Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

Posted by: @queencrunchytheweeb

Another scene I think would be interesting to see on the big screen for the first time is Rabadash's transformation into a donkey. The sequence could easily last from a mere 10 seconds to over 2 minutes long. My only downside is the risk of making it too scary like the transformation in Pinocchio. This is supposed to be his "Villain Defeat" scene, and it should not be over exaggerated to the point where it's scary for the kids.

I was actually kind of wondering how a HHB movie will be able to handle that! I know that some people expect a huge epic battle scene "to save the world" in fantasy movie. At the Battle of Anvard, Rabadash gets caught hanging because of the hole in his armor.

As for Rabadash being turned into a donkey, that's kind of tricky! It's a dark moment, yes! So I kind of wonder how a movie will be able to handle that without being over exaggerated!

 

I believe that the Focus on the Family version did an excellent job with this scene! But, it was not visual so we still need to be a little worried about how a HHB movie/series would handle it without being over-exaggerated and/or cheesy.

Even though I wouldn't expect a faithful adaptation to be 100% right, it would be something if it was 75% or 80% right.  

I would say that the first Walden Narnia movie got it about 50% right. It didn't stray too far from the book, which for some Narnia fans, it still counts for something. I give credit for making the landscape looking really nice, though it does tend to get too distracting at times. They even captured the child like wonder when Lucy first enters to Narnia.

As for the battle scene, I'm kind of somewhere in the middle. Lewis and Tolkien both knew the horrors of wars. I don't think they would have meant for their Middle Earth and Narnia universes to have the epic battle scenes to be all about honor and glory. In The Two Towers, Prince Theodred was killed in an ambush, and his funeral which I think it's only in the extended version, is one of the most heartbreaking scenes to watch. In a way, I think it's a good way of showing that there's nothing pretty or exciting about war, no matter what Hollywood might say. I think both Lewis and Tolkien knew this well. 

So this is going to be my first real comment at NarniaWeb, except for the 'Getting-tp-know-each-other' post. This is one of the subjects that is very important to me when it is coming to Narnia film adaptations, so this is where I will share my thoughts first. To me, a faithful adaptation should be like this (after reading the comments at this forum):

First of all, the Christian Message in the books has to be maintained. This intent of C. S. Lewis is for me clearly the main message of the books, with after that all the good values and stuff as courage and friendship. Therefore I think that a faithful adaptation has to be done by a somehow Christian director, although thats maybe not realistic. Narnia does not have to be as huge and epic as Middle-Earth, there is epicness enough in the stories themselves. 

Secondly, I agree with some people here that some scenes in the books are hard to capture visually. But there are possibilities for directors, and to that amount I would allow changes in adaptation. 

Thirdly, unnecessary changes to the plot are to be avoided. I never liked the romance between Susan and Caspian. Its adding nothing to the storyline and not adding anything to the message. Its just modern romance stuff that has to be in a movie nowadays. No need for any of that, although a change like the pace of the movie (as in LWW or LotR) is necessary for not having hours of movie dullness. 

These are just my thoughts, hope you like my first comment here at NarniaWeb! 

Welcome to the forum! And good job on your first posting.

Even though CS Lewis never intended Narnia to be a direct allegory (like John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress), it does have Christian elements in it. It did it all without turning it into a sermon. I don't think we can expect a perfect adaptation, because no one is perfect! But it shouldn't diminished the Christian aspect of the series.

Some things would have to require changes (and I get that!) "Books and movies are not the same thing!", they say (though you can kind of get tired of hearing it afterwards). For instance, there's so much you could do with the battle scenes in LWW, PC HHB, and LB. For LWW and PC, it doesn't have to be as cheesy or rushed as the BBC yet not as huge and epic as the Walden. For me, the battle scene was more of a problem in VDT than it was in LWW and PC. In VDT, there's no battle that resolves a conflict (the big epic battle with the sea serpent was not in the book!) I know people expect a big battle scene from fantasy movies, but who says that every fantasy has to have a big battle scene to resolve a conflict?

If you got anyone to blame about the Caspian and Susan romance in Walden's PC, you can blame it all on Hollywood! I can't say I completely hated it, I just wasn't a huge fan of it! Other than being non-canon, it's almost not that interesting! And that's not the only time when something like that has happened!  During the production of The Hobbit by Peter Jackson, the studio said that the second and third movie have had to have a love triangle (Kili, Legolas, and Tauriel), and that wasn't in the book at all! If the next studio that does Narnia say something like, "Oh, we've got to have a love triangle with Tirian, Eustace, and Jill in The Last Battle", I would flip-out!

