite cerebral really. For a kiRAB book...
 
Really? Dammit, I think I'll just have to go out and buy the whole lot again (I did have them all but my brother insists that they are his and.....but that's a long and irrelevant story)
And the Voyage of the Dawn Treader has funny bits?
I don't remember that at all.
Right, I'm off to Waterstone's in my lunch break tomorrow.
 
You know it makes sense! Reepicheep and the monopoRAB are definitely funny in VDT (best not abbreviated merely to VD methinks!)
 
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