@@18Hongo Maybe one reason I like it so much is that I've had the same thought myself - not the "men" part, but having fantasy protagonist envy and thinking "I wish *I* could be whisked off on a fantasy adventure where I save the world and Learn Lessons/Find Myself which helps me solve all my real-world problems when I come back". Then I thought "OK but that's never happening, partly because it's a one-in-a-million event but mostly because fantasy adventure worlds don't exist... Am I screwed or is there some real-world way I could simulate the experience and get the same result. Oh... therapy I guess?"
@@oosakasan Oh... OK: I was trying to make a joke - something along the lines of "that's painfully accurate and uncomfortable for me to think about". Obviously I didn't communicate that, but I really was just trying to riff on the "men will do X instead of going to therapy" meme. Thanks for making such a thoughtful reply though; it's very nice of you to be so considerate of my feelings when you thought I'd just failed to understand a joke.
@@18Hongo Oh, what I relief! Thank you for bouncing off my comment then, I really enjoy the joke and I'm sorry I ruined it by misinterpreting your reply :) maybe I was extra-sensitive because I recently commented on a Macabre Storytelling video about men and dating which was all about problems men sometimes have getting their struggles acknowledged and I was mixing my threads...
@@oosakasan Not to worry. The meme itself does address a very real issue in men's mental health; there is a general opinion that men should not be vulnerable or talk about their feelings (although I'm sure you're already familiar with that aspect of the problem).
@@Acidfrog475 Sorry if it was too random, but what can you do? Its just that many people arent really aware of it; and the existence of cancel-culture just overcomplicates it all, anyway.
Lol maybe that explains why the only thing I remember about this movie is that I shipped those to pretty hard even thou I didn’t even know what shipping was at that time
me, who thought that caspian losing his accent (since he’s not a telmarine anymore, he’s the king of narnia and he has to speak like a narnian) was a genius acting choice from ben barnes: 🤡🤡🤡
My favourite Narnia related Memory was when I met Anna Popplewell at a convention, accidentally blocked her way with my gigant ass dress, and she told me I was gorgeous and ASKED FOR A PICTURE WITH ME... She's so sweet.
She is an amazing lady. Sent a request for an autograph picture after the Prince Caspian film. I figured her agent/manager would send a picture already signed for autograph requests (and hoping I had the correct overseas postage on the envelope). Was surprised quite some time later when my return envelop did arrive with an autographed picture. Miss Popplewell also included a short handwritten letter saying how much she appreciates fans enjoying the films and apologized for the delay responding, she was busy concentrating on her university studies. An amazing gesture of kindness on her part, but of course she is a Narnian Queen.
One thing I really didn't get when I watched the movie was that Lucy has an obsession with becoming mature and pretty. Everyone just forgets that all of them grew up into adults in Narnia. Lucy might have been the youngest and least mature of the four siblings but she has technically lived for longer than Caspin. It makes no sense that she wants to grow up when she already has once and knows exactly what she'll look like in the future.
Lucy could have resented the fact that she came back to Narnia as a young girl again instead of the mature, beautiful, adult queen she was in previous adventures. Also, I always understood the book of spells being enchanted by the wizard to distract anyone else from using the book themselves and reading all his secrets. So if Edmund had discovered the book instead, he would've been enchanted by a spell to make himself taller/stronger/faster than any other man alive. Eustace may have discovered a spell to get rich or get revenge on his cousins.
To be fair, they went through puberty without any humans besides their siblings around the first time so the appeal of being pretty may not have sunk in the first time.
"If I had a nickel for every time a woman literally left the world to get away from me I would have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice."
I must admit I'm intrigued by that series, but recent circumstances have somewhat soured all things Russian for me. It's entirely irrational, I know, but I suppose this is the feeling that drove people away from German art and culture during the world wars.
@@18Hongo late reply but you may be interested to know that Bardugo's take on Slavic culture is so laughably bad, calling it Russian is an insult to real life Russians. I mean come on, she called her witches Grisha! Like the in universe explanation is that this was to honor their founder St. Grigori, but it's still hilarious since Grisha is basically a nickname. That would be like if you were to name your ancient order of magic-users Bob, after their glorious founder Robert. The rest of the Russian influences in the book are just as nonsensical, and clearly demonstrate that Bardugo didn't do any research into Slavic culture and languages at all. Instead, she went with the J.K Rowling method and included either stereotypes or whatever sounded cool to her.
@@TheaTheGenius I’m not gonna argue on accuracy but I will say that Grisha being called Grisha from the nickname of their literal founder is the whole point. Like yeah I guess it’s silly on paper but it makes sense as so many groups and movements are named for the people that start them. Admittedly you usually use the last name but I don’t think it’s that outlandish for them to use the diminutive instead. And in fairness to Leigh I don’t think she ever intended for anything to be a one to one comparison, just inspired. I mean that for all countries and ethnic groups in her books btw, not just Ravka
If my vague memories of that series are at all accurate, the budget was probably a half eaten ham sandwich and whatever money the crew could find between their couch cushions
And I'm pretty sure the budget for the dawn treader was even lower than the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Or maybe it just stood out more because of the setting.
Ben Barnes said on the My Dad Wrote a Porno podcast that he showed up on the first day and did the Spanish accent from the previous film and the director flatly said: “No. We’re not doing that.”
"A random hot woman tells the crew that the suspicious table of food is totally safe to eat." Me: And it turns out to be a trap and she's actually some kind of evil spirit or something, right? "Nope, she's 100% on the level and trustworthy." Me: ......... Oh.
I think it's a hospitality thing. Eating food that isn't yours, stealing. Eating food once you've been assured that it's safe and invited to partake, sacred hospitality.
I suspect a big reason in part why The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe did so well is because out of all the Narnia books, that's the one just about everyone has tried at least once, or you were required in like elementary school and all the others not so much. Now I will say, it's actually astonishing the three Narnia movies all more or less kept to the same look and design and do feel connected because Fox so could of easily said, we're doing our own version of Narnia.
I love all the books, and personally, what drove me from liking the movies was how they butchered my favorite, Prince Caspian. They did better with this one, but the magic was lost.
Yeah, we read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in sixth grade. It was one of the first proper books I read in English (not my native language). Then I got challenged by my English teacher to read the rest of the books too, so I read book 3 through 7 as well, having already read the magician’s nephew in my native Swedish. It was a good series to read at twelve years old. Certainly there were some words I didn’t understand, but it wasn’t too difficult and the story was very engaging. Definitely the book I most enjoyed reading of the ones school has mandated I read.
That, and also I think it got some success from a mix of actually being a pretty good adaptation, and it coming out at a good time. It was only 2 years after Return of the King and the same year as the fourth Harry Potter movie, but before both Eragon and The Golden Compass released and got criticized both as adaptations by fans, and as movies trying to cash in on the last remains of that initial LotR hype.
@@tovekauppi1616 I never had to read Narnia in school in Sweden, but I'm now studying to become a teacher and LWW was part of our YA Literature course as university. I'm definitely going to use it myself when I graduate and start working. If the school I work at don't have a full class set I'll just get one for myself. Wouldn't mind paying for 30 paperbacks of that book if I could teach a book I love (if I think the kids would like it too).
I kinda loved Dawn Treader as a kid. I recognized even then there wasn’t a through-line, but it felt almost like a road trip book with characters I’d seen in constant, oppressive danger. I liked getting short vignettes of them solving things and exploring.
I think the episodic nature of it is why the BBC adaptation made a stronger impression on me than the theatrical version despite the lower budget. I can't even say it was the whole series that stood out. Individual episodes stood out on their own.
@@BonaparteBardithion ooooh, I haven’t seen that one - I’ll have to check it out! That totally makes sense. It would be better as a tv mini series than a movie
I always saw the book as a Christianized Odyssey; a central goal drives the plot (finding the missing lords), and on the way they encounter and interact with the weird stuff they run into. It worked in The Odyssey, it worked in the actual Dawn Treader Book, it could have worked here. It'd be harder to pull off, but it can be done. A movie that I think also captures a similar narrative rhythm is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. That one's a bit different, as it has a "final boss" in the form of the Acheron, but it's still very much finding yourself in various situations while you pursue a singular goal. Had they done something like that with this movie, it might have worked better.
Totally agree with op. The book always read like a fantasy travelogue: a set destination as the goal with many smaller adventures along the way. Forcing in the green gas film baddie was a turn off for me.
@@cbruce78 it was 100% a fantasy travelogue! That’s the best description I’ve heard. It also captures the kinda laid back, lower stakes nature of the book
As a kid, that was the one moment where I was like "okay, this Jesus stuff is getting to be a bit much". Generally I always kinda knew it was there but was able to keep it in the background, but the lamb symbolism was too on the nose even for pre-teen me.
Yeah, I didn't grow up religious, and since I read the books when I was quite young, the lamb thing just went over my head. That said, quite a bit of the allegory went over my head, so by the time I got to that particular incident, my reaction was pretty much "It's Narnia. Weird shit happens". Looking back, I was probably a bit too young to appreciate the darker stories of "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle". I remember thinking that the end of the series was definitely trying for a heaven metaphor, but it was awfully complicated. I also probably didn't understand a lot of "The Magician's Nephew" as well. I wouldn't encounter Narnia again until my early twenties, when I read Neil Gaiman's short story "The Problem of Susan", which is one of those Neil Gaiman stories that makes you put the book down and say "What the fuck?" out loud in a packed train carriage.
I would like to point out that in the movie, the mist had nothing to do with Eustece becoming a dragon. In Narnia it's common knowledge that if you mess with dragon treasure you get cursed, even without the mist.
Although they were juggeling that armband pretty casually after he got turned back. But then our protagonists aren't exactly great at self-preservation and thinking ahead.
“If this lad is still insecure about his rule after bringing about years of unprecedented peace and prosperity in his nation I think he kind of needs treatment for clinical depression, not a quest to find his dad’s old drinking buddies” Me, hiding the aptly named ‘Caspian’s depression playlist’ Spotify playlist I was just listening to behind my back: “yeah no, that would be crazy, I think 😅”
It's super weird and unfortunate that Lucy's "idealized self" was not "Lucy when she was in her 20s and had been a queen for a decade". Would even have her making a pass at Caspian not totally absurd (although still something that should be shut down, for obvious reasons), if she were used to flirting with guys Lewis had such a big Thing for "purity" that he continually forgot that Lucy should act like the *adult* badass she really was, reserving that angst for the menfolk.
It genuinely bothers me that the Pevensie children went right back into having a normal life despite the fact they gathered knowledge and experience of an entire adult life. I know not all of it can be applied to a "modern" world, but as far as being an adult in said world, they would be ahead of anyone else.
