Disney markets "Prince Caspian" as a boy's action adventure. Meanwhile, my teenage sister watched it over and over so she could drool over Ben Barnes. You missed your target demographic, Disney.
That's really funny! As a teenage girl at the time, I was really irritated that they aged Caspian up and shoved a romantic b-plot into the film instead of working closer to the source material. To each their own, I guess! XD
@mariacargille1396 "a romantic b plot" is being very generous tbh. They mostly spend the movie looking at each other, exchanging no words and we're supposed to believe they fell in love? Not to mention a 15 year old Lucy flirting with a Caspian twice her age, in the next movie.
The reason the first and second movie were so successful was because although it was a kids movie, the cinematography, writing, and direction were so mature. Dawn treader seemed to lean in more to being a kids movie. You could really feel the change in directors.
Thats a good view on it tbh. The third film was a Century Fox production instead of disney and also had the lowest budget of the 3 films. I dont mind the 3rd movie but compared to the 1st, the difference in quality is night and day. I feel like disney giving up on narnia is the ultimate reason it failed, but sometimes you just can't top the 1st movie which is what happened here.
@ i think losing that disney marketing budget really affected the series. I mean, i was a huge narnia fan and even i didnt know when dawn treader had finally came out because the marketing was almost nonexistent.
3:20 To clarify a point chronologically there’s only one book in between LWW and Prince Caspian and it’s not even set in between books, it actually takes place in between the last chapters of LWW and the Pevensie’s are side characters so from a franchise perspective it wouldn’t make sense to do that next.
I thought the same. One took place in the years before they left Narnia and we see them leave at the end of the first movie. Now would actually be a better time for The Horse And His Boy especially since the original actors would be old enough to cameo as their older selfs. Before Prince Caspian, they would have had to use adult actors.
I remember, as a huge fan of the books, how impressed I was by the first adaptation. I thought the kids were cast so well and the world of Narnia looked so real. But I hatedddd Prince Caspian when it came out 😭 One of the main themes of the book is the Pevensies grappling with a completely different Narnia and how they fit in it- they barely spent any time on that at all in the movie. There's no grieving over their friends from the first movie, no desperately seeking Aslan, hardly any introspection at all. Even their relationship with Trumpkin felt so hollow compared to how it was in the book. I did enjoy the Dawn Treader movie, although the kid's ages were so significantly different from the first book it felt strange. It was nice to go back to the whimsical feel that I associate with Narnia.
Didn't the Pevensies grieved over Mr. Tumnus, the Beavers, and everyone they knew from their first adventure during their search on the ruined Cair Paravel upon their arrival in Narnia in the second movie? And Lucy seeking Aslan, eventually finding him in her dream?
Dawn Treader was good as long as they stuck with Lewis. But whenever they brought in their own stuff (“You didn’t believe in yourself”) it felt like Oprah had written the script.
That’s the problem with Disney (and probably any other studio that tries to adapt Narnia): they don’t understand Lewis or his worldview at all, nor do they really want to understand.
This hurts my inner child so much because I’m a huge fan of those movies. I fear that Narnia made by Netflix is going to be a huge flop and feel hollow. I’m hoping that they stick the landing but I’ve got a bad feeling about this…
@@MelissaDiemer-q8l and Netflix is famous for playing nice with others. After all, look at ATLA and how their creators dealt with Netflix. I’m certain everything will be OK lol
If Netflix is making it, we’ll get a pretty decent Magician’s Nephew season, and maybe a half-decent LWW, then they’ll cancel it regardless of its popularity to make room for another kitchen competition series
A couple of points. There actually WAS a live-action version of the Narnia series before the movies that the BBC did, and the movie was made to compete with Lord of the Rings as well as Harry Potter.
I remember the BBC show, it was much better suited to Narnia than film is. I loved it as a kid, having read the books around the same time. It was like watching old episodes of Dr. Who, but Narnia.
