From my point of view anyway, and for most of the worst scenes, I will include an explanation.
LWW Best:1. Aslan's Sacrifice
2. Lucy finding the wardrobe/ Meeting Mr. Tumnus
3. Coronation
Worst: 1. Edmund's near death(when I first watched it when I was younger, I did not even think he was going to die.)
2. The melting of the snow. I didn't like it because it wasn't long enough, and it was said it was the children were the source of the melting, not Aslan.
3. The statue freeing. It wasn't long enough, and most of the freed statues did not seem to rejoice that they were free.
PC Best: 1. Aslan's return
2. The Dancing Lawn scene
3. Discovery of the ruins
Worst: 1. Most of Peter's scenes, especially before the Night Raid.
2. The ending of the battle, right when Caspian is crowned king. Most of the Narnia didn't seemed too thrilled to be liberated from the Telmarines. Maybe I would have liked this ending better if they didn't have/ developed better the relationship that most not be named.
3. Awakening of the trees. So the first thing the trees want to do is fight for their lives?
VDT Best: 1. End of the World.
2. The Painting
3.Book of Incantations
Worst: 1. The undragoning. I do believe, unlike most haters of this scene, that this was redemption.But the timing of the scene made it really misleading.
2. Lone Islands. I wish that they could have taken Lewis' non-violent way out of the situation. I'm neutral on the non-canon green mist...
3. Ramandu's Island. Why is it called Ramandu's Island if Ramandu doesn't even appear? And I would have liked to see a bit more developed between Caspian and Ramandu's daughter, since they do get married. And I wish they had showed more of the feast.
Well, that's what I think anyway. Surprised that I didn't put down green mist as an issue?
Oh, this is going to be a long post
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Worst
1. The rushing of the thawing was, well, rushed. We go from an icy-cold river literally filled with blocks of ice to a spring environment at Aslan's Camp: no walk inbetween (well, there is one in the extended version, but I still prefer the theatrical cut over that one).
2. Edmund being rescued showed nothing but a bunch of heads turning from the bad creatures. It felt way too rushed as well.
3. Everything that was missing from Aslan's arrival at the Witch's castle. No mind-blowing leap over the wall, no rejoicing of the creatures and no Rumblebuffin breaking down the gate. Once again, it was rather rushed.
Best
1. The introduction to the wardrobe and Lucy's interactions with it. The entrance to Narnia was simple, and not with a big flash of light or whatnot. Not what one might expect with today's Hollywood "stuff" (I was being nice there). Very well done!
2. Aslan's introduction. Majestic and full of awe: just like the book describes it.
3. Aslan "growls", Jadis mutters "Impossible!", Aslan ROARS! Enough said.
Prince Caspian
Worst
1. Although it's well done, I am never excited to see the scene of the council and Miraz right before Trumpkin is pushed into the room. It always seems to take too long for me.
2. I don't really like the part when D.L.F. and Edmund fight on the beach. I didn't see the purpose of it other than Edmund showing Trumpkin that he knew how to handle a sword.
3. The Pevensies meeting Caspian with the Narnians. I was hoping for a nice meeting moment, but Peter and Caspian got off on the wrong foot right away.
Best
1. I thought the entrance to Narnia was really well done. Probably my favourite of the three so far. The part where the camera is within the train and everything slows down, showing the faces of the four Pevensies one after another with the familiar Aslan theme playing is pure cinematic amazingness! To top it of, we get to hear Lisbeth Scott's famous vocals right afterwards!
2. Although I don't like seeing the scary werewolf and hag, I like the summoning of the White Witch scene. I like how she's tempting them to let her "help" them. The thing I loved most about it, however, is seeing Aslan behind the icy "wall" once it's destroyed.
3. I love seeing Lucy (finally) meet Aslan in the forest. The conversation was great, and Aslan waking up the trees always sends shivers down my spine.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Worst
1. I'm okay with the concept of the green-mist, but the scene of the sacrifice to the mist drives me crazy every time I see it. This is a so-so CGI moment in the movie. The sped up footage of the clouds is way over-used, and the mist having no real shape is annoying; the disappearance of the boat could have been a bit more interesting than simply putting mist in front of it and having it gone when the mist moves away again.
