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19:09 Fun fact! C.S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia books, was close friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tolkien obviously took world building super seriously, and was so annoyed that Lewis was putting Santa in his story with no explanation that allegedly he almost ended their friendship and stayed annoyed for so long he told his official biographer about it to put in his biography 😂
Best random Santa in fiction, and possibly the inspiration for all this, was from the Oz series. Never been into Santa but the first book on his origins was so good thanks to Baum.
Apparently, Lewis put a lamppost in Narnia just because Tolkien said something along the lines of no good fantasy would have a lamppost in it😂. Their friendship must have been great to witness.
Honestly, Santa in Narnia makes sense given that Narnia is a kids book, Santa is magic, and the worlds in Narnia are magic. If there are multiple worlds accessible through magic, why can't magic Santa travel through them? I think it was a really awesome touch by Lewis to show how the worlds really are connected, and not just by Aslan.
It is a bit intriguing how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien embodied old and new fantasy conventions respectively. Lewis used fantasy as a silly putty that he could bend and twist however he wanted to tell his story, much like Alice in Wonderland or more Shakespearean tales. Wheras Tolkien saw fantasy as an opportunity to offer an escape to his readers, and immerse them in a world beyond our own, yet as tangible as the one we live in. Needless to say, the world chose which kind of fantasy it preferred, as Tolkeinian fantasy is literally the template upon which every single fantasy story since has been based upon, and Narnia has been completely left in the dust, forgotten, much like its films rather fittingly.
When I was a kid, my sister and I convinced our Sunday school teacher to let us watch this movie in class by telling her they were based on the Bible, because we really didn't want to do actual Sunday school stuff. But the movie is too long to watch in one class, and she could never remember where we left off, so we just kept getting her to start very close to the beginning. We ended up watching the movie for like 2 months, and the teacher was so curious about Turkish delights that she tried making them at home. She enjoyed making them so much that she started her own business around it and stopped being our Sunday school teacher.
It's kinda sad that that was my first thought after seeing him in this video. And that shit was in 2005, Sure the Lion King ones look realistci but the problem is, watching actual lions is pretty boring even in real life, sure they are intimidating but that's kinda it.
Don't get me wrong, the CGI in the lion king remake is a technical marvel. But I definitely agree that more work could have gone into making them more expressive
Between "little children don't know when to stop pretending" and "I'm not a dwarf, and actually I'm tallest in my class" I'm surprised Lucy didn't thaw all of Narnia herself with those sick burns
Interesting trivia about Edmund: Turkish Delight is specifically a Christmas candy. His request for it from Jadis might have been the first act to directly weaken her power. She kept Narnia in a state of “Always winter never Christmas” and a Son of Adam got her to bring a little piece of Christmas into the world.
I'm so glad you put the time stamp in here! I skipped past it going past the ad. (sorry Friendly Space Ninja! I only have a limited time to watch videos and everyone's ads are so long! Lol.) That was fricken hilarious!!!
They did such an amazing job building up Jadis as a genuinely terrifying threat. I thought rewatching Aslan's sacrifice would be easier to watch as an adult, but it still makes me squirm. When she rolled up to the battle wearing Aslan's fur... so dark.
I watched this movie for the first time since I was maybe 6 yesterday (I’m 18 now) and only now just realized she was wearing his fur. The squirm I squirmed.
I completly forgot this happened until I read this comment, this brought back feelings and memories of my seething anger as a kid lol. I was so mad at her, like "YOU CAN'T DO THAT"
I think that Edmund gets an unfair amount of shit from everyone bc the movie fails at establising WHY he's such a selfish little shit. But in the book it is actually explained that Edmund always feels like he's a left-over that no one likes; Peter is the "brave one" that everyone respects, Susan is "the smart one" that everyone admires, Lucy is the "baby one" that everyone thinks is adorable and wants to protect, and Edmund is perpetually just The Middle Kid. He doesn't have anything "special" about him that singles him out from the others, he feels like everyone overlooks him as being simply "the third Pevensie" while everyone else is singled out for a specific characteristic - and so, he really resents his siblings because he thinks they think they're better than him. He doesn't feel like he's liked by them, so he doesn't like them either. And he's so ready to help Jadis because he has Abandoment Issues from his dad leaving for war and then his mum leaving him on the countryside; so the second there's an adult who's apparently willing to be there for him and give him attention and say that he's worth as much as - or even more than - his siblings, he likes it because he doesn't feel very loved at home (also he wants Turkish Delight because someone apparently told him it was delicious and he was curious idk; he hadn't had much candy since the start of the war, so I guess anything would do). Also, he's like, 13 - he's selfish and needy by default. All this other stuff just exacerbates that. So yeah, I think that comparing him to Zuko is a great comparison, because they both go through basically the same arc, of realising they have potential and value by themselves and don't need to be compared to or overshadowed by their respective siblings. And after they learn that, they both become the best characters in their respective stories. I'm sorry this became a rant, I just really really love Edmund and I think his arc is a fun character study. TL;DR: Edmund is a little shit because he has Abandoment Issues on top of Middle Child Syndrome and being 13; he's also amazing and the best character in this book.
@@chiefroo yes. that is so. It was explained brilliantly in the book that once a person had been given a taste of the Witch's enchanted treats they would go on eating it and eating it until their DEATH if they were allowed.
That's a really good observation! Although I think that the film actually gives Edmund far more context than the book did. The books all have an overtly didactic purpose, so lots of its child characters start out as complete dicks until they're bettered through hardship (Edmund, Eustace, Jill). I remember being bothered that the book never stopped to explore Edmund's psychology and the reasons for his selfishness - all that is done by the film. The relationship to his father and his feelings of inadequacy are introduced solely in the film, which I am really grateful for. While he does transition from a selfish person to a better person, the film explains why he was so torn up in the first place.
@@thesardonicpig3835 oh, I might have crossed my streams, then! It's been a while since I have either read the book or watched the movie, so maybe my memory has failed me.
I thought it was severely underrated today, I remember the scale of the epic battle in the climax rivaling that of the first movie. The third movie unfortunately feels like it had a smaller budget somehow and it certainly didn't feel the same way.
I'd argue prince Caspian is heavily misunderstood. It's a lot more mature than the first and tackles really heavy themes. It derails from the books in a lot of ways, but I'd argue...for the better
I prefer the first movie but Prince Caspian was alright. It's Voyage of the Dawn Treader that was fucking massacred in the adaptation. It's my favorite book of the bunch, too.
I remember as a kid feeling super uneasy when the ice queen is very obviously manipulating edward and “killed” simba. Like it was a fairly adult villain
Fun fact: when they filmed Lucy discovering Narnia, it was her actual first time reaction seeing the narnia set and all the snow that's why it looks so genuine :) use that at dinner you're welcome
@@spacedoctor6858 No - its actually true. She was never allowed to see the set as it was built, and was brought on blindfolded and told to keep her eyes shut until she was told to open them. They wanted her reaction to be 100% geniune.
I'm pretty sure someone has already said this but them being adults is a metaphor for what the writer felt when he returned from war just having to be a teenager again after going through a war and being forced to grow up. Also i don't remember if they ever said this but i thought that the portal to Narnia only works if you aren't looking for Narnia.
On the bit of them being adults in kids' bodies, that's one of the things that the sequel actually does well. The main conflict on earth is that Peter is used to not only being an adult but also being high king and can't deal with other teenagers his age being you know, teenagers, and keeps getting into fights.
the writer apparently wrote it as he felt like that coming back from war, having experienced these incredibly adult things and being burdened with adult things and coming back just… being a stupid teenager again
tbh I'm a narnia caspian 2 lover, i think it captions rly amazingly how much the older siblings struggled with living a whole life and returning to being kids but with adult memories and it does amazing justice to Edmund.
I remember not loving Prince Caspian the first time I saw it, but after that I really liked it, mainly because of the Edmund arc. It really was his moment to shine. Peter's arc in that was pretty cool as well.
This. Also I really like how the director explained on the audio commentary why the Pevensies and Caspian act the way they act. And I think you can actually see how much the filmmakers learnt from the first film.
I remember the first time I read this book and I was SO incredibly sad, that they went back to being children. Even as a kid I felt such a deep sense of loss for the life that was gone.
@@linah1998 they bonded over a shared love of myths, and also Tolkien was instrumental in Lewis coming to Christ! Though apparently he wasn’t happy that Lewis became Protestant and not a Catholic like Tolkien. 😂 They we’re in a writing group together called the Inklings, there’s a book about them!
For me at least, it's because they get pretty damn preachy and on the nose regarding CS Lewis's religious beliefs as the books go on. The first one is a classic though, as it's much less prevalent there.
I don't know how they got the lightest yet heavy enough magical sheet to create one of the most magical reveals I've seen. Every time Lucy pulls the sheet off the wardrobe gives me chills every time. That shot is perfect.
They are adults in kids' bodies, and it plays a role in sequel where it messes with their perception of themselves, the world, and the role they believe they should be playing in it. In part 2 Peter is hot headed and an ass because he remembers being king and now he's back to being a kid with no power in the real world and desperately wants to return to position he believes he should be in, while Edmund is more likeable, responsible and reliable due to his experiences in Narnia. Narnia is one of my favourite stories. It was my first time seeing a fantasy with such a heavy Christian influence and I loved it. As a kid I felt like I was in on a secret when I kept thinking Aslan was like God, then my parents confirmed he was written to represent God.
This is true with Peter, but he isn't with like that at ALL in the books. He's very, well, what you hope a king would be like. He's respectful of Caspian, acquiesces to Caspian's rule immediately and knows that he is no longer king, and is polite. It's because of Peter acting like an ass when he wasn't like that in the books at all that bothered me and made it harder to watch after the first time. Edmund is more kingly in the Prince Caspian movie than Peter acts until the very end. It was an unnecessary change that didn't help the story in any way except making Peter seem more childish than someone who had literally already lived into at least his 30s (if not his 40s) before reverting back to a teenager. I really wanted to like Prince Caspian more than I did (the movie, the character I like just fine) but they didn't do the book justice with this movie the way they did with LWW. Which made me wary of watching The Dawn Treador.
What's weird though is at the end Susan gives Caspian a smooch and Lucy and Edmund make "eww" comments about how they are uncomfortable with it because of how young they are, despite technically being adults. Lucy in particular still feels like a little kid in the 2nd one based on how she acts.
@@TardisNerdGirl Canonically, the Pevensies spent 15 years in Narnia. If you look up the Narnia fandom Wiki, there is a timeline, which CS Lewis created at some point. Peter was about 13 the first time they went to Narnia, which would make him about 28 when they went back to England. In the last book, he was about 22 when they all went "home," so he never even saw his 30s or 40s! You're right that movie Peter wasn't what he was in the book. The first thing he says to Caspian in the book is "I haven't come to take your place but to put you in it." And agreed that the Susan-Caspian thing was too weird.
i always saw that moment where edmund fights jadis as a final desperate act to save his brother and completing his arc, coming from selfishness to selflessness and giving his life for his brother who he believes in; plus the full circle of "why can't you just do as you're told?" is AMAZING. also i love the soundtrack of this movie its so good
Not only that, but in the book it's explicitly stated that everyone else was failing to even slow her down because they didn't understand where her power was coming from; they were just attacking her directly, and then getting turned to stone for their trouble. Edmund had spent some time around her, so he understood her real power was her wand, and that's what he went after. That's what really gets me about that moment. Edmund went to fight her knowing full well he couldn't win. He just figured it was worth it, if he could cripple her by attacking the source of her power, so that's what he did.
@@eyesofthecervino3366 Exactly. He knew he couldn't win; his only focus was the wand. He sacrificed himself to turn the tide of the battle. A beautiful completion of his character arc, and payback for Aslan's previous sacrifice for him.