You're right there. I have read some fantastic short fanfiction on that subject, that takes the opposite assumption: that they didn't go back to being all "pure" and "innocent" (except Susan who liked makeup and boys). For another alternate take, consider checking out the Wayward Children series, about the school where children go to after leaving their fantasy worlds once their Heroic Mission was completed.
@@Igorcastrochucre I gather that was the point though - it was his way of conveying the experience of the boys who went to the trenches with heads full of glory and adventure, were broken beyond belief and saw more horror and misery than anyone should in a lifetime, then returned(the ones who didn't die) to find everything pretty much as they left it, to try to fit themselves back into their old lives surrounded by people who didn't know or understand what they had lived through.
That’s not entirely fair. Lewis does not treat the Pevensie children as adults in children’s bodies, whether they’re the boys or the girls. I also think the first book is meant to reflect how kids play pretend and pretend to be grown-up knights or princesses or what have you. You can argue that it’s “less realistic” that a decade+ of years would just disappear and the Pevensie children would become kids again, but these books are fantasies for 6 year olds and their imaginations, so I don’t think it’s a huge deal. Lewis also has no issue with an “adult badass” Lucy fighting in battle in “The Horse and his Boy”, which is another reason I don’t think it’s fair to say he just doesn’t want Lucy to be an adult or be capable or whatever. Rather, I think he wants his audience of young children to connect to his characters, hence why all his main characters are young children and almost always from our world. However I will always agree that the Narnia books are a bit too kiddy in formula for the sheer amount of crazy and often disturbing ideas that are used.
"The show that's basically the personification of that one friend who's always read the book and won't shut up about it." Dude, that's basically me in a nutshell 😂.
Another scene that got cut out: in one of the spells, Lucy found out what her friends were saying behind her back. Turns out they weren't very nice and it ruined their friendship forever. Aslan points this out and blames her curiosity for it. Also yes, please review the BBC adaptations! Not only are they hilariously outdated but they actually adapted The Silver Chair. With Doctor Who himself Tom Baker as Puddleglum no less.
Aslan also says that the friend was just acting under peer pressure and didn't actually mean it. So while things wouldn't be the same between them, I've always hoped they made up.
I remember watching some of the BBC version of the Dawn Treader when it was on my locals PBS station and being deeply confused. Maybe it would make more sense now?
The Horse and His Boy has the best plot and characters. On the other hand, The Magician's Nephew has the most memorable settings & imagery. On the other other hand, The Silver Chair has Puddleglum. I dunno man, that's a tough one.
I’ve noticed among big Narnia fans HHB and VDT tend to rank the highest, but general populous go with LWW out of sheer exposure (HHB and VDT are my faves, absolute fave depends on the day)
I don't hate it like some people, and I do really enjoy it, but I don't know if I'd go that far. Honestly I can't really pick a favorite; they all work to form one large story. Lewis says so himself at the end of the final book. It's one of the reasons this is my favorite book series.
HHB, despite some dicey portrayals of -muslims- Calormen, is still my favorite of the bunch. A lot of the characters are flawed, but not complete saints or monsters and the main cast grows quite a bit. All the characters are humbled in one way or another and become wiser for it, and their relationships, which start pretty rocky, grow quite nicely through the story.
In the books, Dragon!Eustace does do something useful; he finds and uproots a tree the crew can use to replace their damaged main mast. It's not fighting off a seamonster cool, but it is pretty helpful towards continuing the voyage.
Growing up, I really liked this movie for one reason. it has an unambiguously good minotaur character in the cast. I've always loved minotaurs as fantasy creatures, and I like seeing them portrayed in a positive light.
I think you should just admit you're a furry with a thing for cow fursonas. The Minotaur in myth is clearly a curse on the King Minos for failing to make the bull a religious offering. It's existence is living proof of his wife's bestiality/unfaithfulness and his own hubris, unambiguously cannibalistic and evil but the king is unable to slay it on his own due to his guilt and attachment.
I personally always saw Tilda's cameo here as set up for the Silver Chair. The bad guy of that book is the Emerald Witch, who uses mind control to take over Caspian's son with the goal of taking over. I always got the feeling they were setting up that the White Witch somehow reincarnated as the Emerald Witch and the mist was her experimenting with her new magic
The BBC thought so too. The same actress plays The White Witch in TLTWATW, an Old Hag in PC, and The Lady of the Green Kirtle/The Emerald Witch in TSC.
@@thewittyusername I'm a huge British tv fan (I'm American) and I love playing spot the actor. I think almost every Brit actor has done a cameo in Doctor Who at this point.
My thoughts as well. Not in either film adaptations, but I also think of Jadis as the same. I think it makes sense when you look through the lense of eternal struggle of good and evil, and while there may be many forms its all that same root evil. Loved how well the bbc actress played the role (my childhood) and also loved how Tilda did so in the disney adaptation.
While this movie was a dissapointment, I find it interesting that they were setting up a witch from Silver Chair with this green fog thing. I mean, it is obvious that that creators wanted her to be responsible for this.
Okay but that would have been *awesome* and I wouldn't have nearly as many complaints about this movie if they'd ended up doing that. She was probably my favourite Narnia antagonist in terms of powerset, and it would have been really cool to see her use those powers outside of like... one or two chapters of the book. The idea of her trying to get Edmund, Lucy and Caspian under her thumb and then failing only to try again with his son would have made nine year old me fangirl so hard.
Honestly, the scene between Edmund and Jadis was probably the best in the entire movie. Bringing back Tilda Swinton alone was great but she's not just there for fan service. It actually makes sense for her to show up at that point in the story because of where the encounter takes place. They're in a location where the deepest, darkest parts of the subconscious can be exposed which fits perfectly with what Jadis said before she floated away. She's ALWAYS in the back of Edmund's mind even if he refuses to acknowledge her presence. Temptation isn't something you just overcome and that's the end of it. Resisting it can be a lifelong battle because the chance that you might relapse at some point never completely goes away. The genius behind Jadis' cameo is that it works both as a logical part of the story and as an allegory. It's logical that she would appear to Edmund due to their history but it goes deeper because she's the personification of Satan throughout these movies. The allegory lends more weight to the fact that the Devil never truly dies.
Dawn Treader was my favourite book, I was a sucker for the redemption arc kids, so having two of them was great. Edmund's character arc in the film should have been learning to be an older brother to Eustace. It's his chance to see the other side of the story he went through.
Will Poulter's eyebrows were the real standout character. Also, I totally did not even notice Caspian's accent. Its amazing what a few years of college in another country will do to you.
In the German dub it's super confusing because the voice actor sometimes voices Caspian normally and in other scenes with a Spanish accent. There's no consistency.
Caspian:"The woman I love turned into a star and returned to the heavens." Eustace:"That´s rough, buddy." I had no idea that there were seven books, that is quite the series. It would be cool to see videos about them too at some point, even if they never got adapted.
They're very short but quite enjoyable, if you can tune out Lewis' unsubtle religious messages, or his occasional soapbox rants about how This Modern World Is Going To Hell In A Handbasket
The connection between the little girl's presence and Lucy's Susan-envy always seemed pretty clear to me? It's showing Lucy that she doesn't need to be Susan, because who she is already is pretty great. The little girl even tells Lucy that she wants to be just like her when she grows up (to which Lucy responds that the girl should focus on being _herself_ instead).
Same. That scene is the ending of the arc. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of that arc for Lucy, but the little girl and the scene where Lucy tells her that is such a sweet moment and works well as the payoff.
That’s what I got from it too. Lucy doesn’t realize how sad it is to wish you were someone else until a little child says the same thing to her that Lucy thinks about Susan.
I'd actually really like to see a Lost In Adaptation for "The Silver Chair", because the BBC did adapt it, but I've never seen anyone review that one even when they review the other BBC adaptations.
I second this! I genuinely love that adaptation, Tom Baker is fantastic as Puddleglum and as cheesy and low budget as it is, it’s pretty creative with the costumes and sets. Also I happen to enjoy cheesy old effect so maybe I’m biased (:
When lucy was reading the spell book, she read a spell called How to see yourself as others see you, and then she heard two classmates sh*t talking her. Later when she encountered Aslan, he admonished her for not respecting their privacy. This was totally left out of the movie, and also out of your commentary. Otherwise very well done. Keep these going.
Yeah, what a weird fucking parable. "People in my life are insulting and belittling me behind my back and that hurts." - an upset child "Stay in your own lane, bitch." - Literal Jesus
That would take so long because of how many books are in that series and it is still going. But if there are any other youtubers that have reviewed those books please let me know.
Another great video! No word of a lie, the only thing I remember of the film adaptation is Caspian's accent change. I grew up watching the BBC adaptations, with my personal favourite being The Silver Chair, so if you do ever cover that I am here for it.
I actually didn’t like how they kept Eustace a dragon for the last half of the story. While the chapter may not be that long, the crew actually spent a fair bit of time on the island in the book. Eustace scouts out the island for them, tears up a huge tree to replace their mast, etc. It’s said that they started putting off leaving because they didn’t want to leave Eustace behind, but there wasn’t any feasible way to take a freakin dragon on a ship with them, unless he could just fly alongside them (which is what they went for in the film, but what if they don’t find land before his gets too tired to stay in the air? They address those types of problems in the book, but don’t have a solution). Eustace realizes that he’s a nuisance to the others (beforehand also, but now it’s worse) and decides that he’ll hide somewhere on the island, so they have to leave without him. He resigns himself to living out the rest of his life by himself, as a dragon, on the island. That’s when Aslan steps in and turns him back into a human. I really like how it’s done in the book, but I do admit it would probably be a little hard to execute in a film. Also the filmmakers wanted to have a dragon fight a sea serpent. And yeah, that was pretty cool.
I love that line so much. Short, to the point, and funny, yet it contains absolutely everything about the character without telling you literally anything but his name and the author's opinion on it.
Someone on Tumblr pointed out that the "almost deserved it" line was pretty rich coming from someone named "Clive Staples Lewis." No wonder he went by his initials instead.
“Why? Because fuck you, it’s Narnia!” made me lol. Honestly, the Narnia timeline is so fucked, it makes no sense. Ya just gotta roll with it. I honestly enjoy the book series so much, but the 2005 Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe is truly the best of these films. I love the BBC miniseries for it’s derp factor 🥰
Personally, after the Journey of the Dawn Treader the series lost ALL of its appeal for me. The silver chair was a confused mess, and the final book was weird in the extreme. Compared to the pacing and characters of the previous books, especially the first and second, the last 2 were rushed and absurd.
Scientifically speaking it's actually consistent by being inconsistent. It's a different universe so giving it an irregular time flow is entirely fair. Time being less fixed in Narnia compared to Earth is a pretty interesting concept...... too bad it's really just a gimmick here.
Dawn Treader was my favorite Narnia book as a kid, specifically because it did read like a series of short stories. I can't help but think that this would have worked way better as an episodic TV series/miniseries. Although keeping Eustace as a dragon was definitely the way to go. I was so sad when he got transformed back in the book.
