This is a tough one. I don't know how I would feel about an animated Narnia movie.

As for movies that make me think "Narnia", there's so many to choose from.

Alice in Wonderland- There's almost similarity between Alice falling into a rabbit hole to Wonderland and Lucy walking into a wardrobe to Narnia. Both girls each had an older sister that much rather be reading books and tried to be practical. Both Alice and Lucy have a childlike curiosity.

Beauty and the Beast- In Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where Eustace is turned from a dragon back to a boy, I can't help but think of the scene where the Beast is turned back into a man. It is such an iconic moment.

Pocahontas- When the English settlers attempt to take over Virginia, it almost makes me think of The Last Battle. The Calormenes are cutting down trees, like the English settlers digging up for gold, when there's nothing really there. They both even have a greedy leader who want nothing but to gain more power.

The Secret of Nihm- I think this was the beginning of Don Bluth's career. It features talking mice, like Narnia. It kind of has a dark and edgy feel to it, which was unheard of the time. If Narnia is able to appeal to both kids and adults, perhaps it would benefit from something like The Secret of Nimh.

I was thinking of the 1989 movie of The Little Mermaid, which has scenes that remind me of Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the book rather than the movie).  There isn’t any live action, but the animation is really interesting.  The Little Mermaid is a Disney film much like Aladdin and Pocahontas, and the animation is done in the old fashioned way, which I think might work again if there ever were another cartoon movie of Narnia. I remember reading that those cartoon films of the 1990’s were quite successful in the theaters.  People at that time thought they were quite appealing.  🙂

@narnian78 

I've heard that people often get animated movies and cartoons confused. Cartoons are more for kids, and animated are meant to be appeal to both kids and adults. And of course, that's what Narnia should do.

Another movie I thought of that makes me think of Narnia is The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The tone, which is really dark, I can't help but think of The Last Battle. The Last Battle has a darker tone in comparison to the six other books. I mean, trying to make a movie that deals with oppression, genocide, religion. Hunchback of Notre Dame was a huge risk for Disney and I can see that The Last Battle would take the most risk.

Not surprising to see so many Disney titles popping up in response to this lol! 

So, keeping in the spirit, I would also add Mary Poppins to the list.

I mean, to some extent it could be said to fall under the heading of a "portal fantasy" like Narnia, albeit the fantasy world the children are whisked off to seems to be an animated version of England populated by talking penguins. (Mary Poppins herself could perhaps be compared to Old Mrs. Lefay, especially if one is familiar with how much more of a witch-y character she is in the original books). 

That aside, I think the movie touches on some themes that Lewis himself often discussed, both in and out of Narnia. Examples which come to mind include the idea of having an appreciation for beauty, of viewing "the little things" as "magical" (in a more serious sense, not taking small beauties and blessings for granted) and escaping the entrapment of becoming too caught up in politics/bureaucracy to value the real world and the people in it (which Governor Gumpas, Uncle Andrew, the Telmarines and Calormens, and initially Eustace, Mr. and Mrs. Banks, seem to have failed at). 

Oh, and they literally jump through a picture into another world.  

@jasmine_tarkheena

There were also the older Disney films like Bambi, Cinderella, Snow White and they were not cartoonish. The animation appealed to both children and adults.  Many of today’s films are not so tastefully made or artistically acclaimed. Something like those films might have worked for Narnia as it did for other fairy tales.  The Narnia books were adapted for television and the movies decades later, and unfortunately the techniques were generally no longer used for the modern films. Would modern filmmakers go back to techniques of the 1940’s for their films or use something similar for a TV series that is made in 2023? It doesn’t seem very likely, although it wouldn’t be bad if they followed their example at least for something.

The Never Ending Story (1984) for sure. 

A young boy is being bullied. He runs away and escapes via a Magical Book into a Fantasy Land that has fallen under an evil curse. Child goes onto a quest to save the day, in a story full of various fantastical creatures and monsters etc etc (its been a long time since I've seen the movie, but that's the broad strokes of it).