I was obsessed with this movie growing up. I’ll never forget the experience of seeing it in theaters. Incredible. Also, The White Witch is still one of my favorite movie villains of all time. Tilda Swinton’s performance is so underrated.
Edmund's love of Turkish delight absolutely makes sense when most sweets available during the Blitz were either hard boiled fruit sweets or jellies that were made without much refined sugar
As a reader of the book of Narnia, I know where the wardrobe is from and that's a very good feeling, you know it's not for a dumb reason this furniture is magic, wonderful back story tbh
When I read the books for the first time, my jaw DROPPED when I realized who the old man from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe actually was. And after you read The Magician's Nephew, so much of the lore and world of Narnia makes so much sense and even much deeper than you realized. The world and lore is so vast it's insane. Honestly why the books are some of my favorite of all time.
@@mr.thomas6348 I think they're referring to the fact that Narnia is a metaphor for the Christian paradise, that's something that makes the story more interesting for them, but I don't think it's that innovative. Percy Jackson is also based on mythology -- Greek mythology, to be more specific.
That final battle is just god tier. The silence as the armies charge at one another is just *chefs kiss. I go back once in a while just to watch that battle. I will always love this movie. And I liked princess caspian, although not as good at the first It was the only one of the 3 I saw in theaters.
The battles in both this movie and Prince Caspian really did not need to go as hard as they did (they take up like two pages each in their respective books) but I'm very glad they did. It helps these movies feel like they have stakes but they do it in a way that doesn't undercut the fantasy. And I am just really fond of how they stage and shoot everything, the geography of the battlefield and who is fighting where and why is always super clear. They clearly learned all the right lessons from Peter Jackson and I feel like that kind of grand battle staging has been somehow lost in modern filmmaking where it's all just a CGI blur.
Fun fact I read somewhere once! Lucy's reaction to Narnia was very genuine, as she saw the set for the first time with us. Thought that was very sweet :) Loved the video and revisiting the movie with you Dylan!
Yes! Georgie Henley had never seen snow before so they kept her away from set until the day of so that they could record her genuine reaction. They essentially created a winter wonderland for her so they could make sure she could experience the full scope of it.
Everytime I watch these movies, I always immediately followup the movie with the cast and director talking over it and explaining how they went about the movie and felt about their characters, etc. Getting to know the behind the scenes details has always been an awesome experience. I wish more movies did that nowadays.
@@Copperkaiju The commentary for this film was FANTASTIC!! The one for the second was okay, and the third....we pretend like that whole movie never existed 😂😭
Reminds me of the Goonies where they kept the pirate ship a secret from the cast but when they filmed the scene, Josh Brolin said Holy sh*t and they had shoot the scene again
The effects aged really well. I believe that is because they found the sweet spot that the animals emote well but aren't uncanny like in the Lion King 2019. I remember going to watch the movie with my mom, I was 12, and it was so fun and cozy, I never read the books, but it was something that good for kids. I don't know, the characters never felt stupid, and the movie clearly respected its audience. As an adult, I can see where Edmund's greed comes from, it's an innocent kind of greed only a child can have. And if you think that this was kids who were in the middle of a war, I get why he would want to protect himself.
Just decided to read the books this year, read the first two, so a tidbit from the first book - the Turkish delight has magic in it, it makes the consumer want more and more and become enchanted, so he wanted to please the witch in order to get more.
By far the hardest line in that movie, which I'm shocked you didn't include, was "Do not cite the deep magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written." Liam Neeson sent chills down my fucking spine with that one.
I’m so happy to see the return of Friendly Space Ninja whose videos are as comforting as a cup of hot chocolate and not the type that burn your tongue.
Fun fact about C. S. Lewis: he adopted his wife's sons from a previous relationship, and continued to raise them after she died. They kids had Jewish heritage but weren't raised in the faith, but one of the sons decided to convert back and become a practicing Jew. C. S. Lewis was cool with it. He learned how to cook kosher food and hooked his son up with some Jewish neighbors who could take him to the synagogue and shit. If you visit his house, you can still see the marks on the door frame where he put up a mezuzah for his stepson.
Adding onto this, it was originally just a civil marriage so that his wife-to-be and her sons, Americans, could remain in England after their visitor's visas expired; they were friends but weren't in love at the time and lived separately. However, after about a year, they realized they'd fallen in love with each other and had a "proper" marriage in the church.
The only stepson I knew is Douglas Greysham because I used to (still) listen to the radio dramas of the Chronicles of Narnia here in YT and he added some "fun fact" voice overs. 😂
I like that they named the Lion Aslan because it’s Turkish for Lion but it is also a word for hero and in some Turkish cultures you call someone Aslan when you have a lot of respect for them.
Ok but in regard to Edmund giving his family up for a “mid candy.” My professor had a good point on this. For context my alma mater teaches a class dedicated to C.S Lewis and studying his works (both fiction and non-fiction), and we read the entire Narnia series. On the last day of class the professor always brings Turkish delight to share and my classmate goes “Edmund gave his family up for this…?” And as our professor put it, “well, imagine you’ve grown up in a middle class family that probably can’t always afford nice things, and you haven’t been able to get anything nice for quite some time because there’s a war going on right now and everything is rationed, and you’re young and naive.” And I think it’s a good look into the circumstances Edmund was in. We may see Turkish delight as silly but given the situation he was in and his young age can any of us really say we’d definitely have done different?
I know where you're coming from and I agree but he could have asked for regular chocolate! I'd love to know if there was any sort if debate at the time - Turkish delight really doesn't taste like many other sweets so it was it polarising?
@@hucklebucklin he also asks for hot chocolate! So yeah, asks for something more regular, and then the candy item that he's heard about and was told was a super special treat
Also, in The Magician’s Nephew, the first book, Lewis literally uses sweets to set the time frame. The first book is set in Victorian England, and is meant to feel like it was ages ago, but knowing that his audience is mostly children who have no real concept of time or history; the first paragraph describes the time as “when sweets were so delicious and so cheap you would be amiss to not buy a handful for a penny” or something. Because children would remember sweets being cheaper and easier to come by, they would know that they once were able to buy a handful for a penny and now they weren’t allowed. Or they would be able to imagine. And even now, we reminisce about when Freddo’s were cheaper than they are. Sweets are used as a huge time and struggle marker in the Chronicles of Narnia. In this essay I will argue that… 😂
I'm a devout Christian and I love the allegory of Narnia, but this quote "If there is a God......... he probably sounds like Liam Neeson so good job casting guys" was just great. Sounded like you were going to say something controversial, then just a totally wholesome truth bomb. Great delivery!
This series was actually incredible. I loved it so much I wrote and Edmund fanfic when I was like 14 that lowkey I'm still really proud of despite how cringy it definitely was lmao
@@JanelleTheKid you totally should! FSN was right when he said that there should be a Narnia resurgence, and the best way to do that is through making it relevant in pop culture, through fan art, fics, etc.
The sad thing about the sequels, is they had all these good *ideas* they increasingly failed to deliver on. Peter’s arc becoming “What if King Arthur just woke up one day as a nobody teenager again & just had to *deal* with that?” is such a great concept. Or Edmund (implied to be the diplomat of the group when they grow up,) runs circles around the evil king, really demonstrating that +15yrs of ruling experience in this little boy’s mind (plus, the little play on words when they call him Prince Edmund, and he corrects them “King. King Edmund. Just king, though! Peter’s the High King.” Yeah, Edmund’s title was ‘Edmund the Just.’) And that moment when they retrieve their gifts and most of them forget-“Edmund, where’s yours?”/“I didn’t get one, remember? I wasn’t with you.” hurts so good! (The acting from these kids was SO GOOD!) And Repicheep! My little mouse boy!! Actually finally got the film justice he deserved!!! It was just they overinflated the battles & ruined Caspian by trying to age him up seemingly *just* to pair him with Susan *(why???)* Oh, and then they took my favorite book in the whole series, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and drove it straight into a cliff. Eustace, sweetheart, I’m so sorry they did that to you… I’m so sorry they ruined your arc just to have the dragon on screen a little longer…
I still hate Disney for dropping the Narnia series, so Walden Media had to find a other producer. I don't know why they had a different director for the third film and a different composer, but all of these combined made the Voyage of the Dawn Treader look and feel really bad. I still remember how mad I was at Disney when I first read that they didn't want to finance the third film ...
From what I remember the first two movies weren't as successful as Disney expected them to be so they sold the franchise to Fox and they did your typical movie adaptation in the style of the Eragon movie - skipped good material from the books and changed the story unnecessarily to make it more epic and action-packed (especially the ending). So there's almost nothing left from the charm of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader book in the movie adaptation. It's so ironic that in their pursuit of wider audience movie studios always make adaptations into something so different from the original because they think that people will like it more but they change everything that made the original so popular in the first place and in the end nobody likes the adaptation. And they still haven't learned their lesson (look at The Witcher for example). It's such a shame because I would love to see a good movie adaptation of The Silver Chair (I loved the old BBC version when I was a kid) or my favourite book from the series The Horse and His Boy. But there's no chance of something good being made by Hollywood anymore nowadays.
For real, Eustace is the best character arc in the Chronicles of Narnia, and they absolutely butchered him. (Though there's something darkly appropriate about a movie studio lacking the awareness and introspection to pull off a character whose main flaw is a lack of introspection and self-awareness.)
Funny thing: When I read the "Voyage od the Dawn Treader" I always was under the impression that Caspian has a little crush on Lucy and therefore dosn't want them to leave.
I would LOVE to see an adaptation of Narnia's third book: The Horse And His Boy. This one takes place during the Pevensie's rule (aka Narnia's Golden Age) and explores the countries beyond Narnia itself with lovable characters and good adventures. I'm so frustrated they haven't adapted it yet!!
The Horse and his Boy is so great because Lewis had evolved : the female character is feminine AND fights (and it's not "ugly" when she fights, as he stated before), her enemies-to-lover storyline with Shasta is sweet and awesome, plus the whole Calormen country is so interesting.
The soundtrack is also so iconic. Harry Gregson Williams poured his heart and soul into the score, The Battle is iconic, From Western Woods to Beversdam is so whimsical. I still listen to it all the time
Me too! I‘ve always loved it since I was a child and used to imagine myself walking around and living in Narnia, so it always makes me nostalgic when I listen to it now 🥹
I have so many thoughts about this movie: - It was played a lot on Indian TV (the channels that showed English movies) and it was a delight. - It’s an unusual Christmas film. - I’m Team Lucy and Susan because they’re fabulous. - It introduced me to Tilda Swinton Excellence - Liam Neeson as Aslan is (chef’s kiss) - The Beavers are iconic and can adopt me anytime. - I had a massive crush on William Moseley who played Peter. So cute and so alpha.
I actually eat Turkish Delight almost every year at this time of year solely because of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It's just an OK candy and definitely not worth betraying your siblings multiple times for, but a few pieces always make me smile and think of Narnia. I've loved the book as a kid and loved the movie when it came out. It's my very odd and personal christmas tradition.
It’s not worth betraying your siblings yeah but I feel like context is ignored that the candy has an addictive magic to it AND Edmund is a kid who is living through rationing, which likely meant he didn’t have any sweets. The oversimplication of “he just betrayed his siblings to get some candy” really does a disservice to Edmund’s character.
@@CaptainPikeachu Never thought of it that way. When I was younger, I was so focused on him as a one note villain, I did not focus on his deeper motivations and that his whole world had changed and Turkish Delight was a luxury to him. Probably having an adult give him seemingly positive attention was probably also a big motivator too. As sibling 3 out of 4 he probably didn't get a lot of chances to shine.
ngl the first time i had handmade Turkish delight when i travelled to Turkey, my mind was blown by how good it was. the generic mass produced kind made in foreign countries just doesn’t do it justice imo. plus, most people only ever know about the basic rose flavour, but in reality there is a HUGE variety of flavours with different fruits/nuts/misc sweet ingredients! my personal fave is pomegranate and pistachio
@@kulacute I've just had the chance to in the last two weeks to get away from mass produced flavors and try some imported ones. Definitely have upgraded from ok candy to good lol. I can't imagine how much better it is freshly made in Turkey.
