Another pair of recent movies which definitely have that "timeless" quality for me are Paddington 1 & 2.... oddly enough, also directed by Paul King (as per Wonka).

Both Paddington movies are set in the modern era, and yet the family live in a very traditional Edwardian townhouse, with all the traditional period fittings (including the old fashioned style bathtub). The family all dress in a very traditional manner - the kids with their school uniforms and the dad with his stuffy suit and tie, more befitting of the 1930s than the 2020s.

Even in the sequel where (not really a spoiler) Paddington gets sent to Prison for reasons I can't recall, the Prison has an entirely Victorian aesthetic from the sets to the inmate's attire.

As with Wonka, the film gets away with it because the Director leans into it with his visual style -- Its modern enough to be relatable (plus the huge convenience of being able to shoot outside in the real world without extensive set-dressing and CGI) but also manages to remain evocative of the original 1950s Paddington Books, and also the 1970s TV show (of which there is a whole montage done in the style of that show in Paddington 2) by being very firmly "old fashioned" when it needs to be.

I think that's one of the reasons I had Paul King down to be my dream director choice for Narnia before Greta Gerwig signed on, as well as the fact that the Paddington movies are just thoroughly delightful and really hit the right mark on tone.

Either way, I think the Paddington movies prove its possible to marry a modern setting with traditional sensibilities and old fashioned aesthetics.

Posted by: @icarus

I think the secret to pulling this off lies somewhere in here - the staging and cinematography.

In both of the aforementioned films, the directorial vision has enough of a stylised element to it (such as the whimsical tone of David Copperfield or the dream-like quality of the Green Knight) to basically signify to the audience "hey, don't worry about it".

I know I wrote before that I was openminded about colorblind casting but to be honest, the idea of doing a Narnia movie with a more "theatrical" style rubs me the wrong way. C. S. Lewis's descriptions in the Narnia books feel so physical and real to me and theatre is such a... symbolic medium for lack of a better term.  

“Stop!” said the Lady, and the dwarf pulled the reindeer up so sharp that they almost sat down. Then they recovered themselves and stood champing their bits and blowing. In the frosty air the breath coming out of their nostrils looked like smoke.

They were pretty tired by now of course; but not what I’d call bitterly tired — only slow and feeling very dreamy and quiet inside as one does when one is coming to the end of a long day in the open. Susan had a slight blister on one heel.

It was well worth it. It was not like the silly fighting you see with broad swords on the stage. It was not even like the rapier fighting which you sometimes see rather better done. This was real broad-sword fighting. The great thing is to slash at your enemy's legs and feet because they are the part that have no armour. And when he slashes at yours you jump with both feet off the ground so that his blow goes under them.

Jill thought that when, in books, people live on what they shoot, it never tells you what a long, smelly, messy job it is plucking and cleaning dead birds, and how cold it makes your fingers.

(I could probably think of better quotes if I'd read the books more recently.)

You yourself have said that Narnia should feel like a real place albeit an idealized, joyful one.

Having said all that...

Posted by: @courtenay

But if a new adapation didn't make any clear references to a specific era in our world at all — just gave it a vague "mid-late 20th century" vibe for the relatively few scenes that are set on Earth, and put most of the emphasis on the magicalness of Narnia itself — that could work, at least if the entire production was done well enough that viewers don't really stop to think about what era it's set in, but just enjoy the story.

I think you could argue that's what C. S. Lewis did in the books. A long time ago a Narniawebber described how it would be hard for the filmmakers to adapt The Silver Chair because it supposedly takes place in the mid to late 1940s but the details of Experiment House suggest an experimental school from the 50s. I thought of telling them that viewers generally don't care about historical details like that, but I didn't want to hurt their feelings. While I'd admire it if Netflix (or whoever) does a lot of research to recreate England at a specific time in history, I think it'd feel perfectly true to the books (only a few of which concentrate much on this world) if they did a combination of the 40s and 50s that never was. (Incidentally, a movie adaptation of another of my favorite kids' books, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, is going to be released soon and from what I understand, the production team did something like that with the 1970s and the 1980s.) 

Posted by: @narnian-in-the-north

The Victorian era isn't mentioned in Jane Eyre but if you don't take the culture and societal norms of the Victorian era into account you miss (in my opinion) a lot of what Charlotte Brontë intended. The same applies to the Chronicles of Narnia, the children simply are not modern children. 

There are so many great arguments detailed in this thread. @Courtenay I think has put the gist of it much better than I could - and I enjoyed the in-joke btw! But this point from @narnian-in-the-north kind of summarises the main point for me. 

Yes, if Greta really wanted to, and had a clear vision that worked, she could make a Narnian story outside of the 20th Century. BUT, she'd have to undergo probably too much cultural unravelling from the stories to make it feel right. There are possible work arounds, sure, but they'd have lots of knock on effects to the narrative as well as the beloved atmosphere of the books.

The pandemic scenario would prove an unwise red herring in my opinion, especially as moving across the country even in March 2020 was not the normative response in Britain, like the WWII evacuations were in 1940s.

Another compelling reason for me not to change the time setting, is that moving it to present-day ironically 'dates' the production. Even the Harry Potter films are showing signs of this. But if you keep them as period stories, they stay timeless.