I don't think it's so much of an awakening as it is a revealing. Although if you mean Ben Barnes was his bisexual awakening when the movie first released, then I fully agree.
That unknown story in the spellbook is supposed to be about “a cup and a sword and a tree and a green hill”. That’s all Lucy remembers. Could it possibly be the story of the holy grail?
I'm not sure if that tracks beyond the cup. Maybe the broader Arthurian legend though. If the cup is the grail, the sword is Excalibur, and the hill is Avalon. I'm still not sure what the tree is then, though. A tree and a cup suggests Christian imagery of Eden and the holy chalice, and maybe the hill could represent Golgotha/the passion? But then again I could as easily say that it's a Tolkien thing and the sword is Narsil, the tree is either the party tree in the Shire or the White Tree of Gondor, and the green hill is Bag End. Except that he's suuuper into allegory, I'd almost say that it's meant to invite association with great stories we're familiar without adhering strictly to one specific story, but I don't think that can be right given his disposition as an author.
This was actually my favorite book in the series. No real plot, just exploration to some weird and wonderful magic islands. But honestly, that's all it needed to be.
The image of a dragon wobbling towards an intruder and instantaneously dying of old age is even more hilarious when you consider this series of books went up against a series where the dragon instantly realises someone even has the intention of taking something from the hoard and burns down a village for the heck of it.
Considering ben barnes was in stardust and was the main characters dad does that make him the daughter of the star's grandpa, which makes him his own grandfather in law?
Not only was I not bothered by the lack of an overarching plot in this book as a kid, it was actually the Narnia book I gravitated towards the most. So many images from The Dawn Treader are embedded in my mind forever: Lucy's mermaid friend, Reepicheep leaving on his lonesome journey, the slave market, Eustace peeling off his skin to become a boy again, the stars, the gold statues in the lake who are actually people... There's something truly magical and evocative about this book that captured my imagination in a way the more well plotted and consistent books in the series never quite managed.
Honestly I remember very little about these books but Eustace tearing off his own skin to return to humanity sticks with me to this day. It's a very typical religious act of penitence, mortification of the flesh to redeem your sins like flagellants, and then be born anew.
I loved that book too. Althought the advantures are compeltely different it sort of reminds me of oriental tales like Sindbad the Sailor or Myths about Alexander The Great.
Have any of you fine people ever watched the BBC adaptations of the Narnia books? They did the Silver Chair. Kid me is pretty sure it was awesome, but I'm not sure how it would be for adults. Still, might be worth checking out if you haven't seen them. Edit: I've just watched a clip from Silver Chair, and it's uh...well it exists. If you're a Doctor Who fan, Tom Baker plays Puddleglum, so there's that.
I really want you to review the rest of the books in order. I loved them as a kid and still have a soft spot for them as an adult. I also have trouble explaining to some people that although Magician's Nephew takes place before The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe you absolutly should not read it first.
as a child i was very big on reading things in order apparently and no adult told me what order i *should* read narnia in...so i read Magician's Nephew first. Confusion ensued.
@@DerplingKing Yes, getting to the end of the Magicians Nephew and realizing how it all tied back into TLTWATW was the best. Publication order all the way.
Lucy was actually my favorite character growing up and when she was told she couldn't come back, the pain and confusion I felt as a 13 year old was way too much. I cried so much at the end of the movie.
I remember listening to this book on audio so many times growing up. The island with the invisible guys always terrified me. I feel like this should have been a mini-series with 1 or 2 episodes per adventure. 2 movies and mini-series would have fit and flowed better IMO than a movie trilogy.
Agreed on the miniseries thing! Also, was the audio version you listened to just a regular audiobook, or was it by chance the radio theater adaptation~?
The mini series idea would probably have been a better route to go, though this was made pre-streaming. Now they would have the budget to do it properly
@@corruptangel6793 They have but it's only recently that they have had a significant budget to make them, mostly via streaming but also the Night Manger. They couldn't have done a Narnia mini series properly until recently...a Disney plus series maybe?
I've always found the series dying here, right before the marvelously dark and weird Silver Chair, and inventive as all hell Magician's Nephew, to be one of the great tragedies of my teen years. At least I still have the books!
I think it would be very difficult to get it made without potentially offending Middle Eastern people (and changing the Calormen characters too much would make the fans mad)
I love that one now, but agreed it would be a tough sell and a cultural mess to make it properly and respectfully. Also, on the monetary front, each of the first 4 films has a connection to a past one, even if it's just Eustace. For that reason, THahB was a challenge for me as a young reader (approximately aged 10), and it took years for me to grow into it (TSC was a stretch as well, but I really enjoyed the kids in it). That said, I absolutely loved VotDT, and it was strange to hear the thematic issues during this video, when to me it was such a lovely voyage and redemptive arc and I liked it almost as much as LWW and MN even more than SC.
@@SuperSongbird21 , think asking middle eastern writers and director to adapt it would work? Horse and His Boy is my favorite too, and would love to see it however it needed to be changed
The costuming and set designs are my favorite parts of these movies. honestly wish It was socially acceptable to tunics, armor, and open carry a sword.
Well, you can do the tunic part. You just have to get used to people staring a bit. Or if you can find a place like a Renaissance Fair you could do all three.
I agree, the costumes for the whole series were absolutely gorgeous, my favourites were Susan's gowns in Prince Caspian. They let Susan be feminine and badass archer at the same time, really the best example of women's armour is in a children's film. Their costumes look quite comfy as well. I would love to wear Lucy's outfit someday.
@@andurilcuivie I tried reading the books before watching the show but stopped because I hated the writing too much - so I personally wouldn't recommend reading the S&B trilogy unless you are okay with the writing
The end of this book was a slap in the face to me as a young Jewish kid who didn't know enough about Christianity to have previously picked up any of the allegories. "What the hell in this Jesus shit doing in my fantasy book".
As a former Christian child (former in both respects, though that's probably not valuable information), I had no idea this was allegory until people told me later in life. To be fair, I didn't finish the series as a child, either. I was more familiar with the miniseries... Long story short, I did have the same reaction lol
Funny thing, as a young Christian I didn't pick up on it, even though I found the book in my church library (which was really just like shelves of books in a musty side room). I got all the way to the last one, then got scared that Tash was "demonic" and didn't finish it. It wasn't until years later when I read the first one (Wardrobe) that I figured it out and felt dumb. So I'm impressed you figured it out at the end of this one. You knew more Jesus stuff than you likely thought. BTW, what do you think of Magician's Nephew, and its creation story? That's the only one that uses a story from the Tanakh (heck, it's form the Torah) so I'm kinda curious.
Ex catholic, got into paganism as a teen and finished the books as a teen... Most flew over My head lol Not for lack of knowledge, I was too focus on escaping through fantasy I guess lol Edit to add: but yes, the finale Even angered me
Say whatever you want about the movie, but the sea serpent has one of the coolest monster designs I’ve ever seen. The bit when it splits open absolutely terrified me as a kid
When I was recovering from emergency surgery right at the end of high school, completely out of it on pain meds, I could really only read children’s books so I re-read Narnia. Voyage of the Dawn Treader became my absolute favourite, one of my overall favourite books, and remains my number one comfort book (along with a little book of the collected poems and songs from LOTR) that I return to when things are rough. I knew no movie could really translate the book well to film because of its episodic nature and no real antagonist. I don’t like the mist or what they did with Lucy and the end from the three sleepers onward was underwhelming. Edmund is my favourite Pevensie so I appreciate that they tried to expand his role, but as you said, it was a bit confused, though executed much better than what they did with Lucy. When the movie sticks to the book, I think they did a great job, especially visually and design-wise, which is even more admirable given the budget constraints. I wish it was a bit more colourful, but overall I think they managed to capture the feeling of magic and discovery, for the most part. The biggest issue I have with the book is the way Lewis deals with the slavery plot. It’s bad, pretty racist, so as much as I like Caspian’s bluff and replacing the governor, I get why the film may have decided to settle it with a sword fight instead.
Since the original BBC mini-series with my first exposure to The Chronicles of Narnia. Yes yes yes a million times yes please cover the miniseries. At least that one stopped at the Silver Chair. And it starred Tom Baker as an incredibly depressed Swamp Man.
I actually really liked Dawn Treader (the book). It’s an awesome road trip story, even if the going to Heaven literally stuff is kinda weird. I loved the fact that they went all the way into some really different territory, and it was all very fun and different. Sure, there’s no character arcs, but it was just a good story.
Another name for the entire Narnia series: Lion Jesus and the True Believers Lion Jesus and the True Believers Return Lion Jesus and the Odyssey Lion Jesus Goes to Scotland Lion Jesus and the Noble Savage Lion Jesus Begins Lion Jesus and the Apocalypse
I had a huge crush on Edmund's actor, Skander Keynes. Apparently I've got a thing for dark-haired, broody types, because now I'm mooning over Loki again...
I really liked this movie when I watched it as a kid, I was pretty surprised to find that so many people didn’t like it, though i really agree with your points of the character arcs because they did seem a bit off to me even the first time i watched the movie and i think your points are very well stated
I’m really glad you covered these adaptations. Prince Caspian was my first ever instance of “Look how they massacred my book”, and I greatly preferred the BBC version (though that may be nostalgia vision since I saw that when I was 8.) (complete tangent, but the BBC version of the Silver Chair is pure gold and I love it) I’m also unreasonably pleased you pointed out the missing sea folk cities because it was such a good piece of world building that they built on top of mountains in the shallows where the resources are, compared with the land dwelling folks who live more in the valleys. I don’t know why that stuck with me, but it really did.
After Disney bailed I was quite glad to even get another Narnia movie, especially bc this one was my favourite book. I was just disappointed to not hear the Narnia theme music.
The attempt to solve The Susan Problem in this movie deserves more credit. Lucy inches believably toward adulthood with actual dignity and isn't exiled for a little thirst the way Susan was
voyage of the dawn treader is my favorite book solely because of the opening line. i also watched the movie before reading the book, so i think i cried laughing at the literal first sentence. will poulter knocked it out of the park, he's so expressive. ben barnes is super easy on the eyes, too. not my favorite narnia movie, but still one i always come back to for comfort and for the laughs.
On the jokes about “Aslan was Jesus in lion form the whole time”: I think it seems to be a reference to Lewis’ own search for this mystical thing that he understood as both joy and longing, and when he grew older (as he writes in Surprised by Joy) he recognized that this “fantasy” he was so drawn to was actually a Person whom he believed to be God. So I think this idea of “You’re too old for Narnia” and “You must learn to know me by another name” is an analogy of this, his own spiritual experience. It’s true this concept doesn’t translate well into film or world-building lore, which is probably why he was opposed to his books being made into films.
I feel like this is the purest story and has the second best ending of any of the Narnia books despite the anticlimactic nature of it. The ocean at the end of the journey - before they leave - has a blessed place in my heart. The pages that go on and on about what's in the water and how the ocean changed as they approach the end just... They're a part of me. He wasn't pretending to write a story about something else, and that's why I feel like it works the way it does emotionally. That's me, though, caring about how a story feels rather than how well it's made.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first Lost in Adaptation I ever saw and now we have come full circle. I admit, I have a soft spot for this movie. It might just be where there is a noticeable difference in this one versus the other two, the amount of times I watched it as a kid, or even just how sea stories and swashbuckling appeals to me more than fantasy war movies do. Whatever the reason, I quite enjoy the movie, despite how much it differs from the book. I would definitely change a few things, but I still enjoy it. And thank you for giving it a fair shake. It is definitely the weakest of the trilogy of movies and it is so easy to hate on, but you still found things to enjoy in it and your enjoyment of the content you discuss always brings a smile to my face, which has been needed after the last few days. I don't know if you'll read my comment or even get this far if you do, but please know that you are a wonderful entertainer who never fails to cheer my day.
The pool of water that turns anything & anyone whom it touches into gold scared the fucking shit out of me as a child. I haven't seen this adaptation, but I remember the cursed water from the book.
It's been a while since I've read the book but I seem to remember the issue being that Eustace the dragon was too big to fit on the ship and they didn't think he would be able to fly far enough to reach the next island. The crew had a dilemma of whether to hang about and find a solution while their supplies dwindled or leave a young boy/dragon behind to live out his life alone.
@@RaggedToothRat Unless I'm forgeting something obvious there was no explaination for why they couldn't send a bigger ship for him later (beyond him being sad and them not wanting to leave him).
The thing that gets me is that these Narnia movies play sort of fast and loose with their characters' ages. I get the feeling that "Prince" Caspian in the movie was supposed to be like an older teenager, just young enough to argue that he still needed a Regent before his coronation in like a year or something. And then with the Dawn Treader, you can tell he's aged, but not really how much because it's not like he's going around saying "I'm 30, and you used to be 35, Lucy, this is weird."
@@vanyadolly well yeah, that would be pretty weird. Lucy should be a very complicated person by now, but Aslan says "NO! You must be the personification of purity!"
I actually really like Dawntreader book. It was one that I knew I'd read it when I was really young, but could only remember watching the BBC series. I didn't like it as well as the others when I was a kid, but later when I reread it ahead of this movie coming out, I enjoyed it a lot more. Then I watched this movie with it's video game plot, and was extra disappointed. I can see that the episodic nature of the book doesn't lend it's self to what we expect in movies, but I don't think that's the same as it just not working. They subtly changed the themes and meanings of most if not all of the big events in the book.
Agreed. They hit most of the plot points, but left out the Meaning. It would have been harder to keep the episodic nature of the book in movie form, but not impossible. Master and Commander had a similar episodic nature and that movie DID have a "final boss". Even with that though, I feel like that movie matched the style of the book more than this one did.
Would love to hear you do a video on the 'non-adapted' books-even if it's just short 'five minutes on each book' looks at them-always interesting to hear your analysis.
“My girlfriend turned into a star”
“That’s rough buddy”
Stardust (1997) (2007)
Dom needs to tackle that one sometime.
"I know how you feel." - Sokka
Reverse the genders in Twinkle's song, Golden Lights.
*sings
Baby you can drive my car...
"She was right, of course. But it still hurt....."
Men will literally go on a quest to find their dad's old drinking buddies rather than go to therapy.
Well, thanks for pointing that out. I wasn't feeling great before you did, but even so...
@@18Hongo Maybe one reason I like it so much is that I've had the same thought myself - not the "men" part, but having fantasy protagonist envy and thinking "I wish *I* could be whisked off on a fantasy adventure where I save the world and Learn Lessons/Find Myself which helps me solve all my real-world problems when I come back". Then I thought "OK but that's never happening, partly because it's a one-in-a-million event but mostly because fantasy adventure worlds don't exist... Am I screwed or is there some real-world way I could simulate the experience and get the same result. Oh... therapy I guess?"
@@oosakasan Oh... OK: I was trying to make a joke - something along the lines of "that's painfully accurate and uncomfortable for me to think about". Obviously I didn't communicate that, but I really was just trying to riff on the "men will do X instead of going to therapy" meme.
Thanks for making such a thoughtful reply though; it's very nice of you to be so considerate of my feelings when you thought I'd just failed to understand a joke.
@@18Hongo Oh, what I relief! Thank you for bouncing off my comment then, I really enjoy the joke and I'm sorry I ruined it by misinterpreting your reply :) maybe I was extra-sensitive because I recently commented on a Macabre Storytelling video about men and dating which was all about problems men sometimes have getting their struggles acknowledged and I was mixing my threads...
@@oosakasan Not to worry. The meme itself does address a very real issue in men's mental health; there is a general opinion that men should not be vulnerable or talk about their feelings (although I'm sure you're already familiar with that aspect of the problem).
Gotta love how when Eustace becomes a dragon he keeps Will Poulter’s weird as hell eyebrows
@@slevinchannel7589 I agree, but it's still weird how you replied this here.
@@Acidfrog475 Weird indeed!
@@Acidfrog475 Sorry if it was too random, but what can you do?
Its just that many people arent really aware of it; and the existence of cancel-culture just overcomplicates it all, anyway.
HE DOES HAVE WEIRD EYEBROWS
Fun fact: Caspian was supposed to be annoyed with Eustace, but Barnes couldn't do it as he was too amused with him
That’s interesting. In this movie I noticed a little nod to Shrek with one of the lines of dialogue.
sounds like barnes, he had way to much fun with everyones antics at shadow and bones too
Lol maybe that explains why the only thing I remember about this movie is that I shipped those to pretty hard even thou I didn’t even know what shipping was at that time
@@crasyfujoshi1312 that's weird
@CodeeXD
It's weird to see 2.people interact and think "they're prolly fawking..."?..
Dom's thirst for Ben Barnes is so relatable
Makes me want to see him do something with/about netflixs punisher
me, who thought that caspian losing his accent (since he’s not a telmarine anymore, he’s the king of narnia and he has to speak like a narnian) was a genius acting choice from ben barnes: 🤡🤡🤡
Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson Knees, Son
Head cannon is a useful thing, don’t let reality force you to abandon it.
That would have worked, especially if he occasionally lapsed back into the old accent in times of stress, at least in part.
I just assumed Caspian changed it over time
He had an accent?! I never watched this movies in their original language and the dubbing completely disregarded that fact 😂
My favourite Narnia related Memory was when I met Anna Popplewell at a convention, accidentally blocked her way with my gigant ass dress, and she told me I was gorgeous and ASKED FOR A PICTURE WITH ME...
She's so sweet.
That is very sweet. So nice when stories of actors outside their roles makes you like them more instead of less.
Now you've gotten me curious. Do you have photos anywhere of your cosplay work?
What was your cosplay? Inquiring minds want to know!
She is an amazing lady.
Sent a request for an autograph picture after the Prince Caspian film. I figured her agent/manager would send a picture already signed for autograph requests (and hoping I had the correct overseas postage on the envelope).
Was surprised quite some time later when my return envelop did arrive with an autographed picture. Miss Popplewell also included a short handwritten letter saying how much she appreciates fans enjoying the films and apologized for the delay responding, she was busy concentrating on her university studies.
An amazing gesture of kindness on her part, but of course she is a Narnian Queen.
@@NarnianRailway I don’t know why this made my night exactly, but it 100% did - thanks for sharing
One thing I really didn't get when I watched the movie was that Lucy has an obsession with becoming mature and pretty. Everyone just forgets that all of them grew up into adults in Narnia. Lucy might have been the youngest and least mature of the four siblings but she has technically lived for longer than Caspin. It makes no sense that she wants to grow up when she already has once and knows exactly what she'll look like in the future.
And also given that, IMNSHO, Lucy as played by Georgie Henley is prettier than Susan anyway.
Idk, I can see wanting to be done with puberty if you'd had to do it once already.
Lucy could have resented the fact that she came back to Narnia as a young girl again instead of the mature, beautiful, adult queen she was in previous adventures. Also, I always understood the book of spells being enchanted by the wizard to distract anyone else from using the book themselves and reading all his secrets. So if Edmund had discovered the book instead, he would've been enchanted by a spell to make himself taller/stronger/faster than any other man alive. Eustace may have discovered a spell to get rich or get revenge on his cousins.
Maybe she was just a hot 30 year old and couldn’t wait to hit that age again
To be fair, they went through puberty without any humans besides their siblings around the first time so the appeal of being pretty may not have sunk in the first time.
"If I had a nickel for every time a woman literally left the world to get away from me I would have 2 nickels. Which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice."
So two girls killed themselves to get away. Do we need to do something about this?
noo
“Wowsa. Hello Mr Barnes. The stubble is a good look” just Dominic out here saying what we’re all thinking
"Ben Barnes, an actor who seems to be constantly popping on in the adaptations I review..."
*laughs in potential Shadow and Bone video*
You playing Skyward Sword hd too?
I must admit I'm intrigued by that series, but recent circumstances have somewhat soured all things Russian for me.
It's entirely irrational, I know, but I suppose this is the feeling that drove people away from German art and culture during the world wars.
@@18Hongo late reply but you may be interested to know that Bardugo's take on Slavic culture is so laughably bad, calling it Russian is an insult to real life Russians. I mean come on, she called her witches Grisha! Like the in universe explanation is that this was to honor their founder St. Grigori, but it's still hilarious since Grisha is basically a nickname. That would be like if you were to name your ancient order of magic-users Bob, after their glorious founder Robert. The rest of the Russian influences in the book are just as nonsensical, and clearly demonstrate that Bardugo didn't do any research into Slavic culture and languages at all. Instead, she went with the J.K Rowling method and included either stereotypes or whatever sounded cool to her.
@@TheaTheGenius I’m not gonna argue on accuracy but I will say that Grisha being called Grisha from the nickname of their literal founder is the whole point. Like yeah I guess it’s silly on paper but it makes sense as so many groups and movements are named for the people that start them. Admittedly you usually use the last name but I don’t think it’s that outlandish for them to use the diminutive instead. And in fairness to Leigh I don’t think she ever intended for anything to be a one to one comparison, just inspired. I mean that for all countries and ethnic groups in her books btw, not just Ravka
"The low budget BBC miniseries"
That's a *very* generous take on their budget.
If my vague memories of that series are at all accurate, the budget was probably a half eaten ham sandwich and whatever money the crew could find between their couch cushions
@@sufferingscribe that explains a lot lol
And I'm pretty sure the budget for the dawn treader was even lower than the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. Or maybe it just stood out more because of the setting.
A yes a budget of 5
@@sufferingscribe and now "I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere *eating a ham sandwich* " is stuck in my head.