So, a faithful adaptation would sure have to require some changes. But if there's going to be a change, it has to be something that could add to the story.

@jasmine_tarkheena 

There were hardly any changes from the book of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in the radio dramas which were broadcast on the NPR network and the BBC. At least they were much more faithful to the books than Peter Jackson’s movies. They were made in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.  At least that shows that scripts can be written and books can be dramatized without altering the books too much. I think movies can be made without changing the books too much.  The stories often need to be shortened, but the basic plot can remain the same. Adding a romance or too much other material that wasn’t in the book is taking too many liberties with the story.  I think the radio dramas are much closer to what Tolkien intended with his original stories. 

I don’t know if most of the people here like animated films, but I don’t think it would be a bad idea if they tried again with Narnia. The last time this was done was in 1979 and it may be time to do it again. If the animated film were something like the Rankin/Bass movie of The Hobbit I would probably like it, although hopefully it would be made with a higher budget than that film.  I remember being happy to see a version with real people in the BBC Narnia, but since then there have been other live action films so animated production may offer something fresh and perhaps will gain a new audience. Greta Gerwig is apparently open to the idea so it would be no surprise if she actually makes the attempt. If the movie looks something like Little Women it may not be a bad thing.  It probably shouldn’t look like Barbie, although I haven’t seen either of those films. An old fashioned look would be more faithful to the original books, which I think most of Lewis’s readers would want.

Posted by: @narnian78

I don’t know if most of the people here like animated films, but I don’t think it would be a bad idea if they tried again with Narnia. The last time this was done was in 1979 and it may be time to do it again.

I remember we had a discussion on just that topic a while ago — it was started during the pandemic, when many live-action productions ground to a halt because of lockdown rules, but animated productions weren't so restricted: If Netflix's Narnia is animated, what should it be like?

I'd be very happy to see a new animated version of Narnia, if it was done well. The 1979 version looks a bit cheesy and cartoony to me (though it's very sweet and I enjoy it for what it is), but a more realistic and detailed style could work very well. Perhaps something that would look a bit like a nod to Pauline Baynes' illustrations, though not identical. If the producers wanted to do that and found the right artist(s) for it, it could have a really unique style and feel to it and be something different — and hopefully fresh and inspiring — in comparison to most modern animations and live-action-plus-CGI fantasy films, which can easily end up looking rather "samey".

I had a look back at the previous discussion and it mentions the animated short film The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, which aired on the BBC last Christmas — that was just beautiful and a really good example of what can be done with animation. It's based on the artwork of the original book's author and illustrator, Charlie Mackesy, so it all has a hand-drawn quality to it. I found out after watching it that Mackesy is in fact a deeply committed Christian — and a former atheist, which I can certainly relate to — and so although there's no specific religious message in this story, it's infused with a real sense of hope and joy that might just make viewers wonder where this author is coming from, and look into it...

Honestly, I think he'd be the perfect director / producer / artist for an animated version of Narnia!!  I don't know if he's a fan of the Chronicles, but I would guess he wouldn't be at all averse to them — and he's someone who could definitely capture the magic and wonder of that world, and bring the deeper Christian message of it through without either watering it down or laying it on too heavily. Not currently possible, of course, with Netflix having the rights and having already chosen a director (again), but you never know what might happen in the future...  

Posted by: @courtenay

I'd be very happy to see a new animated version of Narnia, if it was done well. The 1979 version looks a bit cheesy and cartoony to me (though it's very sweet and I enjoy it for what it is), but a more realistic and detailed style could work very well.

The 1979 animated LWW was actually the first adaptation I’ve watched. I agree that it’s a bit cheesy, though it’s good enough to keep kids entertained (it’s only about 90 minutes long). 

Perhaps something that would look a bit like a nod to Pauline Baynes' illustrations, though not identical. If the producers wanted to do that and found the right artist(s) for it, it could have a really unique style and feel to it and be something different — and hopefully fresh and inspiring — in comparison to most modern animations and live-action-plus-CGI fantasy films, which can easily end up looking rather "samey".

An animated Narnia could work well.. either as a movie or even as an episodic series. Either way, it would certainly be a plus if it was faithful. As I’ve shared in another discussion, an animated series I’ve been watching, Superbook, is a faithful adaption of the different Bible stories (about 90% right). Not only that, but it got some historic details just about right (for instance, the episodes based on Daniel were able to capture the details of Ancient Babylon, including the Ishtar Gate). 

If an animated Narnia movie or episodic series could be about 90% or even 80% accurate, and even capture the details of different locations in our world and the world of Narnia, I would be delighted. Hey, just to bear in mind that no one is perfect. As long as the Christian aspect doesn’t get watered down, it will be a plus.