...I'd want something between Ghibli and classic Disney aesthetically, I think.

And I actually would love for it to be animated. I could see either way on most of the books, but as a former friend pointed out, it's always been easier to get magical creatures that feel believable to work in animation than any other medium.

I do have one weird thought that keeps coming to mind... I know that practically speaking it would be best to pick a medium/format and run with it consistently, I can't get out of my head that while most of the books work fine as cinematic style films, Dawn Treader in particular sort of wants to be a miniseries in my mind. The mess that was the Green Mist happened because they were trying too hard to make a dramatic, unifying plot thread. But Dawn Treader has always been an episodic series of adventures. And if it was lucky enough to be an unlikely miniseries, I would want that miniseries in particular to be animated, regardless of the medium for the other books. I really deeply want to see the Sea Serpent, for instance, as something brightly-colored and wondrous, although dangerous, not as muted-colors nightmare fuel. I want the animation sequence as you glimpse under the surface of the Mermaid kingdom. I want the enchantment-rich setting of Coriakin's castle, and the firebirds' flight from the sun, and even the horrible mysteriousness of the visions around the Dark Island. All of these things would translate marvelously to animation, to my mind - and even the general atmosphere, bright blue ocean and approaching coastlines and brewing storms - and we deserve a well-animated Reepicheep!

@jewel 

I liked the 1977 cartoon of The Hobbit, and I also liked The Return of the King movie of The Lord of the Rings. As I remember, both of the cartoons were created by Rankin/Bass.  They didn’t have a lot of money or technology to make them, but I liked the simplicity in their artwork. I remember that they were shown on television many years ago. I would probably like it if Narnia were done with similar simplified animation, but usually with expensive technology is the way that movies are made today. However, I am more old fashioned in my taste. 🙂

I think some people often get animated movies and animated cartoons confused. Animated cartoons are mostly for kids. When I turned 13, I kind of started phased out of cartoons. I still enjoy some of them, but it's not like the main thing when I was a little girl. Animated movies is meant to appeal to both kids and adults.

From a religious aspect, what CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network) does with Superbook is that even though it's 3-D animated show for kids, it is something that is enjoyed by kids and adults alike.

That's what Narnia should do. It's a children's story, but it should also appeal to adults as well. Narnia doesn't have to be animated. But if a Narnia film adaption is something that both kids and adults can appreciate, it will count for something.

I have an unique idea if Narnia was animated. Maybe for the Earth scenes have the characters be live-action but when they head to Narnia, make them 2D-animated. This also means that the only actors that will need to be identical to their animated counterparts are the kids (and maybe Caspian if they decide to make him live action when he briefly visits Earth before heading to Aslan's Country). This would make the only film to be entirely animated would be The Horse and His Boy.

If an animated movie is made of Narnia I think it should have a medieval appearance.  It could look like early medieval Europe or England. In that way Narnia is very similar to Tolkien’s books, although Tolkien himself may not have liked the comparison. In fact the movie would probably work if it resembled the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I would much rather have any film based on Narnia look old fashioned and not have so much technology. 🙂

Posted by: @jasmine_tarkheena

That's what Narnia should do. It's a children's story, but it should also appeal to adults as well. Narnia doesn't have to be animated. But if a Narnia film adaption is something that both kids and adults can appreciate, it will count for something.

I also think an anime adaptation could work because many anime are loved by both kids and adults. Netflix has made their fair share of animes so I think it could work. There are various anime adaptations based on popular properties so maybe? 🙂 (If Scott Pilgrim and Anne of Green Gables can get away with it then so can Narnia!)

@queencrunchytheweeb Narnia is less likely to be converted to anime, because it is not only very English, but also still in copyright. 

Another alternative in animation would be something like the Prince Valiant comic strip which appeared in newspapers in the 1960’s.  When I was a child I used to read it in The Grand Rapids Press, my local newspaper here in Michigan.  The comic strip was about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.  Being something very old fashioned and medieval, it might work for Narnia or The Lord of the Rings. There wouldn’t be a problem with the animation looking too modern. 🙂

If Narnia is ever to be animated, it will probably be a long time before it happens. The animated LWW first aired in 1979, and it's only 90 minutes long. While the animation is a bit cheesy, it's good enough to keep kids entertained.

@jasmine_tarkheena 

The animated film of 1979, which as I remember was a TV special back then, was kind of interesting to watch, but I think it was made to look too much like the 1970’s.  I thought it was somewhat enjoyable, but I actually preferred the BBC Narnia because it had real people as actors. There was also a better recreation of the time setting of the books.  Today I would be more open to an animated film of the books. If it were something like 1977’s The Hobbit it could at least be pretty good even though it may not be great.  I actually like that movie today better than when it came out.