2. Coriakin's gloomy mood as opposed to the jolly mood he should have had was really sad. He almost really was... oppressive.
3. The lack of build-up for Aslan's Country. I didn't like how we jump from Dark Island's end right into the sea of lillies. There was no build-up of the sun getting brighter, the ocean getting more shallow, the sky touching the earth, etc. That mysterious build-up of "What's Aslan's Country going to be like?" was completely abscent. That was probably my biggest pet peeve of the entire movie. Espcially since the Blu-Ray box-set has such a nice piece of artwork of the Dawn Treader sailing near a giant wave. That would have been amazing in the movie...
Best
1. Reepicheep and Eustace befriending was really nice to see. Although I'm not a big fan of the word "destiny" being used in movies nowadays, I still like Reepicheep's calming words to Eustace.
2. Call me lame, but I love the undragoning. A sudden change from the battle makes you realize something's about to happen. Short as it may be, it's the one scene I play over and over again. Great use of composition, colours, limited to no ambient sound effects and the music taking over the dialogue is fantastic (Eustace is hopeless: sad notes. Aslan arrives: uplifting notes. Eustace tries to scratch and fails: back to sad. Aslan scratches: back to uplifting, etc.).
3. Everything at Aslan's Country (and what follows) was amazing. I probably don't have to go into detail, because everything that happens at that point is really well carried out.
Haha, that took me over an hour!
I have to say for LWW, it's going to be far easier to name the "best" scenes over the worst, whereas VDT will be quite the opposite. Why? You can name any scene from LWW and it's memorable. For VDT, I remember the beginning and the end, but the whole middle is... nothing.
LWW "Best":
1. The Air Raid- loved the expansion of this from the book.
2. First intro. of Narnia- enough said.
3. Meeting Aslan- mainly the shot (I know, it's suppossed to be scenes, but I'm condensing) panning across the Pevensies faces as they react to seeing Aslan for the first time. It's a nice parallel with the same sort of pan at the Beavers house with the first mention of Aslan.
LWW Worst:
1. The lack of shots at the Witch's castle, when Aslan frees the statues.
2. The arrival of spring. The transtion is nice, but, as it has been mentioned, it was a bit too short.
3. I can't think of anything else.
PC "Best":
1. The transition between Narnia and the real world at the beginning. I love the sound of Susan's horn crossing over with the car horn.
2. The transition between the train station into Narnia. The visual is great since the book description doesn't really transfer well to film.
3. "The Door in the Air"- I really like the setup of the leap of faith, when Glozelle and Pruniprisma walk through the doorway and seem to vanish.
PC Worst:
1. "The Door in the Air"- when Susan says good-bye to Caspian. Enough said.
2. Aslan destroying Beruna's bridge. I just have a gripe about Aslan's CGI work here. The roar is nice and everything, but Aslan looks very fake and I'm completely drawn out of the film.
3. The return after the raid. What are the Narnians supposed to believe when the High King of old and their new king-to-be are bickering with one another? Can't say I blame Nikabrik's thought process.
VDT "Best":
1. The End of the World- the color scheme is a sight to behold and I really enjoy the effect of the big wave dividing the land.
2. Lucy and the Magician's book- until the arrival of the green mist.
3. The Painting- the transition into Narnia is great and the effects work really well.
VDT Worst:
-Name any island or anything to do with the "mist" and there you have it. Okay, I'm only slightly kidding. I'll be more specific.
1. Narrowhaven- the fight scene was completely unnecessary. Try to be unique, don't put in a a fight or action secquence wherever you can just for the sake of it. That's what makes this scene in the book so great, Caspian defeats Gumpas and gains control of the island by a mere show of force and power that he doesn't have actually have.
2. Eustace as a dragon and the undragoning- Eustace really didn't have a burden being a dragon. Lucy removes the braclet around his arm very easily, which annoyed me because I saw it as his burden. The pain it causes him should stand as a reminder of why he is in the position that he's in. The undragoning has the same effect. Eustace goes on about how hard he tried, but couldn't "undragon" himself. Well, really Eustace, it only looked like you were trying to scratch the itch that the sand caused and not trying to remove the scales. Not really much of an effort there.