That battle scene is one of the GOATs dude. It informed every imaginary battle I had for the rest of my childhood. Also I think it’d be cool to see your takes on the sequels. Chuck them into one video even
Love how you called Aslan “Jesus lion” cuz that’s what J.R.R. Tolkien (C.S. Lewis’ friend) called him. Also great vid. Deserves a 👍. I love these movies and books and I am so happy for an actually entertaining video about it to exist.
Those movies really defined my childhood. We had an old wardrobe in our house and I always tried to go to Narnia like the Pevensies did in the first film🤣 Great story, great characters and really good CGI😍
I absolutely adore Tilda Swinton this movie. Her androgynous nature is perfect for this role. She truly looks mystical and otherworldly. She can be any magical being be it an Ice Witch Angel Vampire
Same! It filled me with such a deep sense of sadness that I didn’t really know what to do with, and I couldn’t understand why we didn’t really see how it affected them as they grew up (except a little bit in caspian). It makes so much sense that Lewis was using his experience as a teen soldier as a basis for that part.
Eh it all feels very hamfisted tbh. I personally feel these books are good for children that don't worry about the details. Sadly I was not one of those children. The very on the nose Christian themes , the portrayal of stereotypical female gender roles and the straight up racism kept me from enjoying the story for story sake. If you enjoyed it I'm happy for you, but I wouldn't read them again even if you paid me.
As a life long Narnia fan, I've spent the last 10 years being utterly heartbroken that Disney ditched the rest of the series. It literally hurt my heart to watch the first film after a while, I was so mad. I finally watched all 3 films with my husband this year, and as someone who had not grown up with the books, he said that the film series as a trilogy closing with Lucy felt right. I told him about the rest of the books, and he said there's no way all 7 would have held a theater audience the same way Potter had. Sigh. Now that I'm grown, I see validity in his point, but it doesn't make my heart hurt less.
@@lakaperse6995 Firstly, go touch some grass, because these are literally internet opinions from strangers who do not affect your life. Second, he's not a Potterhead at all, so it's not a "one is better than the other" thing. So, your multiple question mark aggression is very unwarranted. The world and books of Narnia are really complex. They were not published in chronological order, and the time gaps are inconsistent. So, aside from film making logistics, an audience who is introduced to the world through film might not build the same level of attachment to Narnia characters like they could with Potter characters. Potter specifically is the key, since the audience follows his story from beginning to finish. For Narnia, the Pevensies are present for maybe half of the books, and Lucy is the most prominent main character; by the time Dawn Treader was made, there are only 2 of 4 remaining books that feature her, and in the two that do, they have her in a supporting role for a small handful of scenes. My husband's point was that as a viewer, ending her arc on her literally closing a door to Narnia made sense, since, of her siblings, she was the first to open the door anyway. Believe me, when my husband first presented the idea, I didn't like the idea of no more Narnia, but even I can see that as a business venture, Disney didn't have the passion of Peter Jackson or James Cameron to finish a passion project. Disney wanted cash, and couldn't easily milk Narnia for more of it.
@@rosefong65 yeah, you were the rude one, not the person who asked a question wtf. They didn't even seemed mad, just curious, you should be touching grass
As someone with a fondness for Narnia stories, a well done commentary. One of my favorite scenes was Professor Kirke asking Peter and Susan about Lucy discovering the wardrobe's secret. (and it's Spare Oom) Once out in the woods to watch trains, along a dirt road a large deer stepped out of the trees and stared at me. Standing still and looking at each other a while, I softly asked "Do you know Aslan?" The deer nodded its head up and down several times then disappeared into the trees. Yes, Narnia is real.
The cast commentary for LWW is one of the few productions where I'll sit down just to watch the cast commentary. They did so much work, and it all paid off! Something else to remember: Narnia came out just after the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A LOT of churches bought tickets for Narnia as "stand" against Harry Potter, but mostly because everyone was happy to have something non-problematic that was still fantasy.
I don’t remember if it’s made as clear in the movie, but the Turkish Delight is enchanted, which is what makes Edmund have the delusions of grandeur, unpleasant thoughts, and compulsion to return to the Queen. (He can’t stop thinking about it and asks for more Turkish Delight as soon as he gets to her castle).
I am one of four kids that are in the exact same order as the pevensie children in my family, and we've always loved these movies. Honestly we still reference them to this day and I'm so glad that someone is finally speaking up about how good these movies are.
Narnia has a special place in my heart. i grew up in a broken family, i was living with my mum and i had problems at home and i was seeing my father only once in a week even though i always wanted to be with him more. i always loved my father and spending time with him was special to me because we always connected through books and movies - he showed me everything, every fandom that i love to this day. i remember us watching the Narnia movies and i remember him reading me the first book when he was putting me to sleep. i will always remember that. my love for this story is never ending. also, not many people are talking about the awesome soundtrack! the battle song is such a classic. one of my favorite movie soundtracks of all times.
The book has really crazy mythos. It suggest that Aslan is a God of many forms, existing in different worlds at once, and that they're many many worlds like Earth and Narnia (one the book actually visits) that we don't even know of
I love all of these movies. Even the "mid" sequels. I love them. Even as I watch them as an adult I still think they're fantastic. I think that childhood memories hold a large part of this but I also think you can tell the love and care that was put into these movies and how the characters still continue to develop. I really resonated with Lucy's arc in TVOTDT and think that it speaks to the heart of these movies that even though they're larger than life fantasy they're grounded in everyday human desires.
I remember that when I first saw the Witch come over the hill wearing Aslan's mane around her neck, I gasped. I watched Narnia three times in theaters I think, lol. It's still a banger of a movie, and you're right, the soundtrack is phenomenal. I used the Regina Specktor song, The Call, for my first dance at my wedding (although I think that one is from Prince Caspian, which is sadly not on the same level. But the song is amazing).
I absolutely adore Narnia. I loved it as a kid and watched it a bit cause I’m Christian. My brother and I watched it Dec 2021 on a whim after almost ten years and we were so captivated. I remembered loving it as a kid and was so glad it was still just as amazing as an adult. The CGI is great, the music is fantastic, I love the child actors and their chemistry, the world building is incredible, it just goes so hard hahaha. The magic in Narnia has always touched my heart more than the magic in Harry Potter, I think it’s because there’s something about it that just seems so mystical and pure and I can’t quite describe it but it truly makes me feel like a kid again and want to believe in magic. And as someone who grew up in the Christian faith, the allegories continue to leave deeper impression on me and touch my heart the older I get and really make me appreciate Lewis’ writing, theology, and creativity and remind me of inspiring the story of Christianity is to so many people. Loved this video, thanks for sharing :)
This movie is my confort place. I remember watching it for the first time when I was four on a winter vacation and I fall in love with it, I rewatched over and over whenever I could and being so happy when it popped up on Disney Chanel. And even the books helped me in a really hard time of my life. I had just moved to a new country that I had never heard before, with the most weird language imaginable (from a Spanish speaker perspective) and I was feeling a lot of anxiety because I couldn’t communicate with my classmates and they ended up bullying me because they thought I was a freak. So I ended up trying to forget about that with Narnia, and because I couldn’t watch the movie in school, I read the books with the soundtrack in my headphones. That’s made me be a even more introverted but it ended up saving my sanity. So I’m happy to think that I’m not the only one to think that this movie is so magical even do it’s been so long
This movie’s soundtrack is AMAZING. Thank you so much for revisiting it! Also: 1. The Turkish delight is enchanted and that’s why Edmund sells out his family like that lol 2. When Edmund confronts the witch in the battle, his intention is to break her magic staff/wand. Which he does, and ended up helping Peter’s army.
Chronicles of Narnia is one of the best films I’ve ever watched. The acting, the chemistry between the actors and the CGI is still top-tier to this day. Susan was one of my favorite characters so I am and still frustrated how the author treated her and the symbolism of her character to this day.
For real! Susan deserved so much better, and knowing what happens to her by the final book is so damned depressing. Like, "Ah yes, take the *one* character you are using as an athiest stand-in...and make her to be the wrong"??? Like...excuse me?? The way CS Lewis went about her character really does annoy me to this day, and I still love the books regardless, even if I myself am an Anthiest, I can aknoweledge the books to be amazingly told and written, just...Some things have indeed become dated by today's standards.
I wanted to watch it for the first time before going into this movie. I understand the nostalgia many must feel but I personally felt it was not very well paced among other things. Glad you love it - there are many more great movies to discover!
I've been rereading the series the past week and wondering if it'll still remain a classic in a world where 1) it has a lot more fantasy competition than the 1950s when Lewis wrote it and 2) its Christian themes are less of a selling point. I think so: religious allegory aside, Lewis is still one heck of a writer, and frankly it's _astounding_ how rich and deep a world, characters, and themes he made in such short books. Still peak children's fantasy, and rich ground for adaptation.
Man after seeing this movie as a kid I honestly wanted an elder brother like peter. His father figurly behavior towards Lucy and Edmund and especially Lucy was heartwarming to watch.
I had forgotten that the first movie was actually good! I will always have a soft spot for the books and the world created in them. I had never heard of Narnia before, but had "discovered" the books by myself at the library at age 9 and it felt like the most magical thing. My young mind was blown away by the idea of a whole other world those children travelled to, where time passed at a different pace.
Yes! Finally, this film is getting its due! I can remember back when I first started reviewing, and this was a film I happily gave a 10/10 to. I could probably find several things to nitpick, but I don't care, because it was a perfect adaptation; knowing when to deviate and stay faithful, updating some things and preserving others, all the while remaining true to the spirit of the story. And can we all just give Georgie Henley the praise she deserves? She was so young when the film was made but she delivers in a way that you'd think she was a veteran of at least two decades as Tilda Swinton. She WAS Lucy. The others all gelled very well together, but of course Lucy would be the hardest one to get right without making her feel saccharine, and she did it perfectly. The Prince Caspian film isn't actually as bad as you'd probably remember. It's nowhere near the first's level of quality but it had an uphill struggle with what it had to adapt. Overall it's a fine film but it definitely suffers from trying too hard to be cool, with all the attempts at snarky one-liners that just do not fit (there's an exchange between Trumpkin and Reepicheep that's particularly cringe). There's more right with it than wrong however. I haven't rewatched Voyage of the Dawn Treader in a long time so I can't comment on it.
I think one great part of how narnia is that everyone got into narnia though aslans direction. In the beginning they are being chased by that one housekeeper but nothing makes sense. suddenly they hear footsteps in front of them that were behind them, voices appear from the spots that would seem that safest, etc. In the book it's made more obvious, but even in the movie it's a subtle cue that aslan actually made sure that all 4 of the children make it to narnia together.
I love the Chronicles of Narnia. it was the first book series I fell in love with. I love medieval style fantasy stuff and it was the first time I ever read a book with a hero that had the same name as me in it and I admired Lucy Pevensie a lot. She was brave and loyal and smart. Still to this day it's one of my faves. I hope we get some new screen adaptations soon. The full series of stories deserves to be put to screen.
I was obsessed with these movies as a kid (I was drawn to anything with that alternate dimension theme as a child), and I love watching them back so much because Lucy reminds me so much of me when I was younger. It's no wonder she was always my favorite. I recently read the books for the first time and it was so magical to jump back into the world and learn more about the lore. Highly recommend.
This movie has such a special place in my heart. Not only did I love the Narnia books as a kid, LWW being one of my favorites, obviously, but my theater group played a stage version of it right when this movie was coming out (I played Peter and it's a very fond memory for me). This movie is SO good, it really made the book justice and it hold up so well. It created magic. I actually like Prince Caspian, I think it develops Edmund and you can see how he's grown from the first movie (while Peter has a lesson to learn in that movie). Edmund is probably one of my favorite characters in the series, he develops a lot and gets to be a funny sarcastic teen instead of a selfish asshole. Sadly not a lot of people remember that and only members his betrayal. Lucy is adorable and pure faith, which basically is her role. My beloved Peter is a great leader, but takes himself a bit too seriously sometimes. And Susan... I never liked her, maybe because she (spoilers) abandons Narnia and "stops believing in it" and only wants to be pretty in the books. I like some of her character in the first movie but omg her love story arc in PC is awful. They just didn't know what to do with her. It's not in the book at all... Dawn Treader is okay but it took away some of the depth of the book. I'd love a reboot done well, and I really want an adaptation of some of the other books, like The Silver Chair, which is one of the best books (if not the best) in the series. P.S. Yes the score is incredible and should get more recognition as a masterpiece. Also there's an album with songs inspired by LWW from when the movie was released and it's so good.
This movie started my absolute obsession for the fantasy genre especially when i was a kid. I still hold the Narnia series and the Lotr series close to my heart, they are such pretty good books, and knowing C. S. Lewis and Tolkien were close friends made the whole series even better for me. I remember being 8 years old and getting the Narnia books for Christmas and reading the whole 7 books in a week, and in the years after I basically watched the entire franchise falling into pieces
Something you may or may not have known. According to the book, the witch gave Edmund enchanted sweets so that as soon as he ate them he immediately wanted more and was willing to do anything to get them. including selling his family. P.S. You have an amazing channel and you are really talented.💖
Mr space ninja, I sent my partner a text stating that Shrek and Shrek 2's director directed the first Narnia movie, and now we're going to watch all three movies on Christmas after we visit each other's families. So, thank you for your fun fact and for pretty much making my Christmas night plans with my partner fun! 💕
One thing- the turkish delight is like magically addictive for edmund. This is a lot more clear in the book if I remember correctly. He basically instantly becomes a heroin addict and only the witch can provide the heroin. So it's a little more complicated than selling out his fam for some mid candy.
Narnia was always my favorite series when I was younger. I first watched it when I was about 6 and I just loved it. I read all the books and rewatched TLTWATW and VOTDT hundreds of times. I feel like I loved it so much because it didn’t treat it’s main audience(I would say children) as dumb little kids. And it showed how intelligent the children were, just like the books.
Yeessss, thank you for mentioning the soundtrack. It's SO GOOD. I listened to it on repeat for months after seeing the movie. The extended edition has the FULL battle scene and it is totally brilliant. I was not a child when this movie came out, I was 19, but this film was still my JAM because I had read the books as a kid but I'd kind of forgotten about them and this brought back what I liked about them. It was during the days when LiveJournal was big and I made SO many profile icons from this movie. So many. I still have an external hard drive that I can't access due to a bad cord at the moment that has hundreds of screenshots of the movie so I could use them for icons lol Also, interesting tidbit, Older!Lucy is played by the Georgie's real life older sister.
When this movie came out I instantly fell in love with it. I saw it twice in the theater and I bought the soundtrack on CD. This movie really stuck with me and I even named my original character Lucy after Lucy Pevensie
Honestly I'd really love to explore the 1000 year period in Narnia between the Magicians Nephew and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and address some of the questions from the books, like How did Jadis destroy the Tree that protected Narnia from her and how is she related to the Lady of the Green Kirtle from the Silver Chair
I'd also love to see some of Jadis' reign, including the Faun uprising! And why they fell out of believing in Man, since King Frank and his kin had a long history...
12:33 The Turkish delight part was actually caused by the writer's fascination of Turkish culture. The Lion's name "Aslan" also literally means lion in Turkish. (And bro why you gotta do my boy like that Turkish delight is actually good if you eat it at the right place)
Man, I loved this movie. Brings me back to a dear memory of my childhood, and some places that no longer exist when I went to see it. I remember after watching it we went to a place and I felt like there was some magic in the air. It's the best... I am searching for move movies that make you feel like this, please make more reviews for movies like this one, it was so nice! Happy holidays, to you and you fams!
this movie came out when i was 5, and it's one of my all-time favorites. i have most of it memorized, completely by accident by watching it so many times. the music lives in my bones and the whole thing is so foundational to who i am now
the music for this movie is one of my favorites i will actively go out of my way to listen to it often. especially the music that plays during the battle. ITS SO GOOD. and obviously the song tumnus plays for lucy. but it’s just *chef kiss*
I have so much childhood nostalgia for this movie it’s unbelievable! I feel like the only reason I enjoy the sequels at all is because I have childhood nostalgia for those too. Looking at them through the lens of an adult they aren’t very good but I still have some amount of nostalgia for them. With that said nothing can top the first movie! The soundtrack alone gives me so many fond childhood memories.
I remember being 15 or so, and I downloaded the whole soundtrack from that first movie, and I listened to that album on repeat for a 9 hour road trip through the mountains for Christmas holidays. Very fond memory. Lol
Woah okay. Was NOT expecting you to post a video on my favorite book series of all time. Thank you❤ Yes everyone should definitely read the novels. Also, there's a channel called Into the Wardrobe that covers and explains ton of things from the books, including the Wood Between the Worlds. Highly recommend that and the BBC miniseries
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is one of my fav movies. My dad bought it for me on DVD when it came out (I was six lol). Every time I rewatch it, I'm so happy it still holds up so well. And Tilda Swinton, to this day, never misses 😎
i LOVED the first movie. the Lion is THE best lion ever created. he is such a teddy bear and so royal and cool. i loved the snow queen and how much she is taken out of the original hans christian andersen tale. she is very similar and that's why she is so scary. i loved the world of the frozen narnia but the feeling of what the land might have looked like if at was summer. it was a magical tale that made a big impact on me as a teenager.
Narnia will always have such a special place in my heart. It was to me what Harry Potter was to so many others. Every time I watch the Narnia movies or read the books I am convinced again that magic is real
I loved this movie so much when I first watched it. Back then, McDonald's and Disney had an agreement, so the kid's combo usually came with a small toy from the most recent Disney movie and I remember getting Lucy Pevensie and I kept her for SO MANY YEARS. I loved her, I related so hard to how much she loved this whimsical world she had stumbled upon. It's really a bummer how the two sequels didn't hold up to the quality of the first one, and I'm still bummed the fourth movie was announced but nothing ever came of it. I think you need to really commit if you want to write a series of movies that works with child actors. The kids won't stop growing, so there's obviously a time and planning that went into the first movie that cannot be replicated for the subsequent ones. But you can still make it work. It could've been such an amazing saga.
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The lion, the witch, and the audacity of this b**** 😂
Id love to see you finish the chronicles
You don't have The MotherShip podcast on your Channels page when I view your YT profile
Turkish delight is not THAT bad, c'mon! 😅
Also put what episode the how i met your mother bit is on cause i can't find it 😅
The four Pevensie siblings were very well cast, you could really buy them as siblings, and their intereactions were very authentic.
Agreed! I was really surprised to find out the kid who played Edmund quit acting to become a politician...
@@friendlyspaceninja WAIT WHAT?!?!
@@pepsiisbetterthancoke6283 yeah, broke my heart too. especially when i found out that he specifically works for the british conservative party...
The first Narnia had one of the bests casts I've seen in a movie, they nailed most of the characters in my opinion.
Yeah, Susan, Edmund and Lucy looked like siblings, they had similar facial features
19:09 Fun fact! C.S. Lewis, the author of the Narnia books, was close friends with J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. Tolkien obviously took world building super seriously, and was so annoyed that Lewis was putting Santa in his story with no explanation that allegedly he almost ended their friendship and stayed annoyed for so long he told his official biographer about it to put in his biography 😂
Best random Santa in fiction, and possibly the inspiration for all this, was from the Oz series. Never been into Santa but the first book on his origins was so good thanks to Baum.
Apparently, Lewis put a lamppost in Narnia just because Tolkien said something along the lines of no good fantasy would have a lamppost in it😂. Their friendship must have been great to witness.
“Santa appearances will continue until morale improves” -CS Lewis
Honestly, Santa in Narnia makes sense given that Narnia is a kids book, Santa is magic, and the worlds in Narnia are magic. If there are multiple worlds accessible through magic, why can't magic Santa travel through them? I think it was a really awesome touch by Lewis to show how the worlds really are connected, and not just by Aslan.
It is a bit intriguing how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R Tolkien embodied old and new fantasy conventions respectively. Lewis used fantasy as a silly putty that he could bend and twist however he wanted to tell his story, much like Alice in Wonderland or more Shakespearean tales. Wheras Tolkien saw fantasy as an opportunity to offer an escape to his readers, and immerse them in a world beyond our own, yet as tangible as the one we live in. Needless to say, the world chose which kind of fantasy it preferred, as Tolkeinian fantasy is literally the template upon which every single fantasy story since has been based upon, and Narnia has been completely left in the dust, forgotten, much like its films rather fittingly.
"Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch; I was there when it was written"
That shit was some heat
This gets used on Tumblr a lot (brilliantly)
Now that was a quote!
He is the original goat
I love how we can just say bitch instead of witch and it hits even harder lol
Aslan-Son of God type Vibes
When I was a kid, my sister and I convinced our Sunday school teacher to let us watch this movie in class by telling her they were based on the Bible, because we really didn't want to do actual Sunday school stuff. But the movie is too long to watch in one class, and she could never remember where we left off, so we just kept getting her to start very close to the beginning. We ended up watching the movie for like 2 months, and the teacher was so curious about Turkish delights that she tried making them at home. She enjoyed making them so much that she started her own business around it and stopped being our Sunday school teacher.
That's actually pretty sweet
That is amazing!
Lion Jesus changed her life 👀
Thats amazing
Technically it is, C.S. Lewis loved his Jesus allegories.
The CGI in this film is incredible for its time.
Agreed, for a franchise from the 2000's, the special effects has held up extremely well! ❣️
Better than Lion king's cgi remake. This movie made sure the animals' faces emote so you can see their emotions
The sad part is that the lion in this movie is a lot more convincing than any of the ones in the 2019 "live action" Lion King movie.
Yeah
absolutely!!!
It's insane how good Aslan looks, unlike the Disney Live Action Lion King, Aslan can still look like a real lion wjile still have an emotive face.
It's kinda sad that that was my first thought after seeing him in this video. And that shit was in 2005, Sure the Lion King ones look realistci but the problem is, watching actual lions is pretty boring even in real life, sure they are intimidating but that's kinda it.
Aslan vs. Mufasa? Who wins
@@mr.lawrence3234 Aslan probably but Mufasa in popularity
Don't get me wrong, the CGI in the lion king remake is a technical marvel. But I definitely agree that more work could have gone into making them more expressive
Youve CLEARLY never watched savage kingdom or national geographic in general @shinrailp1416
Between "little children don't know when to stop pretending" and "I'm not a dwarf, and actually I'm tallest in my class" I'm surprised Lucy didn't thaw all of Narnia herself with those sick burns
LMFAOOO
Interesting trivia about Edmund:
Turkish Delight is specifically a Christmas candy. His request for it from Jadis might have been the first act to directly weaken her power. She kept Narnia in a state of “Always winter never Christmas” and a Son of Adam got her to bring a little piece of Christmas into the world.
❤❤❤
It was also magic brainwashing in the book
Dude could’ve asked for gingerbread or peppermint but went with the most mid holiday candy
@@elizabethherrera9618he didnt knew «always winter, no christmas» shit or someting like that
6:30 ‘The Lion, The Witch and the Audacity of this B***h’ will never stop being iconic.
And will never stop being an accurate title of the movie.