@@DavidMartinez-ce3lpit was eh at best. For some reason they stopped after Silver chair, now I’m out here thinking this series can’t be adapted to completion!
the problem with the narnia films is that the books are not THAT action heavy outside of lion, witch, and wardrobe. but they made the movies so action heavy, doesn't help that the prince caspian film was way too dark compared to the book and not to mention it was a huge letdown. dawn treader wasn't horrible but it just crammed way too much into the story and plus, the dawn treader book was a random event every few chapters, it doesn't work well for a movie.
The third one also has some action scenes but it would have been hard to adapt given that the Peeseve children are secondary characters and present as adult rulers.
I wouldn't be so sure. If they kept going based on the ages of the actors the next film would have likely been the Horse and his Boy, which has plenty of action and adventure. Mostly without the original cast, but it includes an easy to expand side story that Peter is busy warring with the giants for most of the plot.
Narnia is not an action franchise so much as adventure or questing. Both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are better suited for action, as was The Hobbit. The children are growing up and moving beyond the adventure quests of fantasy for the adventures of adulthood and the mysteries of life, which is why they are not allowed to return.
ooh the golden compass promised us a lot and then it just died. very disapointing because i remember being genuinely disturbed by Nicole Kidmans character and would have loved to see where the story went
@@NIGHTGUYRYANthe books are here if you want to see what happen next, and if you are not interested by litterature you can watch the show made in 2019 , it adapt the three books
You know, the shame is, I ADORE the Narnia series and will still rewatch all three of them with great fondness! The release order to make sure they could keep the kids I still think was a very smart choice, but you definitely see how all the other influences did so much damage. I have hopes for Gerwig's version, if only to see the other books get a beautiful adaption like these three did. I really want to see the Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and the Last Battle on the big screen someday. My big concern is if they keep re-adapting the books that already had adaptations.
Fun fact: Tolkien and Lewis knew each other quite well, and corresponded often by letter. But although they were friends, neither particularly liked the others works. Tolkien thought the Narnia books were vapid and empty-headed, while Lewis found the Lord of the Rings to be overwritten and pretentious; Perhaps they both had a point lol.
The Chronicles of Narnia is a very unusual franchise because while all of the novels are popular in the U.K, I think The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the only novel in the series that is popular worldwide. Prince Caspian I think is one of the weakest novels of the series but I thought the movie was a lot better. Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always going to be a challenge to adapt to the screen because there is no antagonist in the novel. Disappointed we didn’t get the adaptation of The Silver Chair because it’s my favourite novel of the series.
I don’t think that’s very accurate. In the past several years I’ve seen plenty of copies of The Chronicles of Narnia for sale, but it has been a long time since I’ve seen them sold separately. If what you said were true, there would be plenty of incentive to sell the books separately, yet except for the fancy set I got as a kid the only Narnia books I’ve seen are single-volume collections.
They all sell well in the States, but it is also true that LWW sells better than the others. Personally, I have also always been partial to Silver Chair, particularly the confrontation with a witch with a strange penchant for postmodern philosophy.
I'm not sure about that, the books were sold as a box set in the US, and PBS picked up the BBC production fairly soon after they were originally aired in the UK. I think the issue more than anything else is that the movies messed with the material a lot and there wasn't really the same sort of charm that the books and the BBC production had, even though they had plenty of technology to make the movie reasonably accurate in terms of the effects that were described.
All problems aside, I’m glad they released the movies in order by publication because that’s the order the books were intended to be read in. I don’t think it was until after C.S Lewis’ death that they re released the books in chronological order, and to me I feel like that’s underestimating people’s intelligence to be able to recognize a prequel when they’re reading it. There’s a lot less impact when reading The Magician’s Nephew if you read it first instead of last. It’d be like telling people to watch the Star Wars movies in chronological order instead of by order of release. Like sure, you CAN, but it’s gonna spoil most of the big reveal moments and kill any sort of suspense that the series introduced
Watching SW chronologically is the best way to watch the saga, starting with Episode I. Watching in "order of release" would be to watch Episode IV first. As it was released first. You may want to reword your statements. Telling a new viewer to start with Episode IV is stupid.
