*Spoilers may occur*
I'm planning on reviewing all four of the Narnian stories that were brought to the small screen by the BBC in the late 1980's so I thought I would start with a general overview of how these stories were originally written.
C.S Lewis was an Atheist turned Christian and wrote many "Adult" books to defend his choice of faith. He also wrote a series of books called the Chronicles of Narnia that were aimed at children but could also be enjoyed by the adults as well. While there were many Christian parallels in them (especially The Last Battle which was never turned into a TV Show by the BBC) the stories were ambiguous enough for people of all religions and atheists alike to sit back and enjoy them. The books themselves were extremely popular and have sold around 65 million copies all up so far.
With this in mind the BBC set aside a modest budget to turn the first book published (though not the first book in the series, confusing I know), the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe into a short TV series. The story tells of four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who find there way into a magical land called Narnia through a wardrobe. The land of Narnia was once a very happy place before the White Witch took control of the land and made it always winter, but never Christmas. It is up to the four children, along with Aslan, a lion who is also the King of Kings to defeat the White Witch and turn the land of Narnia back to the happy, peaceful country it use to be.
The acting in this series is over the top, especially by Barbara Kellerman who plays the White Witch however in the context of the story that is being told, this is not a bad thing. I thought that of the child actors, Sophie Cook, who played Susan was the best and it is a shame that she got little screen time in her next Narnian adventure. The other child actors were also very good, even if Sophie Wilcox, who plays Lucy was a little bit whiny at times. You can't really blame Sophie for this however since this was part of her character.
The budget was modest and it is clear that much of the budget went into Aslan and even Aslan didn't look or move particularly well. The beavers look like men in beavers outfits and the less said about werewolves outfits the better. What the director couldn't achieve with people in costumes he created animations that look shocking by todays standards. However despite the budgetary problems the director managed to capture the atmosphere and mood of the story quite well and should be congratulated for doing such a fine job on such a small budget.
Overall, the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe is a great book turned into a great TV series by BBC Television. Despite its problems this is a show that should be watched by all who love a good story and it is disappointing that they do not make shows like this anymore.
7/10
I'm planning on reviewing all four of the Narnian stories that were brought to the small screen by the BBC in the late 1980's so I thought I would start with a general overview of how these stories were originally written.
C.S Lewis was an Atheist turned Christian and wrote many "Adult" books to defend his choice of faith. He also wrote a series of books called the Chronicles of Narnia that were aimed at children but could also be enjoyed by the adults as well. While there were many Christian parallels in them (especially The Last Battle which was never turned into a TV Show by the BBC) the stories were ambiguous enough for people of all religions and atheists alike to sit back and enjoy them. The books themselves were extremely popular and have sold around 65 million copies all up so far.
With this in mind the BBC set aside a modest budget to turn the first book published (though not the first book in the series, confusing I know), the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe into a short TV series. The story tells of four children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, who find there way into a magical land called Narnia through a wardrobe. The land of Narnia was once a very happy place before the White Witch took control of the land and made it always winter, but never Christmas. It is up to the four children, along with Aslan, a lion who is also the King of Kings to defeat the White Witch and turn the land of Narnia back to the happy, peaceful country it use to be.
The acting in this series is over the top, especially by Barbara Kellerman who plays the White Witch however in the context of the story that is being told, this is not a bad thing. I thought that of the child actors, Sophie Cook, who played Susan was the best and it is a shame that she got little screen time in her next Narnian adventure. The other child actors were also very good, even if Sophie Wilcox, who plays Lucy was a little bit whiny at times. You can't really blame Sophie for this however since this was part of her character.
The budget was modest and it is clear that much of the budget went into Aslan and even Aslan didn't look or move particularly well. The beavers look like men in beavers outfits and the less said about werewolves outfits the better. What the director couldn't achieve with people in costumes he created animations that look shocking by todays standards. However despite the budgetary problems the director managed to capture the atmosphere and mood of the story quite well and should be congratulated for doing such a fine job on such a small budget.
Overall, the Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe is a great book turned into a great TV series by BBC Television. Despite its problems this is a show that should be watched by all who love a good story and it is disappointing that they do not make shows like this anymore.
7/10