I'm so glad you put the time stamp in here! I skipped past it going past the ad. (sorry Friendly Space Ninja! I only have a limited time to watch videos and everyone's ads are so long! Lol.) That was fricken hilarious!!!
They did such an amazing job building up Jadis as a genuinely terrifying threat. I thought rewatching Aslan's sacrifice would be easier to watch as an adult, but it still makes me squirm. When she rolled up to the battle wearing Aslan's fur... so dark.
I watched this movie for the first time since I was maybe 6 yesterday (I’m 18 now) and only now just realized she was wearing his fur. The squirm I squirmed.
@@lydiarisler5439 I didn’t realize it until I was much older! Such a twisted detail.
I completly forgot this happened until I read this comment, this brought back feelings and memories of my seething anger as a kid lol. I was so mad at her, like "YOU CAN'T DO THAT"
Hmm
Is that what that was!? Oh god.
I think that Edmund gets an unfair amount of shit from everyone bc the movie fails at establising WHY he's such a selfish little shit. But in the book it is actually explained that Edmund always feels like he's a left-over that no one likes; Peter is the "brave one" that everyone respects, Susan is "the smart one" that everyone admires, Lucy is the "baby one" that everyone thinks is adorable and wants to protect, and Edmund is perpetually just The Middle Kid. He doesn't have anything "special" about him that singles him out from the others, he feels like everyone overlooks him as being simply "the third Pevensie" while everyone else is singled out for a specific characteristic - and so, he really resents his siblings because he thinks they think they're better than him. He doesn't feel like he's liked by them, so he doesn't like them either.
And he's so ready to help Jadis because he has Abandoment Issues from his dad leaving for war and then his mum leaving him on the countryside; so the second there's an adult who's apparently willing to be there for him and give him attention and say that he's worth as much as - or even more than - his siblings, he likes it because he doesn't feel very loved at home (also he wants Turkish Delight because someone apparently told him it was delicious and he was curious idk; he hadn't had much candy since the start of the war, so I guess anything would do). Also, he's like, 13 - he's selfish and needy by default. All this other stuff just exacerbates that. So yeah, I think that comparing him to Zuko is a great comparison, because they both go through basically the same arc, of realising they have potential and value by themselves and don't need to be compared to or overshadowed by their respective siblings. And after they learn that, they both become the best characters in their respective stories.
I'm sorry this became a rant, I just really really love Edmund and I think his arc is a fun character study.
TL;DR: Edmund is a little shit because he has Abandoment Issues on top of Middle Child Syndrome and being 13; he's also amazing and the best character in this book.
I also think the turkish delight was enchanted. Anything she gave him would’ve had the same effect.
@@chiefroo yes. that is so. It was explained brilliantly in the book that once a person had been given a taste of the Witch's enchanted treats they would go on eating it and eating it until their DEATH if they were allowed.
That's a really good observation! Although I think that the film actually gives Edmund far more context than the book did. The books all have an overtly didactic purpose, so lots of its child characters start out as complete dicks until they're bettered through hardship (Edmund, Eustace, Jill). I remember being bothered that the book never stopped to explore Edmund's psychology and the reasons for his selfishness - all that is done by the film. The relationship to his father and his feelings of inadequacy are introduced solely in the film, which I am really grateful for. While he does transition from a selfish person to a better person, the film explains why he was so torn up in the first place.
@@thesardonicpig3835 oh, I might have crossed my streams, then! It's been a while since I have either read the book or watched the movie, so maybe my memory has failed me.
I feel like the fandoms, (not surface level fans) really loves Edmund actually,
I actually liked Prince Caspian, had a darker edge and I felt as if there was more world building
I thought it was severely underrated today, I remember the scale of the epic battle in the climax rivaling that of the first movie. The third movie unfortunately feels like it had a smaller budget somehow and it certainly didn't feel the same way.
Yeeees, and you can actually see how much the filmmakers learnt from the first film. And they have Reepicheep!
I'd argue prince Caspian is heavily misunderstood. It's a lot more mature than the first and tackles really heavy themes. It derails from the books in a lot of ways, but I'd argue...for the better
Same, it was probably my favourite movie
I prefer the first movie but Prince Caspian was alright. It's Voyage of the Dawn Treader that was fucking massacred in the adaptation. It's my favorite book of the bunch, too.
I remember as a kid feeling super uneasy when the ice queen is very obviously manipulating edward and “killed” simba. Like it was a fairly adult villain
Apparently Tilda Swinton flirted with Edmond's actor off-camera to get him acting more unsettled around her so... yeah, that's entirely appropriate.
@@ZeldaQueen64 why can’t people be decent human beings
@@ZeldaQueen64 any source? something like that is a pretty big accusation to begin with "apparently"
Precisely, even as a child, I felt uneasy during the White Witch and Edmund's scenes, without really understanding why.
It was explained to be only for the film nothing like that
Fun fact: when they filmed Lucy discovering Narnia, it was her actual first time reaction seeing the narnia set and all the snow that's why it looks so genuine :) use that at dinner you're welcome
Yeah right i dont believe u
@@spacedoctor6858 No - its actually true. She was never allowed to see the set as it was built, and was brought on blindfolded and told to keep her eyes shut until she was told to open them. They wanted her reaction to be 100% geniune.
Yup!! And her reaction to Mr. Tumnus too was genuine.
I'm pretty sure someone has already said this but them being adults is a metaphor for what the writer felt when he returned from war just having to be a teenager again after going through a war and being forced to grow up. Also i don't remember if they ever said this but i thought that the portal to Narnia only works if you aren't looking for Narnia.
That doesnt make a lot of sense though since the second time Lucy goes to Narnia, she wanted to find it to prove that she wasnt imagining it
@@heddo2692 it’s a very soft magic system. Portals to Narnia exist when they want to, and preferably when convenient to the plot.
The whole idea with the portals is that Aslan (God) controls the comings and goings of people. It all happens according to his grand plan
@@chessplayer6632Ohhh that makes sense ty
@@aprilblues3202 Ok ty!
"He's a beaver, he shouldnt be saying anything!" 😂 Will always be my favorite line.
I’ve had to repeat that scene so many times. Her facial expression is hilarious.
On the bit of them being adults in kids' bodies, that's one of the things that the sequel actually does well. The main conflict on earth is that Peter is used to not only being an adult but also being high king and can't deal with other teenagers his age being you know, teenagers, and keeps getting into fights.
the writer apparently wrote it as he felt like that coming back from war, having experienced these incredibly adult things and being burdened with adult things and coming back just… being a stupid teenager again
tbh I'm a narnia caspian 2 lover, i think it captions rly amazingly how much the older siblings struggled with living a whole life and returning to being kids but with adult memories and it does amazing justice to Edmund.
I remember not loving Prince Caspian the first time I saw it, but after that I really liked it, mainly because of the Edmund arc. It really was his moment to shine. Peter's arc in that was pretty cool as well.
This. Also I really like how the director explained on the audio commentary why the Pevensies and Caspian act the way they act. And I think you can actually see how much the filmmakers learnt from the first film.
The movie tackles a lot I think the book doesn't, while still staying true to Narnia...Prince Caspian is a good movie. Very underated
I have my problems with Prince Caspian, but yes Edmund's arc is awesome, he's the best character in that film.
True
The Chronicles of Narnia has left a soft spot for a lot of us here who grew up watching all the films. As always, we appreciate watching your reviews.
I remember the first time I read this book and I was SO incredibly sad, that they went back to being children. Even as a kid I felt such a deep sense of loss for the life that was gone.
It was a brilliant move on C.S. Lewis' part. As an allegory for the trauma of war on children it's impossibly effective.
It was always a mystery for me why even books are SO underrated!!! It is a pure classic as Tolkien is.
which is ironic considering that Lewis and Tolkien were close friends for decades who bonded over their love for fantasy literature
@@linah1998 they bonded over a shared love of myths, and also Tolkien was instrumental in Lewis coming to Christ! Though apparently he wasn’t happy that Lewis became Protestant and not a Catholic like Tolkien. 😂 They we’re in a writing group together called the Inklings, there’s a book about them!
While tolkien and lewis were friends, even tolkien knew the books were uninspired and just mid asf
For me at least, it's because they get pretty damn preachy and on the nose regarding CS Lewis's religious beliefs as the books go on. The first one is a classic though, as it's much less prevalent there.
@@Ennarmrealhe didn’t think Narnia was bad, he just thought the allegories were too much (which is 100% true)
I don't know how they got the lightest yet heavy enough magical sheet to create one of the most magical reveals I've seen. Every time Lucy pulls the sheet off the wardrobe gives me chills every time. That shot is perfect.
Silk. It's silk. Only silk can do that. It is the material of the gods.
True
They are adults in kids' bodies, and it plays a role in sequel where it messes with their perception of themselves, the world, and the role they believe they should be playing in it.
In part 2 Peter is hot headed and an ass because he remembers being king and now he's back to being a kid with no power in the real world and desperately wants to return to position he believes he should be in, while Edmund is more likeable, responsible and reliable due to his experiences in Narnia.
Narnia is one of my favourite stories. It was my first time seeing a fantasy with such a heavy Christian influence and I loved it. As a kid I felt like I was in on a secret when I kept thinking Aslan was like God, then my parents confirmed he was written to represent God.
EDMUND FUCKIN ROCKED IN THE SECOND ONE!
This is true with Peter, but he isn't with like that at ALL in the books. He's very, well, what you hope a king would be like. He's respectful of Caspian, acquiesces to Caspian's rule immediately and knows that he is no longer king, and is polite. It's because of Peter acting like an ass when he wasn't like that in the books at all that bothered me and made it harder to watch after the first time. Edmund is more kingly in the Prince Caspian movie than Peter acts until the very end. It was an unnecessary change that didn't help the story in any way except making Peter seem more childish than someone who had literally already lived into at least his 30s (if not his 40s) before reverting back to a teenager.
I really wanted to like Prince Caspian more than I did (the movie, the character I like just fine) but they didn't do the book justice with this movie the way they did with LWW. Which made me wary of watching The Dawn Treador.
What's weird though is at the end Susan gives Caspian a smooch and Lucy and Edmund make "eww" comments about how they are uncomfortable with it because of how young they are, despite technically being adults. Lucy in particular still feels like a little kid in the 2nd one based on how she acts.
@@TardisNerdGirl Canonically, the Pevensies spent 15 years in Narnia. If you look up the Narnia fandom Wiki, there is a timeline, which CS Lewis created at some point. Peter was about 13 the first time they went to Narnia, which would make him about 28 when they went back to England. In the last book, he was about 22 when they all went "home," so he never even saw his 30s or 40s! You're right that movie Peter wasn't what he was in the book. The first thing he says to Caspian in the book is "I haven't come to take your place but to put you in it." And agreed that the Susan-Caspian thing was too weird.
@@ellagoreyshorrorstories7524 I LOVE that quote! it is so sad the directors did not LIVE by it when creating the second movie.
i always saw that moment where edmund fights jadis as a final desperate act to save his brother and completing his arc, coming from selfishness to selflessness and giving his life for his brother who he believes in; plus the full circle of "why can't you just do as you're told?" is AMAZING. also i love the soundtrack of this movie its so good
Not only that, but in the book it's explicitly stated that everyone else was failing to even slow her down because they didn't understand where her power was coming from; they were just attacking her directly, and then getting turned to stone for their trouble. Edmund had spent some time around her, so he understood her real power was her wand, and that's what he went after.
That's what really gets me about that moment. Edmund went to fight her knowing full well he couldn't win. He just figured it was worth it, if he could cripple her by attacking the source of her power, so that's what he did.
@@eyesofthecervino3366 Exactly. He knew he couldn't win; his only focus was the wand. He sacrificed himself to turn the tide of the battle. A beautiful completion of his character arc, and payback for Aslan's previous sacrifice for him.