It's a little bit different to Narnia in that I don't think the Earth-bound kid actually enters the other world, he just kind of interacts with the child protagonist of the storybook world through the book or something (again, can't really recall the exact mechanics) but for me this movie was one I watched alongside the BBC Narnia series in the late 80s when I was first started reading the books, so they are inextricably linked in my brain.

Do movies like The Sound of Music make you think of Narnia? I think the location of filming is somewhat similar to a fairytale.  You could picture a story like Narnia happening in the mountains of Austria or the forests of Germany.  The music in the film is something that is like Narnian music, although perhaps it is more European than English. Still, the magic it conveys is similar, and it is like something from a fantasy world. 🙂

I'll throw in a mention of the much more recent The Greatest Showman (2017). In the opening sequence there's a bit where two children explore an abandoned house and it makes me think of Polly and Diggory exploring the attics and the Wood Between the Worlds--there's a sense that something wonderful is just around the corner. 

First of all, I just wanted to mention that in your video @col-klink, the part where you read Aslan's monologue to Shasta over the Prince of Egypt music actually gave me chills. I'd never thought of that before, but it fits so well.

This is cheating of the highest order because I'm going to cite a video game, not a movie, but the most Narnian experience I've had outside of the books is the opening of the game Myst. It gives me almost the exact same feeling as reading about the Wood Between the Worlds.

The opening of Myst gives you a book with a moving image inside, and touching the image transports you to a mysterious, uninhabited island. There is very little sound (or even music, at first) that you don't cause by walking or interacting with objects.

The atmosphere manages to be somber, eerie, peaceful, and intriguing all at once. If they could replicate that atmosphere for a TMN movie (at least for the Wood Between the Worlds scenes), I'd be very happy. Of course that's not necessarily possible (being able to set your own pace as a player is a big factor in the game), but this is my dream adaptation here, not a realistic one. 😉

I'm a big fan of the Myst series, at least the first three games. Rand and Robyn Miller, the Myst creators, actually said in an interview that Narnia was a big part of their childhoods and one of their influences.

I get a Narnia feeling when I watch Hugo. There's a similar sincerity to it, it's set during the 1930's and during winter, and it's about two children who learn about purpose, restoration, and belonging.

Posted by: @rya

I just wanted to mention that in your video @col-klink, the part where you read Aslan's monologue to Shasta over the Prince of Egypt music actually gave me chills. I'd never thought of that before, but it fits so well.

This is getting off topic, which is ridiculous of me when it's my topic, but would you like to have Hans Zimmer, the composer of that soundtrack, do the music for Narnia adaptations? He does a lot of soundtracks and not all of them are great. But at his best, I think he might be the only one who could do justice to Aslan's song in The Magician's Nephew.

Posted by: @skilletdude

I'm a big fan of the Myst series, at least the first three games. Rand and Robyn Miller, the Myst creators, actually said in an interview that Narnia was a big part of their childhoods and one of their influences.

I saw something about that on Wikipedia, but I couldn't find the source. I could definitely believe it, though! The Linking books do really feel like a take on the pools from the Wood Between the Worlds.

Posted by: @col-klink

...but would you like to have Hans Zimmer, the composer of that soundtrack, do the music for Narnia adaptations?

Well, I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to music or composers. I tend to assume that if I like a composer's music, (s)he would probably do a good job for any project they're given. I guess it'd be better to say that if I heard he was working on it, I'd be excited and intrigued, but I'd feel the same way about most familiar names.

That being said, I think if he wrote a score akin to what he wrote for The Prince of Egypt or The Lion King*, that could work pretty well for Narnia. Both of those scores are really good at capturing emotional themes, and a sense of regal wonder when needed. (The idea of him both working on The Lion King and Narnia also just strikes me as funny. 😛 )

*To clarify, I'm referring to the original animated movie, since I haven't seen the "live action" remake but he apparently did both. Assuming it's not the same, that is.