You're right, and that's why it took me so long to "get" Magician's Nephew when I was younger. It's like watching Pulp Fiction with the scenes arranged in chronological order.
Everyone knows the reveal that justifies release order for SW. So it really doesn't matter which order you watch, both work just as well as each other, just give radically different experiences. It definitely doesn't work for Narnia, the Magician's Nephew is all about getting the "oooooh!" reactions from the reader once all the pieces start making sense.
@@shadowaccount It’s not stupid to tell new viewers to start with Episode 4 lol. That’s the order that the films were intended to be watched in. It’s not even just about the Vader reveal, it’s that the prequels were made with the implication that you already knew the major characters at play (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Palpatine, etc.)
The problem with Chronicles of Narnia is that unlike with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games or even Twilight, the first book is a complete story and also far more popular than any of the following books. Because of that as good as the movie adaptation was it ends on such a complete note that it didn't really leave much excitement for the follow-up. Yes there are plenty of franchises where the first film is a complete story, but usually the second film succeeds by promising to offer something more (in superhero films this is usually the promise of a bigger more threatening villain, see The Dark Knight for a prime example). With Prince Caspian, everything felt like a downgrade. No iconic villain, no memorable winter setting, and it takes place centuries later where most of the magical creatures have been driven to extinction, leaving a bland medieval setting. The movie was simply put adapting a weak unpopular book and it was just a question of how much it was going to drop off from the original, though obviously the summer release date and 2.5 year wait didn't help. Dawn Treader was based on a more popular book, but not one that made for an easy film adaptation and making the mist a bad guy was just dumb. Also, at this point, the main characters start changing, which hurts things even more. Even though it was succesful and Silver Chair was probably one of only 3 books that made for a good movie adaptation (the others being the first and The Magician's Nephew) I think they realized that it would be a big ask for people to come see a film where the main characters are a boy who was mainly an annoying git in the third film and a girl who was only mentioned in passing.
Yeah I really liked reading the Narnia books as a kid but they're all really different from each other in the tone and stuff. I loved the magician's nephew but I can't imagine it would be a super popular movie. And a horse and his boy too. I can't remember most of the other plots super well cause it's been a long time
One hundred percent. LWW has everything a good fantasy needs. An interesting world, action, fantastical creatures, and (at least in this book) the allegory was subtle, it wasn’t as in your face as the other books. It felt like Lewis didn’t know he was going to make a series and just decided to tell a decent story instead.
@@bookshelfhoney About the books being so different from each other in tone - you may be interested to read "The Narnia Code", which describes a theory that the seven books represent the seven planets of the ancient world - Lion/Witch/Wardrobe as Jupiter, Prince Caspian as Mars, Dawn Treader as the Sun, Silver Chair as the Moon, Horse and his Boy as Mercury, Magician's Nephew as Venus, and Last Battle as Saturn. So the different tones are an entirely deliberate and intentional part of an overall vision. Fascinating!
I remember being big into the Narnia books came out, and I was looking forward to this movie as Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite book of the series. I didn't hate this film, but I did walk away disappointed with most of the changes made. I wouldn't be opposed to rewatching it if someone was seeing the films for the first time, but it's not a movie I view on my own time. In hindsight, I'm not surprised the Chronicles of Narnia didn't take off as a franchise. The books are great, but they don't lend themselves well to the big movie format, with the constantly changing cast and not having a linear overarching plot. C.S. Lewis's other fictional works are also good (Till We Have Faces is seriously underrated and deserves more attention) but they don't lend themselves well to the blockbuster format.
I second Til We Have Faces. Space series has its moments, but I feel it often lays on the preachiness too thick. Til We Have Faces also has that religious message, but Orual's character and story comes across so vividly that it really works. He hints at the kind of struggles Orual has at various points with different characters in Narnia, but in TWHF he really gets into his character's head and heart. I re-read it along with Narnia around once a year.
No they don't lend themselves well to that format, partially because, unlike LOTR or Dune, each book is only a couple hundred pages long at most. There simply isn't enough material to work with to stretch into a two hour film.
I remember watching Lion, Witch and Wardrobe as a kid. And then reading the books in chronological order since I liked the series. Let's hope Netflix and Greta Gerwig revitalise this franchise
I actually liked Prince Caspian the most of these three. Lion Witch and Wardrobe probably the more successful in terms of overall tone etc but, I dunno. Guess I have a bloodlust for centaurs messing up minotaurs. Interested to see what Greta Gerwig does with it.
There was also the tv movie version that adapted 4 of the books including The Silver Chair. The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle never got any films at all
I assume you're talking about the BBC version. And yeah, that's where I get frustrated. IIRC, The Magicians Nephew is arguably the first book chronologically in the series, but whenever they start doing a new depiction of the series, they start with LWW.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade there is actually a manga adaptation of the Magician's nephew. Also it's not arguable when it's literally the origin story for the creation of Narnia and the White Witch, along with how the Professor ended up with a wardrobe connected to Narnia.
@@FF-tp7qsit's so sad, the magicians nephew was one of the most interesting ones. a modern adaptation of that with decent cgi and some huge lady to be Jadis would probably be amazing. but I don't trust Hollywood to make that lol.
Honestly with the first 2 movies this franchise had so much promise remember seeing the first one on a school field trip before we got out for Christmas break went to see the second one summer of 2008 had to do a book report presentation on the first book keep hearing Netflix is supposed to be picking this up to do something with it we just don't know when yet would love to see this franchise come back ❤❤
There was only one thing that could have saved this franchise, but they were never going to give Reapacheep, the mouse swordsman, a solo movie. But look at Puss in Boots and the Shrek films, huh?
That would have been a heck of a gamble, and what kind of story are you going to tell with it? In Prince Caspian, he’s leader of the mice. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader he’s going on his last adventure. What big story are you going to tell where the time before his introduction has no major conflicts and the time between the books is only three years canonically for the Narnians.
Funnily enough, I'm going go watch LWW in the theater tonight. I have always loved these movies, and a lot of the changes made in them hurt my very soul since I grew up on the books. But I grew on these movies as well, and they hold a special place in my heart. Thing is, LWW is just the one pure showstopper Narnia has to offer to movie adaptation, beside the Last Battle where everyone (and everything) just straight up dies. Silver chair is interesting mystery, Boy and his horse is.. there. Magician's nephew is great, but if you know beforehand who the White Witch is, why the lamppost is in the woods, LWW loses its mystery and gets hurt in the process. The decision to go in this order makes a lot more sense, not only because of the actors aging out of their roles. You follow Pevensies, and gradually they get phased out. Because in the end, it is primarily a story about NARNIA, not the characters that interact with it.
Been going down a rabbit hole of your Franchise Killers series, got a subscriber outta me! Can't wait for more and to check out your other series', seriously dope content.
On one hand, having Netflix as its financial partner means that the reboot could have a big budget and maybe great visual effects. On the other hand, Netflix is known for having meh movies and canceling great shows so it’s 50-50.
Narnia doesn't lend itself to film like it does to television. The Dawn Treader film really showed that. All of Lewis' Narnian books need to be in episodes, told properly, and made for streaming.
I think Voyage of the Dawn Treader in particular is better off as shorter 30-40minute TV episodes with a bit of a cliff hanger towards the end the way that the BBC version did.
I don’t care what anyone says. I love all three Narnia movies. “Is Dawn Treader to blame for killing the series?” No! It isn’t. I always saw Prince Caspian as the darker, more mature second instalment though releasing it between Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a mistake though in fairness, no one expected Iron Man to be as good as it was and I’d honestly watch Prince Caspian over Kingdom of the Crystal Skull any day. That added action scene at Miraz’s castle was spectacular.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade the aslan in the 1988 tv series from the bbc was a huge semi animatronic puppet controlled by three people, two inside the lion costume, and one off camera working aslan's eyes and nose, the mouth was controlled by the person inside the puppet. look for the blue peter episode discussing Aslan, and you'll see how it's done, very good for the time.