I was obsessed with this movie growing up. I’ll never forget the experience of seeing it in theaters. Incredible. Also, The White Witch is still one of my favorite movie villains of all time. Tilda Swinton’s performance is so underrated.
And once you read the books? Somehow the White Witch is so much darker and even more messed up than what they showed in the movies. Amazing villain.
Absolutely agree. It was the first movie I watched in theaters as a kid, such a great memory.
Edmund's love of Turkish delight absolutely makes sense when most sweets available during the Blitz were either hard boiled fruit sweets or jellies that were made without much refined sugar
okay but how does anyone in Narnia know what "Turkish" anything is, shouldn't it be Calormene Delight or something like that?
As a reader of the book of Narnia, I know where the wardrobe is from and that's a very good feeling, you know it's not for a dumb reason this furniture is magic, wonderful back story tbh
It is *technically* magic, it's just way, way cooler.
Ikr! And the professor being Diggory (and also based on Tolkien) is just *chefs kiss*
When I read the books for the first time, my jaw DROPPED when I realized who the old man from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe actually was. And after you read The Magician's Nephew, so much of the lore and world of Narnia makes so much sense and even much deeper than you realized. The world and lore is so vast it's insane. Honestly why the books are some of my favorite of all time.
@@mr.thomas6348 I think they're referring to the fact that Narnia is a metaphor for the Christian paradise, that's something that makes the story more interesting for them, but I don't think it's that innovative. Percy Jackson is also based on mythology -- Greek mythology, to be more specific.
@@michelcomenta no christian paradise just another world but christian paradise is inroduce later in the books
That final battle is just god tier. The silence as the armies charge at one another is just *chefs kiss. I go back once in a while just to watch that battle.
I will always love this movie. And I liked princess caspian, although not as good at the first It was the only one of the 3 I saw in theaters.
The battles in both this movie and Prince Caspian really did not need to go as hard as they did (they take up like two pages each in their respective books) but I'm very glad they did. It helps these movies feel like they have stakes but they do it in a way that doesn't undercut the fantasy. And I am just really fond of how they stage and shoot everything, the geography of the battlefield and who is fighting where and why is always super clear. They clearly learned all the right lessons from Peter Jackson and I feel like that kind of grand battle staging has been somehow lost in modern filmmaking where it's all just a CGI blur.
Fun fact I read somewhere once! Lucy's reaction to Narnia was very genuine, as she saw the set for the first time with us. Thought that was very sweet :) Loved the video and revisiting the movie with you Dylan!
Yes! Georgie Henley had never seen snow before so they kept her away from set until the day of so that they could record her genuine reaction. They essentially created a winter wonderland for her so they could make sure she could experience the full scope of it.
Everytime I watch these movies, I always immediately followup the movie with the cast and director talking over it and explaining how they went about the movie and felt about their characters, etc. Getting to know the behind the scenes details has always been an awesome experience. I wish more movies did that nowadays.
@@tryingmybardest I miss commentaries. The commentary for this film was one of my favorites in fact. Pixar had some good ones too.
@@Copperkaiju The commentary for this film was FANTASTIC!! The one for the second was okay, and the third....we pretend like that whole movie never existed 😂😭
Reminds me of the Goonies where they kept the pirate ship a secret from the cast but when they filmed the scene, Josh Brolin said Holy sh*t and they had shoot the scene again
The effects aged really well.
I believe that is because they found the sweet spot that the animals emote well but aren't uncanny like in the Lion King 2019.
I remember going to watch the movie with my mom, I was 12, and it was so fun and cozy, I never read the books, but it was something that good for kids.
I don't know, the characters never felt stupid, and the movie clearly respected its audience.
As an adult, I can see where Edmund's greed comes from, it's an innocent kind of greed only a child can have.
And if you think that this was kids who were in the middle of a war, I get why he would want to protect himself.
Literally Lion King 2019 is a whole pot of why did they make all these decisions....
They could not decide if to make their animals antropomorphic or like real animals.
Just decided to read the books this year, read the first two, so a tidbit from the first book - the Turkish delight has magic in it, it makes the consumer want more and more and become enchanted, so he wanted to please the witch in order to get more.
oops sorry I made a very similar comment without checking to see if others had piped up. but Yes, Lewis explained Edmund's desire for more delight.
By far the hardest line in that movie, which I'm shocked you didn't include, was "Do not cite the deep magic to me, Witch. I was there when it was written."
Liam Neeson sent chills down my fucking spine with that one.
I’m so happy to see the return of Friendly Space Ninja whose videos are as comforting as a cup of hot chocolate and not the type that burn your tongue.
Now that was a beautiful comment. And I agree 😄
@@vandanacasm Thank You!
That's a beautiful analogy, it really sums up the Friendly Space Ninja in a nutshell! 😍
i swear im seeing you everywhere lmao
you and trinaq
Fun fact about C. S. Lewis: he adopted his wife's sons from a previous relationship, and continued to raise them after she died. They kids had Jewish heritage but weren't raised in the faith, but one of the sons decided to convert back and become a practicing Jew. C. S. Lewis was cool with it. He learned how to cook kosher food and hooked his son up with some Jewish neighbors who could take him to the synagogue and shit. If you visit his house, you can still see the marks on the door frame where he put up a mezuzah for his stepson.
that ain't no fun fact that shit borderline made me cry
@@ed32568 Y E S, wholesome shit
Adding onto this, it was originally just a civil marriage so that his wife-to-be and her sons, Americans, could remain in England after their visitor's visas expired; they were friends but weren't in love at the time and lived separately. However, after about a year, they realized they'd fallen in love with each other and had a "proper" marriage in the church.
@@christopherverhoef9112 Lmao C.S. Lewis was a Light Novel protagonist, who knew?
The only stepson I knew is Douglas Greysham because I used to (still) listen to the radio dramas of the Chronicles of Narnia here in YT and he added some "fun fact" voice overs. 😂
Its been 17 YEARS and Narnia STILL the best movie with realistic cgi talking animals. How is even possible?!
I like that they named the Lion Aslan because it’s Turkish for Lion but it is also a word for hero and in some Turkish cultures you call someone Aslan when you have a lot of respect for them.
Ok but in regard to Edmund giving his family up for a “mid candy.” My professor had a good point on this. For context my alma mater teaches a class dedicated to C.S Lewis and studying his works (both fiction and non-fiction), and we read the entire Narnia series. On the last day of class the professor always brings Turkish delight to share and my classmate goes “Edmund gave his family up for this…?” And as our professor put it, “well, imagine you’ve grown up in a middle class family that probably can’t always afford nice things, and you haven’t been able to get anything nice for quite some time because there’s a war going on right now and everything is rationed, and you’re young and naive.” And I think it’s a good look into the circumstances Edmund was in. We may see Turkish delight as silly but given the situation he was in and his young age can any of us really say we’d definitely have done different?
I know where you're coming from and I agree but he could have asked for regular chocolate! I'd love to know if there was any sort if debate at the time - Turkish delight really doesn't taste like many other sweets so it was it polarising?
Also, the candy was enchanted to be SUPER addictive, so there’s that
@@hucklebucklin he also asks for hot chocolate! So yeah, asks for something more regular, and then the candy item that he's heard about and was told was a super special treat
@@hucklebucklin it was CS Lewis’s personal favorite and a guilty pleasure for him whenever he had the chance to eat it during times of war
Also, in The Magician’s Nephew, the first book, Lewis literally uses sweets to set the time frame. The first book is set in Victorian England, and is meant to feel like it was ages ago, but knowing that his audience is mostly children who have no real concept of time or history; the first paragraph describes the time as “when sweets were so delicious and so cheap you would be amiss to not buy a handful for a penny” or something. Because children would remember sweets being cheaper and easier to come by, they would know that they once were able to buy a handful for a penny and now they weren’t allowed. Or they would be able to imagine. And even now, we reminisce about when Freddo’s were cheaper than they are. Sweets are used as a huge time and struggle marker in the Chronicles of Narnia. In this essay I will argue that… 😂
I'm a devout Christian and I love the allegory of Narnia, but this quote "If there is a God......... he probably sounds like Liam Neeson so good job casting guys" was just great. Sounded like you were going to say something controversial, then just a totally wholesome truth bomb. Great delivery!
This series was actually incredible. I loved it so much I wrote and Edmund fanfic when I was like 14 that lowkey I'm still really proud of despite how cringy it definitely was lmao
My Narnia fics that I published 15 years ago still get views. 🤣 Like, what??? But I am flattered every time I get notified about a Like.
Oh god same, I wrote 2 fics for Narnia that I'm still proud of, one of which is the only fic I ever completed. This movie consumed me as a preteen.
so are you going to link the fic or...
@@Grace-kt3ir I'm wayyyy to embarrassed to link it lmao. I was thinking about rewriting it just to make amends with the cringe
@@JanelleTheKid you totally should! FSN was right when he said that there should be a Narnia resurgence, and the best way to do that is through making it relevant in pop culture, through fan art, fics, etc.
The sad thing about the sequels, is they had all these good *ideas* they increasingly failed to deliver on. Peter’s arc becoming “What if King Arthur just woke up one day as a nobody teenager again & just had to *deal* with that?” is such a great concept. Or Edmund (implied to be the diplomat of the group when they grow up,) runs circles around the evil king, really demonstrating that +15yrs of ruling experience in this little boy’s mind (plus, the little play on words when they call him Prince Edmund, and he corrects them “King. King Edmund. Just king, though! Peter’s the High King.” Yeah, Edmund’s title was ‘Edmund the Just.’) And that moment when they retrieve their gifts and most of them forget-“Edmund, where’s yours?”/“I didn’t get one, remember? I wasn’t with you.” hurts so good! (The acting from these kids was SO GOOD!) And Repicheep! My little mouse boy!! Actually finally got the film justice he deserved!!!
It was just they overinflated the battles & ruined Caspian by trying to age him up seemingly *just* to pair him with Susan *(why???)*
Oh, and then they took my favorite book in the whole series, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and drove it straight into a cliff. Eustace, sweetheart, I’m so sorry they did that to you… I’m so sorry they ruined your arc just to have the dragon on screen a little longer…
I still hate Disney for dropping the Narnia series, so Walden Media had to find a other producer. I don't know why they had a different director for the third film and a different composer, but all of these combined made the Voyage of the Dawn Treader look and feel really bad.
I still remember how mad I was at Disney when I first read that they didn't want to finance the third film ...
From what I remember the first two movies weren't as successful as Disney expected them to be so they sold the franchise to Fox and they did your typical movie adaptation in the style of the Eragon movie - skipped good material from the books and changed the story unnecessarily to make it more epic and action-packed (especially the ending). So there's almost nothing left from the charm of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader book in the movie adaptation. It's so ironic that in their pursuit of wider audience movie studios always make adaptations into something so different from the original because they think that people will like it more but they change everything that made the original so popular in the first place and in the end nobody likes the adaptation. And they still haven't learned their lesson (look at The Witcher for example). It's such a shame because I would love to see a good movie adaptation of The Silver Chair (I loved the old BBC version when I was a kid) or my favourite book from the series The Horse and His Boy. But there's no chance of something good being made by Hollywood anymore nowadays.
For real, Eustace is the best character arc in the Chronicles of Narnia, and they absolutely butchered him. (Though there's something darkly appropriate about a movie studio lacking the awareness and introspection to pull off a character whose main flaw is a lack of introspection and self-awareness.)
Funny thing: When I read the "Voyage od the Dawn Treader" I always was under the impression that Caspian has a little crush on Lucy and therefore dosn't want them to leave.
I would LOVE to see an adaptation of Narnia's third book: The Horse And His Boy. This one takes place during the Pevensie's rule (aka Narnia's Golden Age) and explores the countries beyond Narnia itself with lovable characters and good adventures. I'm so frustrated they haven't adapted it yet!!