I can’t help but giggle at the reaction to the first appearance of Ben as Caspian. That is the typical response, don’t worry ☺️
Agreed
Dom is peak bi energy in these reviews, especially when discussing a Ben Barnes film.
I really want him to discuss Shadow and Bone just for the sheer thirst potential ( also the adaptation stuff)
I'm thinking Dom is looking as cute as Caspian with his growing tresses
He's hot, but I can't help seeing him as Billy Russo from "The Punisher". It makes watching "Shadow and Bone" kinda odd.
Ben Barnes said on the My Dad Wrote a Porno podcast that he showed up on the first day and did the Spanish accent from the previous film and the director flatly said: “No. We’re not doing that.”
Sorry …… on the WHAT podcast? 😂
"A random hot woman tells the crew that the suspicious table of food is totally safe to eat."
Me: And it turns out to be a trap and she's actually some kind of evil spirit or something, right?
"Nope, she's 100% on the level and trustworthy."
Me: ......... Oh.
Everybody asks her if _it's_ a trap...
Nobody asks her if _she's_ a trap...
Yep. Modern audience :). I would guess that the girl being daughter of a star in the book meant to convey she's pure ie. trustworthy?
Trust nothing. When a stranger tells you to trust them, trust it even less.
I think it's a hospitality thing. Eating food that isn't yours, stealing. Eating food once you've been assured that it's safe and invited to partake, sacred hospitality.
Lewis did not do subtle.
I suspect a big reason in part why The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe did so well is because out of all the Narnia books, that's the one just about everyone has tried at least once, or you were required in like elementary school and all the others not so much.
Now I will say, it's actually astonishing the three Narnia movies all more or less kept to the same look and design and do feel connected because Fox so could of easily said, we're doing our own version of Narnia.
"or you were required in like elementary school"
I would've loced to read Narnia in elementary school...;
I love all the books, and personally, what drove me from liking the movies was how they butchered my favorite, Prince Caspian. They did better with this one, but the magic was lost.
Yeah, we read the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe in sixth grade. It was one of the first proper books I read in English (not my native language). Then I got challenged by my English teacher to read the rest of the books too, so I read book 3 through 7 as well, having already read the magician’s nephew in my native Swedish. It was a good series to read at twelve years old. Certainly there were some words I didn’t understand, but it wasn’t too difficult and the story was very engaging. Definitely the book I most enjoyed reading of the ones school has mandated I read.
That, and also I think it got some success from a mix of actually being a pretty good adaptation, and it coming out at a good time. It was only 2 years after Return of the King and the same year as the fourth Harry Potter movie, but before both Eragon and The Golden Compass released and got criticized both as adaptations by fans, and as movies trying to cash in on the last remains of that initial LotR hype.
@@tovekauppi1616 I never had to read Narnia in school in Sweden, but I'm now studying to become a teacher and LWW was part of our YA Literature course as university. I'm definitely going to use it myself when I graduate and start working. If the school I work at don't have a full class set I'll just get one for myself. Wouldn't mind paying for 30 paperbacks of that book if I could teach a book I love (if I think the kids would like it too).
I kinda loved Dawn Treader as a kid. I recognized even then there wasn’t a through-line, but it felt almost like a road trip book with characters I’d seen in constant, oppressive danger. I liked getting short vignettes of them solving things and exploring.
I think the episodic nature of it is why the BBC adaptation made a stronger impression on me than the theatrical version despite the lower budget. I can't even say it was the whole series that stood out. Individual episodes stood out on their own.
@@BonaparteBardithion ooooh, I haven’t seen that one - I’ll have to check it out! That totally makes sense. It would be better as a tv mini series than a movie
I always saw the book as a Christianized Odyssey; a central goal drives the plot (finding the missing lords), and on the way they encounter and interact with the weird stuff they run into. It worked in The Odyssey, it worked in the actual Dawn Treader Book, it could have worked here. It'd be harder to pull off, but it can be done.
A movie that I think also captures a similar narrative rhythm is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. That one's a bit different, as it has a "final boss" in the form of the Acheron, but it's still very much finding yourself in various situations while you pursue a singular goal. Had they done something like that with this movie, it might have worked better.
Totally agree with op. The book always read like a fantasy travelogue: a set destination as the goal with many smaller adventures along the way. Forcing in the green gas film baddie was a turn off for me.
@@cbruce78 it was 100% a fantasy travelogue! That’s the best description I’ve heard. It also captures the kinda laid back, lower stakes nature of the book
It's pretty humorous that the Narnia franchise moved to fox just so it could get back into Disney's hands .
It's like that scene in Jurassic Park where Sam Neill and the two children escape from the Jeep that's stuck in the tree.
It's ironic considering Disney wanted to stop making it and now they had a third movie in their hands.
No one can escape The Mouse
@@Rabbitlord108 it's not.
Is there even anything left that is NOT Disney by now?
Let me tell you, as a kid with ZERO exposure to Christianity reading this book, the "Aslan as a lamb" thing was SUPER confusing at the time.
As a kid, that was the one moment where I was like "okay, this Jesus stuff is getting to be a bit much". Generally I always kinda knew it was there but was able to keep it in the background, but the lamb symbolism was too on the nose even for pre-teen me.
Yeah, I didn't grow up religious, and since I read the books when I was quite young, the lamb thing just went over my head. That said, quite a bit of the allegory went over my head, so by the time I got to that particular incident, my reaction was pretty much "It's Narnia. Weird shit happens".
Looking back, I was probably a bit too young to appreciate the darker stories of "The Silver Chair" and "The Last Battle". I remember thinking that the end of the series was definitely trying for a heaven metaphor, but it was awfully complicated. I also probably didn't understand a lot of "The Magician's Nephew" as well.
I wouldn't encounter Narnia again until my early twenties, when I read Neil Gaiman's short story "The Problem of Susan", which is one of those Neil Gaiman stories that makes you put the book down and say "What the fuck?" out loud in a packed train carriage.
I did grow up in a Christian home, but damn, I didn't get Aslan being Jesus until I was in my thirties, XD
How the f*** did you have zero exposure to Christianity how's that even possible in the Western world
@@patoren3gou653 Jewish kid in a highly Jewish neighborhood. There was one kid in my elementary school class who was...Catholic, I think?
"the second girl who leaves the world to get away from me..." this is probably the best clarity moment in film caspian's life ^^ poor dude 😂
"Well done, lad. You've literally ate the rich!" 😂😂
25:44 to bless everyone
👏👏👏👏👏!
Director: "I want to recast that character to imply he's older."
Productors: "Here, take that younger actor."
Director: ".... why?"
I would like to point out that in the movie, the mist had nothing to do with Eustece becoming a dragon. In Narnia it's common knowledge that if you mess with dragon treasure you get cursed, even without the mist.
Although they were juggeling that armband pretty casually after he got turned back.
But then our protagonists aren't exactly great at self-preservation and thinking ahead.
A bit of Norse mythology (the story of Fafnir) adapted here
By common knowledge you mean that it never happened before in the books, and will never be mentioned again...
@@DamienDespair No I meant, in the movie's Caspian and his crew acted like it was something everybody should have been aware of.
Even Eustace, who had no idea about dragons, realized that sleeping on a dragon's treasure, thinking dragonish thoughts had turned him into a dragon.
“If this lad is still insecure about his rule after bringing about years of unprecedented peace and prosperity in his nation I think he kind of needs treatment for clinical depression, not a quest to find his dad’s old drinking buddies”
Me, hiding the aptly named ‘Caspian’s depression playlist’ Spotify playlist I was just listening to behind my back: “yeah no, that would be crazy, I think 😅”
It's super weird and unfortunate that Lucy's "idealized self" was not "Lucy when she was in her 20s and had been a queen for a decade". Would even have her making a pass at Caspian not totally absurd (although still something that should be shut down, for obvious reasons), if she were used to flirting with guys
Lewis had such a big Thing for "purity" that he continually forgot that Lucy should act like the *adult* badass she really was, reserving that angst for the menfolk.
It genuinely bothers me that the Pevensie children went right back into having a normal life despite the fact they gathered knowledge and experience of an entire adult life. I know not all of it can be applied to a "modern" world, but as far as being an adult in said world, they would be ahead of anyone else.
You're right there. I have read some fantastic short fanfiction on that subject, that takes the opposite assumption: that they didn't go back to being all "pure" and "innocent" (except Susan who liked makeup and boys).
For another alternate take, consider checking out the Wayward Children series, about the school where children go to after leaving their fantasy worlds once their Heroic Mission was completed.
@@Igorcastrochucre I gather that was the point though - it was his way of conveying the experience of the boys who went to the trenches with heads full of glory and adventure, were broken beyond belief and saw more horror and misery than anyone should in a lifetime, then returned(the ones who didn't die) to find everything pretty much as they left it, to try to fit themselves back into their old lives surrounded by people who didn't know or understand what they had lived through.
@@Seal0626 Well said.
That’s not entirely fair. Lewis does not treat the Pevensie children as adults in children’s bodies, whether they’re the boys or the girls. I also think the first book is meant to reflect how kids play pretend and pretend to be grown-up knights or princesses or what have you. You can argue that it’s “less realistic” that a decade+ of years would just disappear and the Pevensie children would become kids again, but these books are fantasies for 6 year olds and their imaginations, so I don’t think it’s a huge deal.
Lewis also has no issue with an “adult badass” Lucy fighting in battle in “The Horse and his Boy”, which is another reason I don’t think it’s fair to say he just doesn’t want Lucy to be an adult or be capable or whatever. Rather, I think he wants his audience of young children to connect to his characters, hence why all his main characters are young children and almost always from our world.
However I will always agree that the Narnia books are a bit too kiddy in formula for the sheer amount of crazy and often disturbing ideas that are used.
"The show that's basically the personification of that one friend who's always read the book and won't shut up about it."
Dude, that's basically me in a nutshell 😂.
Same. I feel called out
So do I
@@natashamorais6264 Eeita, brasileiros realmente se encontram em todo e qualquer lugar 😱😂... Kkkkk'.
@@RodrickMarsMoon kkkk verdade.
Me too!
Another scene that got cut out: in one of the spells, Lucy found out what her friends were saying behind her back. Turns out they weren't very nice and it ruined their friendship forever. Aslan points this out and blames her curiosity for it.
Also yes, please review the BBC adaptations! Not only are they hilariously outdated but they actually adapted The Silver Chair. With Doctor Who himself Tom Baker as Puddleglum no less.
I would love to see him analyze this, plus I think the limited budget actually gave us a more chilling of rendition of the Isle of Dreams.
Aslan also says that the friend was just acting under peer pressure and didn't actually mean it. So while things wouldn't be the same between them, I've always hoped they made up.