I think it is best to look at the films in the way that C.S. Lewis viewed children’s stories in avoiding a childish desire in trying to be too grown up. I hope I that since I have become older I would have become more mature in the decades since those films were made. Lewis had the best advice on that even though to our knowledge he never saw a Narnia film.  I don’t know if he ever attended any plays based on his books (probably not since he was not in favor of that kind of adaptation). But I think his advice would apply there too. One shouldn’t be childish in evaluating a film for children. The mature adult’s perspective is usually the best.  🙂

@narnian78 I guess we'll never know why the 1979 animated LWW decided to turn the characters into 1970's style. I wouldn't expect a new Narnia screen adaptation to do that, though.

If Narnia was ever to be animated (which it might not be for a long time), I would say I'd like it to be done in the styles of Don Bluth, of the 80's. The Secret of Nimh (which is adapted from Mrs. Frisbee and the Rats of Nimh) was unheard of at the time. I wouldn't expect Don Bluth to do Narnia, but his style of animation from the 1980's would be something for Narnia.

@jasmine_tarkheena 

It would work the best if the beginning of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe would begin with a 1940’s style animation, and when the children reach Narnia the world should look more like the medieval times as is appropriate for a fairy tale. That would be much better than trying to imitate the 1980’s, which I don’t think would work at all. I’m not sure if any of today’s artists could recreate the medieval atmosphere in the Narnia stories.  Perhaps they could create something good like it if they have a deep understanding of the Narnia books.  It is very important that the time of the movie coincides with the periods of the books. The medieval world is the time that C. S. Lewis loved, the old fashioned fairy tale magic and chivalry. 🙂

I would personally prefer Cartoon Saloon to animate it should animated Narnia come true. It could also help to do more complex scenes (ie. The Creation Song in MN, The Undragoning in VDT and The Donkey Transformation in HHB)

Seeing the trailer for War of the Rohirrim got me thinking about animation adaptation for Narnia again and how the animation scene certainly has changed so much since this thread was first posted, especially with the rising popularity of combining 2D and 3D animation techniques, allowing for a more diverse mix of styles and atmospheres. Across the Spiderverse is my favorite recent example of how many distinct styles can fit under the umbrella of one over aching theme (in its case, comic book). The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, and The Wild Robot (set to release this fall) are 2D/3D films from the same studio (DreamWorks), yet the end results are all so different stylistically.

One thing that I've noticed is that 2D/3D movies tend to play with the frame rates, colors, and style shifts more, making certain movements more "snappy," emphasizing moods with vivid color combinations, or changing styles to make a narrative point -- things that don't work as well in live action. (I'm suddenly imagining the scene in VDT where Lucy is drawn into Coriakin's book and the style shifting from semi realistic or medieval like others have suggested to Pauline Baynes's illustration style ). 

The more I think about it, the less keen I feel about a purely 3D medium or live action with completely CGI characters (like Disney's Jungle Book or The Little Mermaid). IMO, 3D works best when it's stylized (like Pixar) because when it starts to get too realistic, it can hit an uncanny valley (like The Polar Express). Some 3D designs like just feel too smooth or shiny for Narnia, though, with not enough texture. On the other hand, the amounts of CGI in movies like the live action Disney remakes mean that actors are working with green and blue screens the majority of the time with few practical effects (and the practical effects were some of my favorite behind the scenes trivia in the LOTR trilogy). I agree with other posts on this thread about the merit and beauty of hand drawn 2D animation, whether that be Studio Ghibli or The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse. Fully 2D could really make Narnia shine, too!

I also wonder if the medium of live action implies an unconscious cap on the suspension of disbelief. Even Disney's live action remakes can't get too fantastic or else it begins to look illogical and cheap (and they tend to go for neutral or less saturated color grading). But Narnia is so full of bright, fantastic moments especially in later books that might suffer from being too grounded. Psychologically, perhaps animation could help to bridge that gap. 

As much as I'd like to see live action movies with CGI where required, in many ways I think good animation might be worth considering today - and could make it more easy to adapt all seven of the books to screen and would have the added bonus of solving the aging factor of the cast.  I have been impressed with CBN's updated Superbook series that they were releasing from about 2011 until 2021.  The animation of that series was pretty impressive in my opinion.  I'm not advocating any particular people being involved in the animation process but it's certainly worthy of consideration when you see the quality of that series animation.  Some of the animation was very realistic and believable.  Add to that, as mentioned, it would also solve the issue of the aging of cast, as it's just the voices that need to be provided so it wouldn't matter so much how close together or far apart the films were made or which order they were done in.