Posted by: @pete

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.

Yes, I was thinking of that too — and the fact that animation also removes the issue of finding actors who look appropriate for the part, and also removes the need to spend time and money on costumes, make-up, prosthetics etc. to make people look like Fauns or Dryads or other such characters! I'd love to see an animated version with a traditional hand-drawn feel to it, though of course using modern digital technology as well to make it work. 

Posted by: @courtenay

I'd love to see an animated version with a traditional hand-drawn feel to it, though of course using modern digital technology as well to make it work. 

On reflection, I also think a traditional hand-drawn production would be lovely too, especially if it was a nod towards Pauline Baynes' illustrations and incorporated them into the production.  One of the few things I really strongly loved about the VDT movie, was the credits with her illustrations.  This makes me think of "The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends" the animated series from the 1990s which was based closely on Beatrix Potter's illustrations, and was quite a charming production.

Posted by: @wanderer

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.

Although I'm not entirely averse to Anime (either as an art-style, or as a genre in itself) there is something about the big eyes and small pointy noses which feels incongruous to the world of Middle Earth in the War of Rohirrim trailer. The backgrounds all look utterly fantastic, and even the character designs as a whole look spot-on... its just something about those faces that doesn't work for me.

That said, i've actually enjoyed most of Netflix's recent foray's into the Anime genre, with the Witcher anime spin-off being much better than the live-action spin-off (though that is a very low bar to clear) and their Anime adaptations of Castlevania and (new this week) Terminator series have been pretty solid, therefore I'm not going to entirely rule out Anime as a animation style when it comes to Narnia.

That said, one of my favourite recent animated releases in terms of visual style (other than the Spider-verse films which @wanderer also mentioned) is the Marvel "What If" show on Disney Plus, which managed to incorporate elements of "natural light" into the animation style which I thought really elevated it above more traditional "flat" 2D animation.

See article: https://comicbookmovie.com/tv/marvel/what_if/what-if-producer-reveals-and-explains-the-over-100-year-old-inspiration-for-the-shows-unique-art-style-a187245#gs.e1v1xm

I don’t know if real children could lend their voices to an animated film such the parts of the Pevensies, but I think it would be more realistic if they were used.  Using adult voices for children’s roles might be too artificial.  In addition I would hope that they would draw the children to look like the way they are in the books. Perhaps they could be similar to way Pauline Baynes drew them, although the artists could have their own unique style. It would be interesting to see what animators would do with the material.  I don’t think there are many old fashioned animated films today, and it would be refreshing to see a new one of good quality.  🙂

Posted by: @icarus

Although I'm not entirely averse to Anime (either as an art-style, or as a genre in itself) there is something about the big eyes and small pointy noses which feels incongruous to the world of Middle Earth in the War of Rohirrim trailer. The backgrounds all look utterly fantastic, and even the character designs as a whole look spot-on... its just something about those faces that doesn't work for me.

I haven't watched a ton of anime (only two shorter ones all the way through) but I do find the art style interesting. Anime as a genre contains such a broad genre of styles, and as far as facial proportions go, War of the Rohirrim is one of the more realistic ones (as opposed to Sailor Moon or One Piece). One of my friends who has watched quite a bit of anime pointed out that so many fantasy anime, manga, and manhwa (Korean webcomics) take cues from European architecture, clothing, and fantasy tropes (basically established by LoTR). So while I think it's an odd choice from a general marketing perspective, the faces didn't read as incongruently to me given the context of other animes. To add to your point about facial proportions, I'm not sure 3D Disney/Pixar style would work well for Narnia either, because the eye to nose proportions in a movie like Frozen or Luca are even more stark to me than in War of the Rohirrim. 

One other thing that occurred to me is that CGI (and even some 3D animation) ages poorly, and it ages fast, especially when used to create characters, while good 2D animation (or even some 2D/3D--see the Disney short Paperman produced in 2012) remains timeless. Narnia's books have a uniquely timeless quality about them, and I fear that heavy use of CGI (which would almost certainly be the route live action would go) would date Narnia, similar to how dated the Star Wars prequel trilogy looks today (the character movements like Jar Jar Binks suffer the most while the ships and industrial textures hold up decently).

@narnian78 I'm also inclined to prefer child actors in an animated show. It can be done--the Charlie Brown cartoons did it well, I think--and might lend more authenticity to Edmund and Lucy's arguments in particular. 

Posted by: @narnian78

I don’t know if real children could lend their voices to an animated film such the parts of the Pevensies, but I think it would be more realistic if they were used.  Using adult voices for children’s roles might be too artificial.  

The young actors who played the children for the Focus on the Family audio dramas of The Chronicles were very good. I've seen plenty of good stage productions with major child roles played by pre-teen or young teens. 

A bit of tutoring, for how to perform the roles, is surely all they'd need? The voices are recorded before the animation is created, aren't they?

I don’t know if people here like comic book animation similar to the old Star Trek animated series. If it were be done in an old fashioned way like the Prince Valiant comics it might work for Narnia. It is true that those kind of comics are decades old, but if they were made into a motion picture and looked medieval enough they could actually work. I think they would help keep Narnia from becoming too modern.

@narnian78 i like that idea. It would reintroduce that style, and present the Narnia stories within their European culture.