My main memory of the BBC version was Lucy’s buck teeth. 6th grade me had that burned into my brain for some reason 😂
I remember watching some of the BBC version of the Dawn Treader when it was on my locals PBS station and being deeply confused. Maybe it would make more sense now?
Tom Baker as Puddleglum is awesome and everything I imagined. Perfect casting IMO.
It is time for me to prove my hipster credentials by insisting that The Horse and His Boy is, in fact, the best book of the series.
The Horse and His Boy has the best plot and characters.
On the other hand, The Magician's Nephew has the most memorable settings & imagery.
On the other other hand, The Silver Chair has Puddleglum.
I dunno man, that's a tough one.
I’ve noticed among big Narnia fans HHB and VDT tend to rank the highest, but general populous go with LWW out of sheer exposure (HHB and VDT are my faves, absolute fave depends on the day)
I don't hate it like some people, and I do really enjoy it, but I don't know if I'd go that far. Honestly I can't really pick a favorite; they all work to form one large story. Lewis says so himself at the end of the final book. It's one of the reasons this is my favorite book series.
HHB, despite some dicey portrayals of -muslims- Calormen, is still my favorite of the bunch. A lot of the characters are flawed, but not complete saints or monsters and the main cast grows quite a bit. All the characters are humbled in one way or another and become wiser for it, and their relationships, which start pretty rocky, grow quite nicely through the story.
I do really love most of the characters/relationships but it's also the most racist book in the series, imo, so it's a wash for me
In the books, Dragon!Eustace does do something useful; he finds and uproots a tree the crew can use to replace their damaged main mast. It's not fighting off a seamonster cool, but it is pretty helpful towards continuing the voyage.
Growing up, I really liked this movie for one reason. it has an unambiguously good minotaur character in the cast. I've always loved minotaurs as fantasy creatures, and I like seeing them portrayed in a positive light.
I think you should just admit you're a furry with a thing for cow fursonas. The Minotaur in myth is clearly a curse on the King Minos for failing to make the bull a religious offering. It's existence is living proof of his wife's bestiality/unfaithfulness and his own hubris, unambiguously cannibalistic and evil but the king is unable to slay it on his own due to his guilt and attachment.
I personally always saw Tilda's cameo here as set up for the Silver Chair.
The bad guy of that book is the Emerald Witch, who uses mind control to take over Caspian's son with the goal of taking over.
I always got the feeling they were setting up that the White Witch somehow reincarnated as the Emerald Witch and the mist was her experimenting with her new magic
I had the same feeling. I'm sure she would have also been the satan cameo in the last battle as well.
The BBC thought so too. The same actress plays The White Witch in TLTWATW, an Old Hag in PC, and The Lady of the Green Kirtle/The Emerald Witch in TSC.
@@ArrowOdenn I would argue it was less intention and more working with the same small pool of British actors. The recycling of talent happens a lot.
@@thewittyusername I'm a huge British tv fan (I'm American) and I love playing spot the actor. I think almost every Brit actor has done a cameo in Doctor Who at this point.
My thoughts as well. Not in either film adaptations, but I also think of Jadis as the same. I think it makes sense when you look through the lense of eternal struggle of good and evil, and while there may be many forms its all that same root evil. Loved how well the bbc actress played the role (my childhood) and also loved how Tilda did so in the disney adaptation.
Aslan: * brutally tears and peels the dragon skin off of Eustace with his giant claws *
Eustace: “It hurt like billy-oh.”
Sounds like a cutaway gag from Family Guy involving Stewie and a oversized Brian 🤔😂.
At least we got a great Oh Hellos song out of it.. (the lament of Eustace Scrubb)
That made me deeply uncomfortable. Shudder.
@@noemiecansier8466 I agree, it's great song.
... what does that even mean? Billy-oh???
While this movie was a dissapointment, I find it interesting that they were setting up a witch from Silver Chair with this green fog thing. I mean, it is obvious that that creators wanted her to be responsible for this.
Yesssss that was a nice touch
I went to watch this movie in cinemas, I'm an avid book fan and I never ever noticed that. Holy shit, I'm so dumb.
Okay but that would have been *awesome* and I wouldn't have nearly as many complaints about this movie if they'd ended up doing that. She was probably my favourite Narnia antagonist in terms of powerset, and it would have been really cool to see her use those powers outside of like... one or two chapters of the book. The idea of her trying to get Edmund, Lucy and Caspian under her thumb and then failing only to try again with his son would have made nine year old me fangirl so hard.
After all, we didn't even know her name was Jadis until she becomes the emerald lady in Silver Chair.
Honestly, that makes so much sense! I would have liked to see that.
Honestly, the scene between Edmund and Jadis was probably the best in the entire movie. Bringing back Tilda Swinton alone was great but she's not just there for fan service. It actually makes sense for her to show up at that point in the story because of where the encounter takes place. They're in a location where the deepest, darkest parts of the subconscious can be exposed which fits perfectly with what Jadis said before she floated away. She's ALWAYS in the back of Edmund's mind even if he refuses to acknowledge her presence. Temptation isn't something you just overcome and that's the end of it. Resisting it can be a lifelong battle because the chance that you might relapse at some point never completely goes away.
The genius behind Jadis' cameo is that it works both as a logical part of the story and as an allegory. It's logical that she would appear to Edmund due to their history but it goes deeper because she's the personification of Satan throughout these movies. The allegory lends more weight to the fact that the Devil never truly dies.
i like how they made Peter's sword magic for the film
But I agree that the point of Edmund's ark is that he would never be tempted by her again.
Dawn Treader was my favourite book, I was a sucker for the redemption arc kids, so having two of them was great. Edmund's character arc in the film should have been learning to be an older brother to Eustace. It's his chance to see the other side of the story he went through.
Will Poulter's eyebrows were the real standout character. Also, I totally did not even notice Caspian's accent. Its amazing what a few years of college in another country will do to you.
I honestly thought they got a different actor because there was no accent and he looked different
In the German dub it's super confusing because the voice actor sometimes voices Caspian normally and in other scenes with a Spanish accent. There's no consistency.
Even as a dragon they stand out on his face like a sore thumb. Or, sad thumb, I suppose.
Caspian:"The woman I love turned into a star and returned to the heavens."
Eustace:"That´s rough, buddy."
I had no idea that there were seven books, that is quite the series. It would be cool to see videos about them too at some point, even if they never got adapted.
They're very short but quite enjoyable, if you can tune out Lewis' unsubtle religious messages, or his occasional soapbox rants about how This Modern World Is Going To Hell In A Handbasket
The last one is pretty wierd even for Lewis.
Magician's nephew is pretty cool It tackles the origin story of the white witch
@@MtnNerd It retcons it a lot, but it is improved.
@@ndemers If you do that you might as well not even be reading them.
The connection between the little girl's presence and Lucy's Susan-envy always seemed pretty clear to me? It's showing Lucy that she doesn't need to be Susan, because who she is already is pretty great.
The little girl even tells Lucy that she wants to be just like her when she grows up (to which Lucy responds that the girl should focus on being _herself_ instead).
Same. That scene is the ending of the arc. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of that arc for Lucy, but the little girl and the scene where Lucy tells her that is such a sweet moment and works well as the payoff.
That’s what I got from it too. Lucy doesn’t realize how sad it is to wish you were someone else until a little child says the same thing to her that Lucy thinks about Susan.
I'd actually really like to see a Lost In Adaptation for "The Silver Chair", because the BBC did adapt it, but I've never seen anyone review that one even when they review the other BBC adaptations.
I second this! I genuinely love that adaptation, Tom Baker is fantastic as Puddleglum and as cheesy and low budget as it is, it’s pretty creative with the costumes and sets. Also I happen to enjoy cheesy old effect so maybe I’m biased (:
Is that the one where the people playing the owls don't even bother with trying to make the owl noises and just outright day "tu-woo, tu-woo"
When lucy was reading the spell book, she read a spell called How to see yourself as others see you, and then she heard two classmates sh*t talking her. Later when she encountered Aslan, he admonished her for not respecting their privacy. This was totally left out of the movie, and also out of your commentary.
Otherwise very well done. Keep these going.
Yeah, what a weird fucking parable. "People in my life are insulting and belittling me behind my back and that hurts." - an upset child
"Stay in your own lane, bitch." - Literal Jesus
@@chrismanuel9768 Wow that's really edgy and cool of you to say. Let me guess, you're an atheist?
@@BigGiantMonster and who's trying to be an edgelord here? It was a funny comment, stay in YOUR own lane, hun.
@@PS-dm1dq Oh it was FUNNY? LOL I missed that.
@@BigGiantMonster how was he being a edgelord he was just those lines were stupid and aslan was literal jesus has the books clearly stated so
Disney: You couldn't live with your own failure. Where did that bring you? Back to me.
More like a cursed item that returns to your shelf overnight after you throw it out.
if you’re taking suggestions, i’d love to get your opinion on outlander one day. i think it would be hilarious lol.
That would take so long because of how many books are in that series and it is still going. But if there are any other youtubers that have reviewed those books please let me know.
@@daniellado2523 i know but even just one season would be good enough for me :)
YESSSSS
Another great video! No word of a lie, the only thing I remember of the film adaptation is Caspian's accent change. I grew up watching the BBC adaptations, with my personal favourite being The Silver Chair, so if you do ever cover that I am here for it.
I need this in my life
Eustece actually getting to do stuff as a dragon was my favorite change in the adaptation. Not gonna lie.
I actually didn’t like how they kept Eustace a dragon for the last half of the story. While the chapter may not be that long, the crew actually spent a fair bit of time on the island in the book. Eustace scouts out the island for them, tears up a huge tree to replace their mast, etc. It’s said that they started putting off leaving because they didn’t want to leave Eustace behind, but there wasn’t any feasible way to take a freakin dragon on a ship with them, unless he could just fly alongside them (which is what they went for in the film, but what if they don’t find land before his gets too tired to stay in the air? They address those types of problems in the book, but don’t have a solution). Eustace realizes that he’s a nuisance to the others (beforehand also, but now it’s worse) and decides that he’ll hide somewhere on the island, so they have to leave without him. He resigns himself to living out the rest of his life by himself, as a dragon, on the island. That’s when Aslan steps in and turns him back into a human. I really like how it’s done in the book, but I do admit it would probably be a little hard to execute in a film.
Also the filmmakers wanted to have a dragon fight a sea serpent. And yeah, that was pretty cool.
"There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."
I love that line so much. Short, to the point, and funny, yet it contains absolutely everything about the character without telling you literally anything but his name and the author's opinion on it.
Someone on Tumblr pointed out that the "almost deserved it" line was pretty rich coming from someone named "Clive Staples Lewis." No wonder he went by his initials instead.
This actually was Lewis taking a crack at himself, as Eustace was based on child Lewis. He did not think much of himself as a kid.