Horse and His Boy is SO good, probably my favorite of the series
If they did they'd actually could try to cast the Pevensie cast of this film series again as they are at that age now.
@@DragonriderEpona Not sure Edmund's actor would come back though. I believe he stopped being an actor and is in politics now 🤔🤔
The Horse and his Boy is so great because Lewis had evolved : the female character is feminine AND fights (and it's not "ugly" when she fights, as he stated before), her enemies-to-lover storyline with Shasta is sweet and awesome, plus the whole Calormen country is so interesting.
I don’t think it would ever fly with Calormen being a stand-in for Arabia. Much too “problematic and racist.”
The soundtrack is also so iconic. Harry Gregson Williams poured his heart and soul into the score, The Battle is iconic, From Western Woods to Beversdam is so whimsical. I still listen to it all the time
Me too! I‘ve always loved it since I was a child and used to imagine myself walking around and living in Narnia, so it always makes me nostalgic when I listen to it now 🥹
I have so many thoughts about this movie:
- It was played a lot on Indian TV (the channels that showed English movies) and it was a delight.
- It’s an unusual Christmas film.
- I’m Team Lucy and Susan because they’re fabulous.
- It introduced me to Tilda Swinton Excellence
- Liam Neeson as Aslan is (chef’s kiss)
- The Beavers are iconic and can adopt me anytime.
- I had a massive crush on William Moseley who played Peter. So cute and so alpha.
your first point unlocked a memory i’d forgotten
lmao i literally watched the dubbed version so many times because it was always getting played on disney
I actually eat Turkish Delight almost every year at this time of year solely because of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It's just an OK candy and definitely not worth betraying your siblings multiple times for, but a few pieces always make me smile and think of Narnia. I've loved the book as a kid and loved the movie when it came out. It's my very odd and personal christmas tradition.
It’s not worth betraying your siblings yeah but I feel like context is ignored that the candy has an addictive magic to it AND Edmund is a kid who is living through rationing, which likely meant he didn’t have any sweets. The oversimplication of “he just betrayed his siblings to get some candy” really does a disservice to Edmund’s character.
@@CaptainPikeachu Never thought of it that way. When I was younger, I was so focused on him as a one note villain, I did not focus on his deeper motivations and that his whole world had changed and Turkish Delight was a luxury to him. Probably having an adult give him seemingly positive attention was probably also a big motivator too. As sibling 3 out of 4 he probably didn't get a lot of chances to shine.
ngl the first time i had handmade Turkish delight when i travelled to Turkey, my mind was blown by how good it was. the generic mass produced kind made in foreign countries just doesn’t do it justice imo. plus, most people only ever know about the basic rose flavour, but in reality there is a HUGE variety of flavours with different fruits/nuts/misc sweet ingredients! my personal fave is pomegranate and pistachio
@@kulacute I've just had the chance to in the last two weeks to get away from mass produced flavors and try some imported ones. Definitely have upgraded from ok candy to good lol. I can't imagine how much better it is freshly made in Turkey.
@@Byjinderyeah, in the books, it’s made clear the food was enchanted so he would always want more until he died from eating it.
That battle scene is one of the GOATs dude. It informed every imaginary battle I had for the rest of my childhood.
Also I think it’d be cool to see your takes on the sequels. Chuck them into one video even
Love how you called Aslan “Jesus lion” cuz that’s what J.R.R. Tolkien (C.S. Lewis’ friend) called him. Also great vid. Deserves a 👍. I love these movies and books and I am so happy for an actually entertaining video about it to exist.
Those movies really defined my childhood. We had an old wardrobe in our house and I always tried to go to Narnia like the Pevensies did in the first film🤣 Great story, great characters and really good CGI😍
I absolutely adore Tilda Swinton this movie.
Her androgynous nature is perfect for this role. She truly looks mystical and otherworldly.
She can be any magical being be it an
Ice Witch
Angel
Vampire
I actually was really horrified as a kid when they did the time skip to adults and then left Narnia to become kids again.
Same! It filled me with such a deep sense of sadness that I didn’t really know what to do with, and I couldn’t understand why we didn’t really see how it affected them as they grew up (except a little bit in caspian). It makes so much sense that Lewis was using his experience as a teen soldier as a basis for that part.
Mee too! But think about the whiplash of the leaving the magical kingdom though? 😳
I LOVED the Christian element to this book/movie. Regardless of your beliefs, it’s such a good parallel
Eh it all feels very hamfisted tbh.
I personally feel these books are good for children that don't worry about the details. Sadly I was not one of those children.
The very on the nose Christian themes , the portrayal of stereotypical female gender roles and the straight up racism kept me from enjoying the story for story sake.
If you enjoyed it I'm happy for you, but I wouldn't read them again even if you paid me.
As a life long Narnia fan, I've spent the last 10 years being utterly heartbroken that Disney ditched the rest of the series. It literally hurt my heart to watch the first film after a while, I was so mad. I finally watched all 3 films with my husband this year, and as someone who had not grown up with the books, he said that the film series as a trilogy closing with Lucy felt right. I told him about the rest of the books, and he said there's no way all 7 would have held a theater audience the same way Potter had. Sigh. Now that I'm grown, I see validity in his point, but it doesn't make my heart hurt less.
Why exactly Narnia would not have been succesful as HP if it would have continued according to your husband ????
@@lakaperse6995 Firstly, go touch some grass, because these are literally internet opinions from strangers who do not affect your life. Second, he's not a Potterhead at all, so it's not a "one is better than the other" thing. So, your multiple question mark aggression is very unwarranted.
The world and books of Narnia are really complex. They were not published in chronological order, and the time gaps are inconsistent. So, aside from film making logistics, an audience who is introduced to the world through film might not build the same level of attachment to Narnia characters like they could with Potter characters. Potter specifically is the key, since the audience follows his story from beginning to finish. For Narnia, the Pevensies are present for maybe half of the books, and Lucy is the most prominent main character; by the time Dawn Treader was made, there are only 2 of 4 remaining books that feature her, and in the two that do, they have her in a supporting role for a small handful of scenes.
My husband's point was that as a viewer, ending her arc on her literally closing a door to Narnia made sense, since, of her siblings, she was the first to open the door anyway. Believe me, when my husband first presented the idea, I didn't like the idea of no more Narnia, but even I can see that as a business venture, Disney didn't have the passion of Peter Jackson or James Cameron to finish a passion project. Disney wanted cash, and couldn't easily milk Narnia for more of it.
@@rosefong65 ok thanks for the reply . I was just curious.
@@rosefong65 bro I don’t think they meant it in a negative way
@@rosefong65 yeah, you were the rude one, not the person who asked a question wtf. They didn't even seemed mad, just curious, you should be touching grass
As someone with a fondness for Narnia stories, a well done commentary.
One of my favorite scenes was Professor Kirke asking Peter and Susan about Lucy discovering the wardrobe's secret.
(and it's Spare Oom)
Once out in the woods to watch trains, along a dirt road a large deer stepped out of the trees and stared at me. Standing still and looking at each other a while, I softly asked "Do you know Aslan?" The deer nodded its head up and down several times then disappeared into the trees. Yes, Narnia is real.
The cast commentary for LWW is one of the few productions where I'll sit down just to watch the cast commentary. They did so much work, and it all paid off!
Something else to remember: Narnia came out just after the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A LOT of churches bought tickets for Narnia as "stand" against Harry Potter, but mostly because everyone was happy to have something non-problematic that was still fantasy.
I don’t remember if it’s made as clear in the movie, but the Turkish Delight is enchanted, which is what makes Edmund have the delusions of grandeur, unpleasant thoughts, and compulsion to return to the Queen. (He can’t stop thinking about it and asks for more Turkish Delight as soon as he gets to her castle).
I am one of four kids that are in the exact same order as the pevensie children in my family, and we've always loved these movies. Honestly we still reference them to this day and I'm so glad that someone is finally speaking up about how good these movies are.
Narnia has a special place in my heart. i grew up in a broken family, i was living with my mum and i had problems at home and i was seeing my father only once in a week even though i always wanted to be with him more. i always loved my father and spending time with him was special to me because we always connected through books and movies - he showed me everything, every fandom that i love to this day. i remember us watching the Narnia movies and i remember him reading me the first book when he was putting me to sleep. i will always remember that. my love for this story is never ending.
also, not many people are talking about the awesome soundtrack! the battle song is such a classic. one of my favorite movie soundtracks of all times.
Im still wating for a prequel, The magicians nephew is a very exciting story and gives a lot of backstory for Narnia
That was always my favorite book in the series.
It's the best one for me
The book has really crazy mythos. It suggest that Aslan is a God of many forms, existing in different worlds at once, and that they're many many worlds like Earth and Narnia (one the book actually visits) that we don't even know of
That and The Horse and His Boy would be incredible to see in movie form
The first Narnia movie is one of my favourite movies ever. It’s just magical.
I used to be so obsessed with this franchise I lowkey wouldn't mind a reboot
I do believe the last word was that Netflix was planning to do an adaptation.
@@davidbeer5015 I don’t trust Netflix tbh they’ve ruined so many projects
@wandeesthoughts totally fair XD
I love all of these movies. Even the "mid" sequels. I love them. Even as I watch them as an adult I still think they're fantastic. I think that childhood memories hold a large part of this but I also think you can tell the love and care that was put into these movies and how the characters still continue to develop. I really resonated with Lucy's arc in TVOTDT and think that it speaks to the heart of these movies that even though they're larger than life fantasy they're grounded in everyday human desires.
I remember that when I first saw the Witch come over the hill wearing Aslan's mane around her neck, I gasped. I watched Narnia three times in theaters I think, lol. It's still a banger of a movie, and you're right, the soundtrack is phenomenal.
I used the Regina Specktor song, The Call, for my first dance at my wedding (although I think that one is from Prince Caspian, which is sadly not on the same level. But the song is amazing).
I absolutely adore Narnia. I loved it as a kid and watched it a bit cause I’m Christian. My brother and I watched it Dec 2021 on a whim after almost ten years and we were so captivated. I remembered loving it as a kid and was so glad it was still just as amazing as an adult. The CGI is great, the music is fantastic, I love the child actors and their chemistry, the world building is incredible, it just goes so hard hahaha. The magic in Narnia has always touched my heart more than the magic in Harry Potter, I think it’s because there’s something about it that just seems so mystical and pure and I can’t quite describe it but it truly makes me feel like a kid again and want to believe in magic. And as someone who grew up in the Christian faith, the allegories continue to leave deeper impression on me and touch my heart the older I get and really make me appreciate Lewis’ writing, theology, and creativity and remind me of inspiring the story of Christianity is to so many people. Loved this video, thanks for sharing :)
This movie is my confort place.
I remember watching it for the first time when I was four on a winter vacation and I fall in love with it, I rewatched over and over whenever I could and being so happy when it popped up on Disney Chanel. And even the books helped me in a really hard time of my life. I had just moved to a new country that I had never heard before, with the most weird language imaginable (from a Spanish speaker perspective) and I was feeling a lot of anxiety because I couldn’t communicate with my classmates and they ended up bullying me because they thought I was a freak. So I ended up trying to forget about that with Narnia, and because I couldn’t watch the movie in school, I read the books with the soundtrack in my headphones. That’s made me be a even more introverted but it ended up saving my sanity.
So I’m happy to think that I’m not the only one to think that this movie is so magical even do it’s been so long
This movie’s soundtrack is AMAZING. Thank you so much for revisiting it!
Also:
1. The Turkish delight is enchanted and that’s why Edmund sells out his family like that lol
2. When Edmund confronts the witch in the battle, his intention is to break her magic staff/wand. Which he does, and ended up helping Peter’s army.
Chronicles of Narnia is one of the best films I’ve ever watched. The acting, the chemistry between the actors and the CGI is still top-tier to this day. Susan was one of my favorite characters so I am and still frustrated how the author treated her and the symbolism of her character to this day.