I love Hans Zimmer's score for The Lion King too (I've also only seen the original film — and the stage production, which is beyond incredible!! — but not the recent remake), but if we're talking composers now... can I put in a word for Howard Shore's absolutely AWESOME music to the Lord of the Rings trilogy?? And indeed, more on topic, the films themselves. They don't actually make me "think of Narnia" in the sense of direct similarity — Middle-earth has a far vaster scope than Narnia and a different overall "feel" — but I was overawed, from the first film onwards, at how brilliantly and perfectly Peter Jackson managed to bring that epic story to life. I didn't agree with absolutely all the choices of casting and character portrayals and things that got left out and minor changes to the plot, but overall he got it about 90% right, to the point where I remember sitting there in the cinema feeling absolutely blown away and thinking "Oh wow... this just IS Middle-earth." (But, unfortunately, let's just not talk about what he went on to do to The Hobbit. )

Compare and contrast a few years later when the Walden film of LWW came out, and before it was halfway through, I was just about writhing in my seat and half wanting to walk out of the theatre, but I made myself stay to see if it would get any better... it didn't. I was just shaking my head most of the way through and thinking "Nope, sorry, this is NOT Narnia." I know a lot of people are fans of at least the first film, and cinematically it's really well done and doesn't make any major changes to the plot (although I could have done without that extended added side plot with the fox). But to me it just totally failed to capture the spirit of the original book and did a lot of substituting spectacle for substance, so to speak. I still can't even watch short excerpts of it without utterly cringing, which is sad, but there it is. (No accounting for taste, I know.)

Now if only someone could do a Narnia adaptation that was as pretty-much-spot-on as the original LOTR film trilogy, I would be very, very, very happy!!!  

Posted by: @courtenay

I didn't agree with absolutely all the choices of casting and character portrayals and things that got left out and minor changes to the plot, but overall he got it about 90% right, to the point where I remember sitting there in the cinema feeling absolutely blown away and thinking "Oh wow... this just IS Middle-earth." (But, unfortunately, let's just not talk about what he went on to do to The Hobbit. )

Lord of the Rings film trilogy by Peter Jackson was unheard of at the time. However, they have been successful, even though not a 100% accurate (which I don't think you can expect from a movie anyways).

As for The Hobbit, the film trilogy were well done from a cinematic view-point. I know there were various opinions about how successful they were.

There are stuff I still appreciate- expanding on the dwarfs at Bilbo's house, having Smaug terrorizing Dale as part of the prologue.

So while not perfect, I enjoy the Hobbit film trilogy. I'm sure there's an audience out there.

Posted by: @courtenay

Compare and contrast a few years later when the Walden film of LWW came out, and before it was halfway through, I was just about writhing in my seat and half wanting to walk out of the theatre, but I made myself stay to see if it would get any better... it didn't. I was just shaking my head most of the way through and thinking "Nope, sorry, this is NOT Narnia." I know a lot of people are fans of at least the first film, and cinematically it's really well done and doesn't make any major changes to the plot (although I could have done without that extended added side plot with the fox). But to me it just totally failed to capture the spirit of the original book and did a lot of substituting spectacle for substance, so to speak. I still can't even watch short excerpts of it without utterly cringing, which is sad, but there it is. (No accounting for taste, I know.)

You can just be glad that you didn't walk out of the theatre, @courtenay. Though whenever you mention about after seeing the first Narnia film from Walden and not wanting to watch it again (which is fine), I sometimes think you're overreacting a bit.

I'd suggest that you wait to watch the Netflix version. If it doesn't live up to your expectations, you don't have to watch it again.

Now if only someone could do a Narnia adaptation that was as pretty-much-spot-on as the original LOTR film trilogy, I would be very, very, very happy!!!  

Lord of the Rings is more for teens and adults and Narnia is for kids. Though audiences have often viewed the Walden trilogy as a Lord of the Rings knock-off (maybe not entirely, though). I think it would be hard to do a Narnia adaption as a pretty much spot on as the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.