3. Okay, it's not a scene, but every single pop up of the green mist. It's far too predictable. When you know its coming, it's more of an annoyance rather than a fear (isn't the "mist" something the Narnians are suppossed to be afraid of? I'm not buying it). I wish someone would do a re-cut trailer for VDT using the audio tracks from Stephen King's The Mist. Maybe then we'd have some "fear" thrown in.
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NWsis to eves_daughter & ForeverFan
Wow reading these three posts took quite some time. Ok, here we go:
LWW
Worst
To tell you the truth, there is nothing I don't like in LWW. It is the ultimate Narnia movie in my opinion.
Best
1. I have to agree with everyone here with Lucy finding the wardrobe and entering into Narnia. I don't know how Adams did it, but he just captured the awe and wonder of finding a new world. I was just watching it yesterday and it was like I was watching it for the first time! I was so caught up in the emotion...it was wonderful.
2. Another scene that captured my heart was Aslan's resurrection. When the sun rises and Aslan appears with the sun behind him, it takes my breath away!
3. And I just love the transition from Narnia back into our world. The scene starts off in this wonderful fairytail-like setting, with very rich colors. And then they walk though the wardrobe and fall into this dull, almost grey room. And it just shows the contrast between this world and Narnia. Hmmmm am I making any sense? I hope so.
PC
Worst
1. The whole subway scene. It looked wrong, cast a bad light on Peter, and looked a bit cheesy; especially the whole fight scene.
2. Almost every scene with Peter. It's amazing how they ruined Peter's character and made it completely opposite to what it is in the book
3. I'll agree with Louloudi, that the crowning scene was lacking. It was a bit too short. I also really didn't like Caspian's crown. Somehow in LWW the crowns looked a lot better. Caspian's crown looked as if it was going to fall off is head. It just made him look geeky.
Best
1. I really like the transition into Narnia. I have to say that their lines are cheesy, but the idea was really cool with the train coming in and the tunnel blows away. I never really understood how they got into Narnia when reading the book. But the movie made a really nice version.
2. I love the scene when Lucy starts fighting Nickabrick and then Trumpkin saves her. Amazingly, that part stood out to me when I first watched the film. I thought it was so cute.
VDT
Worst (I can go on and on about this, but I will try to keep it simple.)
1. Lucy's and Edmund's character. Especially the part when the picture is coming to life, and Edmund and Eustace are arguing in the background we hear Ed say that he licked all of the sweets Eustace stole....WHAT????? Is that what a king of Narnia would do? And I won't even start on Lucy. I was very, very disappointed.
2. Ok, the mist! Ugh, they couldn't think of anything more cheesy and stupid. *&%^$@!%!!!! I don't have anything more to say.
3. Dragon Eustace. I didn't like the fact that Eustace stays a dragon when they set out for sea. It's amazing how the directors love to do exactly the opposite of what the books say. In the book Lewis goes through a long description of why they can't take dragon Eustace with them. And in the movie, that's exactly what we see them doing!
4. The Swords. I didn't know that Father Christmas gave Peter Sting? Where did her get it from . And the Aslan cloned seven more and gave them to some Telmarine lords who didn't even believe in him and hated lions. Hmmmm it's amazing how mixed up the minds of the scriptwriters where. Do you know if they are the same ones who are writing The Hobbit? Maybe they mixed up the papers or something
Best (Yes, I have to admit, there were SOME nice things there)
1. The transition into Narnia. It was well done, I loved the way the water filled into the room and then they pop out in the middle of the ocean.
2. Eustace. He was everything I thought her would be. I just loved how one hated him in the beginning, and then loves him in the end.
3. The transition from Narnia to our world. I really liked how the water goes down, but they're all dry. The whole last scene, with Eustace putting the picture back was very touching.
Wow, I'm finally finished! Whew . This is probably the longest post I have ever written on NW.
Founder of the Exploring Narnia Club (PM me to join)
Member of the Dragon Club
On second thought, looks like listing eighteen scenes (six for each movie) is a little too much for one thread. So we're splitting this into three: