The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe film was produced in 2005 by Disney and Walden Media, and directed by Andrew Adamson. This film adaptation is the third film adaption of the original novel by C.S. Lewis, however it is the first one made for theatres. This Hollywood feature film is an adaptation of the original C.S. Lewis novel. The first weekend box office sales ranked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as number one when it racked in $65,556,312 worth of sales, and $745,013,115 worldwide throughout its run in theatres. The film was also nominated for three Academy Awards, makeup, video effects, and sound, and was able to take home the award for best makeup. The movie chose to do a very tight adaptation of the original film, making only minor alterations to increase the viewing experience of audiences. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has always been a children’s story, and so the movie made sure to keep the fidelity of that thus receiving a PG rating.
The major difference in this Disney adaptation was the addition of an assortment of characters within the plot. For example, the Minotaur creature named Otmin, who aids as general to the White Witch’s army within the film was not in the book, nor was Aslan’s general the Centaur named Oreius. These two characters were added into the film to serve as transitional characters when making the jump between the White Witch’s side and Aslan’s side. They made the transitions far smoother as the characters fit into the plot extremely well, and could report information about one to the other, stirring up conflict or bringing the two leaders together. This was an important feature to add into the movie but was not needed in the novel because it is far easier to switch locations within a novel, as there is no visual aspect about it for readers to follow or try to comprehend. However, in a film it is often hard to make the transitions between plot points and settings fit smoothly together and seem natural, thus having the two additional character through their dialogue and actions they are able to better aid these types of transitions.
Another difference within this film is that the White Witch is shown as having extremely fair skin with blonde hair, and a crown made of ice. However, in the book the Witch is depicted as having not too pale of skin, more similar to the bold white that snow creates, and having black hair and a golden crown. Films, as stated before, have the added skill of visuals that novels do not. By showing the White Witch as icy as cold as they did it helped give audiences a better understanding of what kind of person the Witch was, and really reinforced and made the fear that Narnia feels towards her more realistic. The book had the ability to simply state how scary and intimidating she was, what she looked like was helpful for readers to paint some sort of image of her in their minds but was not as essential in making the character seem realistic as it was in the film.
As a film works as a spectacle, this film would have been a far different movie if it did not contain as much action and excitement as it did. The film adaptation not only added characters to do that, it also added plot points and extended plot points from the original text. Starting from the very first scene of the movie, audiences are thrown into a heavy action scene in which the children are running for shelter to hide from the World War Two bombs coming down all around them. The book does not start out this way and instead begins a few steps ahead with the children being sent to the live with the Professor. The book does not need to necessarily grab readers on the first page and can say why the children are moving, however the film must show not tell and therefore needed to grab the audiences’ attention while educating them on the background of the story. The entire frozen river sequence in which the children and the beavers are attacked and chased by wolves sent by the Witch and only escaped by riding the ice and the fast flowing river to shore, did not appear in the book. The film needed a little more action as following the children on a journey that does not have, as many exciting and nerve-racking setbacks would not be an entertaining viewing experience for audiences. The same goes with the final scene of the archetypal epic battle between good or evil, or Aslan verse the Witch. The battle scene in the book starts as the battle is almost over and focuses mainly on the return of Susan, Lucy, and Aslan, which ends the war. In the film, the battle is an extremely long sequence of exciting and high action fighting scenes, with cuts simultaneously back and forth between the battle and Susan and Lucy crying over Aslan’s death but racing back to help fight the battle. The film in this case actually has an easier time switching between characters and settings because the two scenes parallel each other with their fast, exciting, and suspenseful actions, keeping audiences extremely well entertained and captivated.
The archetypes of the original characters (i.e. Aslan as God or the great teacher, and the White Witch as the boss character) definitely remained with high fidelity to the novel, as well as the overall archetypal quest as the general plot of the story. The same themes from the original novel of coming of age, and cooperation are present and extremely evident within the film as well. The underlying Christianity references throughout the novel are also present in the film as the plot points regarding the death of Aslan upon the Stone Table and various others are still present and symbolic within the film. However, this underlying theme is even less evident as it is in the book (although also not extremely evident there), as children without a Christianity background would not necessarily even pick up on the symbolism and allusions. As stated before, this film is a very close adaptation of the original text by C.S. Lewis, remaining in high fidelity to most of the areas of convergence between the film, making only minor adjustments to better enhance the entertainment and visual viewing pleasure for audiences.
Sources:
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (video Game)." Box Office Mojo. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2012. <http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=narnia.htm>.
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (film)." Narnia Wiki. Wikipedia.com, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. http://narnia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Lion,_the_Witch,_and_the_Wardrobe_(Disney_movie)