@@silverharpist51 Oh, now that's a cool bit of trivia. I had no idea he'd based Eustace on himself, but on reflection it makes total sense. Thanks! 🙂
In my German translation they didn't include a middle name.
“Why? Because fuck you, it’s Narnia!” made me lol. Honestly, the Narnia timeline is so fucked, it makes no sense. Ya just gotta roll with it.
I honestly enjoy the book series so much, but the 2005 Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe is truly the best of these films. I love the BBC miniseries for it’s derp factor 🥰
Personally, after the Journey of the Dawn Treader the series lost ALL of its appeal for me. The silver chair was a confused mess, and the final book was weird in the extreme. Compared to the pacing and characters of the previous books, especially the first and second, the last 2 were rushed and absurd.
Scientifically speaking it's actually consistent by being inconsistent.
It's a different universe so giving it an irregular time flow is entirely fair. Time being less fixed in Narnia compared to Earth is a pretty interesting concept...... too bad it's really just a gimmick here.
Probably because of Psalm 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8
Dawn Treader was my favorite Narnia book as a kid, specifically because it did read like a series of short stories. I can't help but think that this would have worked way better as an episodic TV series/miniseries.
Although keeping Eustace as a dragon was definitely the way to go. I was so sad when he got transformed back in the book.
It was such a boring transformation as well. He just exposition-dumped the whole thing, which deeply annoyed me.
Same! I really liked that because it was the format that the Wizard of Oz books used and they were my favorites
For anybody wondering if you think you saw Eustace's actor somewhere before, he's the guy from the meme that says "You guys are getting paid?"
Also he was the blond guy in Bandersnatch iirc
and he was in mazerunner i think
Also has an uncanny resemblance to Sid from Toy Story XD
He was also in Katherine Bigelow's Detroit playing an evil cop, and one of the hapless victims in Midsommar.
He also plays Andrew, Anthony, and Abraham in Dark pictures little hope.
“Wow…that was the second woman to literally leave the world to get away from me…I need to rethink my life”
I like Dominic's bisexual awakening when he saw Ben Barnes in this lol
I don't think it's so much of an awakening as it is a revealing. Although if you mean Ben Barnes was his bisexual awakening when the movie first released, then I fully agree.
but come on...he's HAWT amirite?!?!?!
Imagine being factory errored lol.
I mean... mr Barnes certainly is a handsome piece of man hahaha
@Curtis Jeffries Someone's awaiting his own bisexual awakening methinks
That unknown story in the spellbook is supposed to be about “a cup and a sword and a tree and a green hill”. That’s all Lucy remembers.
Could it possibly be the story of the holy grail?
Holy heck, Lewis predicted Monty Python and the Holy Grail
@@spilleren9173
You made me laugh out loud.
@@spilleren9173 all that's missing is...
A shrubbery!
I'm not sure if that tracks beyond the cup. Maybe the broader Arthurian legend though. If the cup is the grail, the sword is Excalibur, and the hill is Avalon. I'm still not sure what the tree is then, though. A tree and a cup suggests Christian imagery of Eden and the holy chalice, and maybe the hill could represent Golgotha/the passion? But then again I could as easily say that it's a Tolkien thing and the sword is Narsil, the tree is either the party tree in the Shire or the White Tree of Gondor, and the green hill is Bag End. Except that he's suuuper into allegory, I'd almost say that it's meant to invite association with great stories we're familiar without adhering strictly to one specific story, but I don't think that can be right given his disposition as an author.
@@spilleren9173 BAHAHAHAHA
"Oh wowzers, hello Mr. Barnes."
Mood.
O.O I literally didn't realize Caspian was the same actor. They looked very different to me and the accent change had me thinking they recast him!
It’s the scruff 💕 Ben looks completely different with and without it
@@olessiatchijova8605 The scruff looks very good on him though. 10/10 would recommend
This was actually my favorite book in the series. No real plot, just exploration to some weird and wonderful magic islands. But honestly, that's all it needed to be.
"The show that's the personification of that one friend who has always read the book". 😄 And we love it. 💙
The image of a dragon wobbling towards an intruder and instantaneously dying of old age is even more hilarious when you consider this series of books went up against a series where the dragon instantly realises someone even has the intention of taking something from the hoard and burns down a village for the heck of it.
Considering ben barnes was in stardust and was the main characters dad does that make him the daughter of the star's grandpa, which makes him his own grandfather in law?
So weird...
Thats some futureama levels of shit right there
Dom: Will Poulter and his hypnotic eyebrows.
Me: *falls out of chair laughing*
Not only was I not bothered by the lack of an overarching plot in this book as a kid, it was actually the Narnia book I gravitated towards the most. So many images from The Dawn Treader are embedded in my mind forever: Lucy's mermaid friend, Reepicheep leaving on his lonesome journey, the slave market, Eustace peeling off his skin to become a boy again, the stars, the gold statues in the lake who are actually people... There's something truly magical and evocative about this book that captured my imagination in a way the more well plotted and consistent books in the series never quite managed.
Honestly I remember very little about these books but Eustace tearing off his own skin to return to humanity sticks with me to this day. It's a very typical religious act of penitence, mortification of the flesh to redeem your sins like flagellants, and then be born anew.
I loved that book too. Althought the advantures are compeltely different it sort of reminds me of oriental tales like Sindbad the Sailor or Myths about Alexander The Great.
Anyone after Caspian makes a pass at them: “I don’t want to live on this planet anymore.”
Narnians be crazy.
in the DVD commentary Actually the emerald mist is actually made by the antagonist in the next movie the silver chair Lady of the Green Kirtle
That would have been cool foreshadowing if they ever got to the movie.
That makes me kinda sad… I liked Silver Chair. Jill Pole and Eustace Not-a-Ponce-Anymore ftw. Also Puddleglum could be hilarious at times.
Have any of you fine people ever watched the BBC adaptations of the Narnia books? They did the Silver Chair. Kid me is pretty sure it was awesome, but I'm not sure how it would be for adults. Still, might be worth checking out if you haven't seen them.
Edit: I've just watched a clip from Silver Chair, and it's uh...well it exists. If you're a Doctor Who fan, Tom Baker plays Puddleglum, so there's that.
I'd love to see the old BBC miniseries. That was my childhood.
Same! It was my introduction to Tom Baker, too.
I really want you to review the rest of the books in order. I loved them as a kid and still have a soft spot for them as an adult. I also have trouble explaining to some people that although Magician's Nephew takes place before The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe you absolutly should not read it first.
The Magician's Nephew is absolutely most effective as a recontextualization of everything preceding it.
as a child i was very big on reading things in order apparently and no adult told me what order i *should* read narnia in...so i read Magician's Nephew first. Confusion ensued.
@@DerplingKing Yes, getting to the end of the Magicians Nephew and realizing how it all tied back into TLTWATW was the best. Publication order all the way.
I think the set I had as a child had it as the 6th book?
I had a huge book that collected all the seven books in chronological order instead of publication order and boy oh boy was I confused
I would love to have seen The Magician´s Nephew been made into a film! Every time I see the colours yellow and green together, I think of the rings.
Lucy was actually my favorite character growing up and when she was told she couldn't come back, the pain and confusion I felt as a 13 year old was way too much. I cried so much at the end of the movie.
I remember listening to this book on audio so many times growing up. The island with the invisible guys always terrified me.
I feel like this should have been a mini-series with 1 or 2 episodes per adventure. 2 movies and mini-series would have fit and flowed better IMO than a movie trilogy.
Agreed on the miniseries thing! Also, was the audio version you listened to just a regular audiobook, or was it by chance the radio theater adaptation~?
@@elsie8757 normal audiobooks. We had them on CD way back when and would listen to them on car trips.
The mini series idea would probably have been a better route to go, though this was made pre-streaming. Now they would have the budget to do it properly
@@jamesatkinsonja mini-series have been around since the 90's.
@@corruptangel6793 They have but it's only recently that they have had a significant budget to make them, mostly via streaming but also the Night Manger. They couldn't have done a Narnia mini series properly until recently...a Disney plus series maybe?
Still hoping one day the Dom will do a synopsis of all of the Peter Pan adaptations and lore.
That would be so interesting!!
@@christinekirby1 Including the play and the stage musical?
@@qwertyTRiG Oh yeah baby. Everything. He did that with Phantom of the Opera once.
@@christinekirby1 Right??
@@qwertyTRiG yes!!
I genuinely wanna see Dom talk about the other Narnia books even if the film adaptations stopped here.
I've always found the series dying here, right before the marvelously dark and weird Silver Chair, and inventive as all hell Magician's Nephew, to be one of the great tragedies of my teen years.
At least I still have the books!
I strill wish "The Horse and His Boy" had gotten an adaptation. I would have been happy with just an animated film 😟
I know exactly how you feel, I want to see Aravis on the big screen.
I think it would be very difficult to get it made without potentially offending Middle Eastern people (and changing the Calormen characters too much would make the fans mad)
I love that one now, but agreed it would be a tough sell and a cultural mess to make it properly and respectfully. Also, on the monetary front, each of the first 4 films has a connection to a past one, even if it's just Eustace. For that reason, THahB was a challenge for me as a young reader (approximately aged 10), and it took years for me to grow into it (TSC was a stretch as well, but I really enjoyed the kids in it). That said, I absolutely loved VotDT, and it was strange to hear the thematic issues during this video, when to me it was such a lovely voyage and redemptive arc and I liked it almost as much as LWW and MN even more than SC.
@@SuperSongbird21 , think asking middle eastern writers and director to adapt it would work? Horse and His Boy is my favorite too, and would love to see it however it needed to be changed
The costuming and set designs are my favorite parts of these movies. honestly wish It was socially acceptable to tunics, armor, and open carry a sword.
Oh, if only.
It is if you're not a coward! I literally bought a cape a few months ago
Well, you can do the tunic part. You just have to get used to people staring a bit. Or if you can find a place like a Renaissance Fair you could do all three.
I agree, the costumes for the whole series were absolutely gorgeous, my favourites were Susan's gowns in Prince Caspian. They let Susan be feminine and badass archer at the same time, really the best example of women's armour is in a children's film.
Their costumes look quite comfy as well. I would love to wear Lucy's outfit someday.
I just want to open carry a sword
After that joke about Caspian's actor, i have to ask; is Shadow and Bone on you list?
Sure hope it is 💕
I looked at his patreon list and it isn't there, be a long time before he gets to those books.
Oh god PLEASE
Not going to read the books until the show is over, because I’m have a marvelous time watching.
@@andurilcuivie I tried reading the books before watching the show but stopped because I hated the writing too much - so I personally wouldn't recommend reading the S&B trilogy unless you are okay with the writing
The end of this book was a slap in the face to me as a young Jewish kid who didn't know enough about Christianity to have previously picked up any of the allegories. "What the hell in this Jesus shit doing in my fantasy book".