For real! Susan deserved so much better, and knowing what happens to her by the final book is so damned depressing. Like, "Ah yes, take the *one* character you are using as an athiest stand-in...and make her to be the wrong"??? Like...excuse me?? The way CS Lewis went about her character really does annoy me to this day, and I still love the books regardless, even if I myself am an Anthiest, I can aknoweledge the books to be amazingly told and written, just...Some things have indeed become dated by today's standards.
LOL
I wanted to watch it for the first time before going into this movie. I understand the nostalgia many must feel but I personally felt it was not very well paced among other things. Glad you love it - there are many more great movies to discover!
@@taps_lockNot everyone will like the same things.
I did some research after rewatching the movie one day and was so annoyed with how wrong Lewis did to Susan.
I've been rereading the series the past week and wondering if it'll still remain a classic in a world where 1) it has a lot more fantasy competition than the 1950s when Lewis wrote it and 2) its Christian themes are less of a selling point. I think so: religious allegory aside, Lewis is still one heck of a writer, and frankly it's _astounding_ how rich and deep a world, characters, and themes he made in such short books. Still peak children's fantasy, and rich ground for adaptation.
Man after seeing this movie as a kid I honestly wanted an elder brother like peter. His father figurly behavior towards Lucy and Edmund and especially Lucy was heartwarming to watch.
Speak for yourself, Prince Caspian introduced me to Ben Barnes and will always be flawless in my eyes
I had forgotten that the first movie was actually good! I will always have a soft spot for the books and the world created in them. I had never heard of Narnia before, but had "discovered" the books by myself at the library at age 9 and it felt like the most magical thing. My young mind was blown away by the idea of a whole other world those children travelled to, where time passed at a different pace.
Tilda Swinton always gives an A+ performance in everything.
Yes! Finally, this film is getting its due!
I can remember back when I first started reviewing, and this was a film I happily gave a 10/10 to. I could probably find several things to nitpick, but I don't care, because it was a perfect adaptation; knowing when to deviate and stay faithful, updating some things and preserving others, all the while remaining true to the spirit of the story.
And can we all just give Georgie Henley the praise she deserves? She was so young when the film was made but she delivers in a way that you'd think she was a veteran of at least two decades as Tilda Swinton. She WAS Lucy. The others all gelled very well together, but of course Lucy would be the hardest one to get right without making her feel saccharine, and she did it perfectly.
The Prince Caspian film isn't actually as bad as you'd probably remember. It's nowhere near the first's level of quality but it had an uphill struggle with what it had to adapt. Overall it's a fine film but it definitely suffers from trying too hard to be cool, with all the attempts at snarky one-liners that just do not fit (there's an exchange between Trumpkin and Reepicheep that's particularly cringe). There's more right with it than wrong however. I haven't rewatched Voyage of the Dawn Treader in a long time so I can't comment on it.
I think one great part of how narnia is that everyone got into narnia though aslans direction. In the beginning they are being chased by that one housekeeper but nothing makes sense. suddenly they hear footsteps in front of them that were behind them, voices appear from the spots that would seem that safest, etc. In the book it's made more obvious, but even in the movie it's a subtle cue that aslan actually made sure that all 4 of the children make it to narnia together.
I love the Chronicles of Narnia. it was the first book series I fell in love with. I love medieval style fantasy stuff and it was the first time I ever read a book with a hero that had the same name as me in it and I admired Lucy Pevensie a lot. She was brave and loyal and smart. Still to this day it's one of my faves. I hope we get some new screen adaptations soon. The full series of stories deserves to be put to screen.
I was obsessed with these movies as a kid (I was drawn to anything with that alternate dimension theme as a child), and I love watching them back so much because Lucy reminds me so much of me when I was younger. It's no wonder she was always my favorite. I recently read the books for the first time and it was so magical to jump back into the world and learn more about the lore. Highly recommend.
This movie has such a special place in my heart. Not only did I love the Narnia books as a kid, LWW being one of my favorites, obviously, but my theater group played a stage version of it right when this movie was coming out (I played Peter and it's a very fond memory for me). This movie is SO good, it really made the book justice and it hold up so well. It created magic. I actually like Prince Caspian, I think it develops Edmund and you can see how he's grown from the first movie (while Peter has a lesson to learn in that movie). Edmund is probably one of my favorite characters in the series, he develops a lot and gets to be a funny sarcastic teen instead of a selfish asshole. Sadly not a lot of people remember that and only members his betrayal. Lucy is adorable and pure faith, which basically is her role. My beloved Peter is a great leader, but takes himself a bit too seriously sometimes. And Susan... I never liked her, maybe because she (spoilers) abandons Narnia and "stops believing in it" and only wants to be pretty in the books. I like some of her character in the first movie but omg her love story arc in PC is awful. They just didn't know what to do with her. It's not in the book at all... Dawn Treader is okay but it took away some of the depth of the book. I'd love a reboot done well, and I really want an adaptation of some of the other books, like The Silver Chair, which is one of the best books (if not the best) in the series.
P.S. Yes the score is incredible and should get more recognition as a masterpiece. Also there's an album with songs inspired by LWW from when the movie was released and it's so good.
This movie started my absolute obsession for the fantasy genre especially when i was a kid. I still hold the Narnia series and the Lotr series close to my heart, they are such pretty good books, and knowing C. S. Lewis and Tolkien were close friends made the whole series even better for me. I remember being 8 years old and getting the Narnia books for Christmas and reading the whole 7 books in a week, and in the years after I basically watched the entire franchise falling into pieces
The wolf is voiced by Michael Madsen who also did Daud in Dishonored and he's so good in both roles
Oh damn fr??? I haven't watched the movie in a long time but holy cow I love Dishonored. Yet another reason to rewatch the film.
@@tombsofak he’s also a tarantino mainstay and sinister af
Something you may or may not have known. According to the book, the witch gave Edmund enchanted sweets so that as soon as he ate them he immediately wanted more and was willing to do anything to get them. including selling his family.
P.S. You have an amazing channel and you are really talented.💖
Mr space ninja, I sent my partner a text stating that Shrek and Shrek 2's director directed the first Narnia movie, and now we're going to watch all three movies on Christmas after we visit each other's families. So, thank you for your fun fact and for pretty much making my Christmas night plans with my partner fun! 💕
One thing- the turkish delight is like magically addictive for edmund. This is a lot more clear in the book if I remember correctly. He basically instantly becomes a heroin addict and only the witch can provide the heroin. So it's a little more complicated than selling out his fam for some mid candy.
Narnia was always my favorite series when I was younger. I first watched it when I was about 6 and I just loved it. I read all the books and rewatched TLTWATW and VOTDT hundreds of times. I feel like I loved it so much because it didn’t treat it’s main audience(I would say children) as dumb little kids. And it showed how intelligent the children were, just like the books.
This video essay came at the PERFECT time, I literally just started getting into Narnia again (movies and books) 😭 *grabs popcorn*
I thinkyou’ll luke the silver chair, one of the most slept on but my favorite honestly
I love how Aslan is just a mighty being wondering between worlds. I'd love to see a show about him traveling realms.
Yeessss, thank you for mentioning the soundtrack. It's SO GOOD. I listened to it on repeat for months after seeing the movie. The extended edition has the FULL battle scene and it is totally brilliant.
I was not a child when this movie came out, I was 19, but this film was still my JAM because I had read the books as a kid but I'd kind of forgotten about them and this brought back what I liked about them. It was during the days when LiveJournal was big and I made SO many profile icons from this movie. So many. I still have an external hard drive that I can't access due to a bad cord at the moment that has hundreds of screenshots of the movie so I could use them for icons lol
Also, interesting tidbit, Older!Lucy is played by the Georgie's real life older sister.
When this movie came out I instantly fell in love with it. I saw it twice in the theater and I bought the soundtrack on CD. This movie really stuck with me and I even named my original character Lucy after Lucy Pevensie
Honestly I'd really love to explore the 1000 year period in Narnia between the Magicians Nephew and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and address some of the questions from the books, like How did Jadis destroy the Tree that protected Narnia from her and how is she related to the Lady of the Green Kirtle from the Silver Chair
I'd also love to see some of Jadis' reign, including the Faun uprising! And why they fell out of believing in Man, since King Frank and his kin had a long history...
If only C.S. Lewis was still alive
12:33 The Turkish delight part was actually caused by the writer's fascination of Turkish culture. The Lion's name "Aslan" also literally means lion in Turkish. (And bro why you gotta do my boy like that Turkish delight is actually good if you eat it at the right place)
Man, I loved this movie. Brings me back to a dear memory of my childhood, and some places that no longer exist when I went to see it. I remember after watching it we went to a place and I felt like there was some magic in the air. It's the best... I am searching for move movies that make you feel like this, please make more reviews for movies like this one, it was so nice! Happy holidays, to you and you fams!
this movie came out when i was 5, and it's one of my all-time favorites. i have most of it memorized, completely by accident by watching it so many times. the music lives in my bones and the whole thing is so foundational to who i am now
the music for this movie is one of my favorites i will actively go out of my way to listen to it often. especially the music that plays during the battle. ITS SO GOOD. and obviously the song tumnus plays for lucy. but it’s just *chef kiss*
I have so much childhood nostalgia for this movie it’s unbelievable! I feel like the only reason I enjoy the sequels at all is because I have childhood nostalgia for those too. Looking at them through the lens of an adult they aren’t very good but I still have some amount of nostalgia for them. With that said nothing can top the first movie! The soundtrack alone gives me so many fond childhood memories.
I’m so glad you did a video on this movie, I love it so much and it is SO underrated!
Dude this was probably my first favorite movie ever. I always thought it never got the love it deserved even if it was already very successful.
I remember being 15 or so, and I downloaded the whole soundtrack from that first movie, and I listened to that album on repeat for a 9 hour road trip through the mountains for Christmas holidays.
Very fond memory. Lol
Woah okay. Was NOT expecting you to post a video on my favorite book series of all time. Thank you❤ Yes everyone should definitely read the novels.
Also, there's a channel called Into the Wardrobe that covers and explains ton of things from the books, including the Wood Between the Worlds. Highly recommend that and the BBC miniseries
I love Into the Wardrobe! He puts so much work and heart into his videos.
There's also a Narnia UA-cam channel for those who are more interested in the lore. They also got to interview one of C.S. Lewis relatives.
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe is one of my fav movies. My dad bought it for me on DVD when it came out (I was six lol). Every time I rewatch it, I'm so happy it still holds up so well.
And Tilda Swinton, to this day, never misses 😎
i LOVED the first movie. the Lion is THE best lion ever created. he is such a teddy bear and so royal and cool.
i loved the snow queen and how much she is taken out of the original hans christian andersen tale. she is very similar and that's why she is so scary.
i loved the world of the frozen narnia but the feeling of what the land might have looked like if at was summer.
it was a magical tale that made a big impact on me as a teenager.
Narnia will always have such a special place in my heart. It was to me what Harry Potter was to so many others. Every time I watch the Narnia movies or read the books I am convinced again that magic is real
I loved this movie so much when I first watched it. Back then, McDonald's and Disney had an agreement, so the kid's combo usually came with a small toy from the most recent Disney movie and I remember getting Lucy Pevensie and I kept her for SO MANY YEARS. I loved her, I related so hard to how much she loved this whimsical world she had stumbled upon. It's really a bummer how the two sequels didn't hold up to the quality of the first one, and I'm still bummed the fourth movie was announced but nothing ever came of it.
I think you need to really commit if you want to write a series of movies that works with child actors. The kids won't stop growing, so there's obviously a time and planning that went into the first movie that cannot be replicated for the subsequent ones. But you can still make it work. It could've been such an amazing saga.
Still have my Edmund and White Witch figurine from that collab and it proudly sits on one of my book shelves :3