As a former Christian child (former in both respects, though that's probably not valuable information), I had no idea this was allegory until people told me later in life. To be fair, I didn't finish the series as a child, either. I was more familiar with the miniseries... Long story short, I did have the same reaction lol
Funny thing, as a young Christian I didn't pick up on it, even though I found the book in my church library (which was really just like shelves of books in a musty side room). I got all the way to the last one, then got scared that Tash was "demonic" and didn't finish it.
It wasn't until years later when I read the first one (Wardrobe) that I figured it out and felt dumb.
So I'm impressed you figured it out at the end of this one. You knew more Jesus stuff than you likely thought.
BTW, what do you think of Magician's Nephew, and its creation story? That's the only one that uses a story from the Tanakh (heck, it's form the Torah) so I'm kinda curious.
Ex catholic, got into paganism as a teen and finished the books as a teen...
Most flew over My head lol
Not for lack of knowledge, I was too focus on escaping through fantasy I guess lol
Edit to add: but yes, the finale Even angered me
Christianity? in my fantasy book?
It’s more likely than you think.
Circumcision sucks
Say whatever you want about the movie, but the sea serpent has one of the coolest monster designs I’ve ever seen. The bit when it splits open absolutely terrified me as a kid
When I was recovering from emergency surgery right at the end of high school, completely out of it on pain meds, I could really only read children’s books so I re-read Narnia. Voyage of the Dawn Treader became my absolute favourite, one of my overall favourite books, and remains my number one comfort book (along with a little book of the collected poems and songs from LOTR) that I return to when things are rough.
I knew no movie could really translate the book well to film because of its episodic nature and no real antagonist. I don’t like the mist or what they did with Lucy and the end from the three sleepers onward was underwhelming. Edmund is my favourite Pevensie so I appreciate that they tried to expand his role, but as you said, it was a bit confused, though executed much better than what they did with Lucy.
When the movie sticks to the book, I think they did a great job, especially visually and design-wise, which is even more admirable given the budget constraints. I wish it was a bit more colourful, but overall I think they managed to capture the feeling of magic and discovery, for the most part.
The biggest issue I have with the book is the way Lewis deals with the slavery plot. It’s bad, pretty racist, so as much as I like Caspian’s bluff and replacing the governor, I get why the film may have decided to settle it with a sword fight instead.
Thanks for the review! But I have to ask, what made that part of the story racist?
Since the original BBC mini-series with my first exposure to The Chronicles of Narnia. Yes yes yes a million times yes please cover the miniseries. At least that one stopped at the Silver Chair.
And it starred Tom Baker as an incredibly depressed Swamp Man.
I agree! I have good memories from the BBC series, shoestring budget and all!
I adore the Silver Chair miniseries, Tom Baker is a wonderful Puddleglum, and I think it’s does pretty well considering it’s limitations
Please please! The nostalgia is so real!
WAIT TOM BAKER WAS IN IT?????? I hate the silver chair but I will watch the bbc adaptation if he's in it
@@ritzexists2201 Its a pretty good adaptation too.
if they played He's a Pirate over certain scenes, it becomes blatantly obvious which film franchise they were trying to be *this time.*
it's not like the source material doesn't give them a push in that direction
Profile pic checks out
I'm glad to see you found a use for that dress from pride and prejudice again.
I should have expected the "Life of Brian" clip, but the *choice* of clip had me rolling. XD
I actually really liked Dawn Treader (the book). It’s an awesome road trip story, even if the going to Heaven literally stuff is kinda weird. I loved the fact that they went all the way into some really different territory, and it was all very fun and different. Sure, there’s no character arcs, but it was just a good story.
So when they adapted the first book I was already wondering how the heck they would adapt this one with its very weird metaphorical ending.
Another name for the entire Narnia series:
Lion Jesus and the True Believers
Lion Jesus and the True Believers Return
Lion Jesus and the Odyssey
Lion Jesus Goes to Scotland
Lion Jesus and the Noble Savage
Lion Jesus Begins
Lion Jesus and the Apocalypse
Pretty good, just needs more Qui Gon to be perfect :D
I'd honestly call 'Lion Jesus and the British Occupation of Ireland'.
You're forgetting the first book. And possibly the horse one that takes place before the epilogue of the second book with a boy meeting Queen Lucy.
@@Japaneseanimeguy That's the True Believers and Noble Savage one.
@@Healermain15 And then he turns out to actually have been white all along. So it's the Narnian equivalent of a captivity narrative.
I had a huge crush on Edmund's actor, Skander Keynes. Apparently I've got a thing for dark-haired, broody types, because now I'm mooning over Loki again...
Might I entice you to a morally grey hottie played by Ben Barnes?
How about General Kirigan?
I know someone who fits that description perfectly ... *cough* the Darkling *cough*
This is a callout
My friend has the same thing for Cole Sprouse and Sebastian Stan.
Dominic swooning over Ben Barnes was so good I had to replay it.
I really liked this movie when I watched it as a kid, I was pretty surprised to find that so many people didn’t like it, though i really agree with your points of the character arcs because they did seem a bit off to me even the first time i watched the movie and i think your points are very well stated
I like it too
**lays seven swords on a table** The power of Christ compels you!
I’m really glad you covered these adaptations. Prince Caspian was my first ever instance of “Look how they massacred my book”, and I greatly preferred the BBC version (though that may be nostalgia vision since I saw that when I was 8.) (complete tangent, but the BBC version of the Silver Chair is pure gold and I love it)
I’m also unreasonably pleased you pointed out the missing sea folk cities because it was such a good piece of world building that they built on top of mountains in the shallows where the resources are, compared with the land dwelling folks who live more in the valleys. I don’t know why that stuck with me, but it really did.
After Disney bailed I was quite glad to even get another Narnia movie, especially bc this one was my favourite book. I was just disappointed to not hear the Narnia theme music.
The attempt to solve The Susan Problem in this movie deserves more credit. Lucy inches believably toward adulthood with actual dignity and isn't exiled for a little thirst the way Susan was
voyage of the dawn treader is my favorite book solely because of the opening line. i also watched the movie before reading the book, so i think i cried laughing at the literal first sentence. will poulter knocked it out of the park, he's so expressive. ben barnes is super easy on the eyes, too. not my favorite narnia movie, but still one i always come back to for comfort and for the laughs.
The Il Neige outtro tradition is the greatest thing to happen to this excellent channel.
On the jokes about “Aslan was Jesus in lion form the whole time”: I think it seems to be a reference to Lewis’ own search for this mystical thing that he understood as both joy and longing, and when he grew older (as he writes in Surprised by Joy) he recognized that this “fantasy” he was so drawn to was actually a Person whom he believed to be God. So I think this idea of “You’re too old for Narnia” and “You must learn to know me by another name” is an analogy of this, his own spiritual experience. It’s true this concept doesn’t translate well into film or world-building lore, which is probably why he was opposed to his books being made into films.
I feel like this is the purest story and has the second best ending of any of the Narnia books despite the anticlimactic nature of it. The ocean at the end of the journey - before they leave - has a blessed place in my heart. The pages that go on and on about what's in the water and how the ocean changed as they approach the end just... They're a part of me. He wasn't pretending to write a story about something else, and that's why I feel like it works the way it does emotionally. That's me, though, caring about how a story feels rather than how well it's made.
What's the best ending you think? I need to know!
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first Lost in Adaptation I ever saw and now we have come full circle. I admit, I have a soft spot for this movie. It might just be where there is a noticeable difference in this one versus the other two, the amount of times I watched it as a kid, or even just how sea stories and swashbuckling appeals to me more than fantasy war movies do. Whatever the reason, I quite enjoy the movie, despite how much it differs from the book. I would definitely change a few things, but I still enjoy it. And thank you for giving it a fair shake. It is definitely the weakest of the trilogy of movies and it is so easy to hate on, but you still found things to enjoy in it and your enjoyment of the content you discuss always brings a smile to my face, which has been needed after the last few days. I don't know if you'll read my comment or even get this far if you do, but please know that you are a wonderful entertainer who never fails to cheer my day.
The pool of water that turns anything & anyone whom it touches into gold scared the fucking shit out of me as a child. I haven't seen this adaptation, but I remember the cursed water from the book.
My main issue with the book is that it hinges on just expecting the reader to consider being turned into a dragon to be a bad thing.
It's been a while since I've read the book but I seem to remember the issue being that Eustace the dragon was too big to fit on the ship and they didn't think he would be able to fly far enough to reach the next island. The crew had a dilemma of whether to hang about and find a solution while their supplies dwindled or leave a young boy/dragon behind to live out his life alone.
@ Raggedtoothguppie
Yep! That’s exactly right :)
@@RaggedToothRat Unless I'm forgeting something obvious there was no explaination for why they couldn't send a bigger ship for him later (beyond him being sad and them not wanting to leave him).
@@Painocus If I recall correctly they were pretty far from Narnia, in fact, they were discovering the islands as they went by.
Context is everything! Eustace didn't deserve to be a cool dragon, anyway.
That awkward moment when the age gap between Ben Barnes and Georgie Henley is the same as the age gap between him and Jessie Mei Li…
yeah but he's canonically (spoilers) an immortal evil wizard in shadow and bone. as opposed to a good guy King
The thing that gets me is that these Narnia movies play sort of fast and loose with their characters' ages. I get the feeling that "Prince" Caspian in the movie was supposed to be like an older teenager, just young enough to argue that he still needed a Regent before his coronation in like a year or something. And then with the Dawn Treader, you can tell he's aged, but not really how much because it's not like he's going around saying "I'm 30, and you used to be 35, Lucy, this is weird."
I don't think we're supposed to ship either of those pairings.
@@vanyadolly well yeah, that would be pretty weird. Lucy should be a very complicated person by now, but Aslan says "NO! You must be the personification of purity!"
@@thegoosegirl42 Spoiler tags don't really work if you specify what you're spoiling after the spoiler...
I actually really like Dawntreader book. It was one that I knew I'd read it when I was really young, but could only remember watching the BBC series. I didn't like it as well as the others when I was a kid, but later when I reread it ahead of this movie coming out, I enjoyed it a lot more. Then I watched this movie with it's video game plot, and was extra disappointed. I can see that the episodic nature of the book doesn't lend it's self to what we expect in movies, but I don't think that's the same as it just not working. They subtly changed the themes and meanings of most if not all of the big events in the book.
Agreed. They hit most of the plot points, but left out the Meaning. It would have been harder to keep the episodic nature of the book in movie form, but not impossible. Master and Commander had a similar episodic nature and that movie DID have a "final boss". Even with that though, I feel like that movie matched the style of the book more than this one did.
Apparently Netflix is rebooting the whole chronicles as a tv series. And I am mega super pumped for it!!
Would love to hear you do a video on the 'non-adapted' books-even if it's just short 'five minutes on each book' looks at them-always interesting to hear your analysis.