Agreed, I think that's the best course of action. It's easier to adapt fantastical scenes in animation, and it would work really well if they dedicated a short season to each book.
The Chronicles of Narnia has been my favourite book series ever since I was a child. I have read and re-read my collection so many times! The first movie was stellar and did a great job capturing the magic of TLWW but the other two fell short. I think Greta Gerwig is capable of doing a great job on the Netflix series, and I think TV is a better medium for the books since there's more time to tell the stories.
Yes! They were wild-- I saw them as a kid a few times, and I've been meaning to rewatch them. Excited for the nostalgia, and the hilarity of very aged special effects XD
I think the problem with not being able to do back to back movies was the fact that they would need to changeout the cast, and thus the art direction in each movie. Also it was already a sign the movie was going to bomb when the studio sold the rights to make the film. I was also dissapointed at the time as I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the Silver Chair and was looking forward to the Silver Chair adaptation next, but when I watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader I was confused by the quest and the villian in the movie, remembering it being one continuous journey from island to island in the book.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was nominated at the Oscars for Sound Mixing, Makeup and Visual Effects but not for its score or song.
Honestly as a British person, I remember a lot of people I knew preferred the BBC narnia series (which ended about a decade before the first film) to the movies. Despite its very 1980s questionable special effects, it was a lot more faithful to the books and just felt like it had more soul. Hopefully the netflix TV series can capture some of that magic!
I can't help but worry that "soul" and Netflix are not very compatible. In general, this whole idea seems to have been that like, this series could only be "successful" if it was seen as simultaneously better than both LOTR and Harry Potter or something. Netflix has similar problems with dropping everything that isn't absolutely a sensation. Maybe letting people make movies and shows that are just *good* goes further to making them feel authentic and memorable, you know? Maybe actually none of these things *ought* to have budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars that they need to somehow make back. I don't know, I do hope it will go well, but I'd give so much to have more of these things being made by smaller teams, smaller names, less greenscreen, less "magic" for also less pressure to be the one best fantasy series in the entire world or else they get cancelled midway through. 😩
It did, the BBC production, IMHO, worked far better than the movies. I had no idea they had even made a 3rd movie. I'll likely rewatch the BBC version at some point, but I definitely won't be watching the movies.
my memory is that the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was how the franchise was known to the average consumer. while narnia was known as the series, LWW was the most well known name. I think while LWW was super well known, the fact that there were other stories were not well known, and so i just don't think Prince Caspian felt like a highly anticipated adaptation in the way that LWW did, and I think disney underestimated people's low awareness or low interest in the rest of the books.
The first movie understood the source material. It also had the advantage of adapting the most beloved book of the series. The sequels did not understand the source material. The protagonist with a character arc in Prince Caspian is supposed to be Caspian. The Pevensies go through some stuff, but the manufactured conflict between Peter and Caspian was totally out of place (and explicitly precluded in the book: Lewis wrote that Peter and Caspian got along very well.) The character with an arc in Dawn Treader is Eustace. Edmund and Lucy are there to learn that their lives are in their world, and they don't need to keep going back to Narnia in order to fulfill their purpose. In all of the books, Lewis talked about the magic of Narnian air on a previous visitor: all their skill and experience came back to them upon returning to Narnia. The movies didn't trust that premise amd so returned the characters to immaturity at the beginning of each film. I understand the changes that are made between page and film for plenty of adaptations, but these books are good enough and enduring enough that if you just make the story that's there, trim it to feature film length, and do it with excellence (looking at you, Spirit Halloween minotaur from Dawn Treader) that you'll have a good movie. That's why the first one was a success and the sequels underperformed.
IMHO, the serialized version that the BBC made just fits the source material a lot better. The books were chapter books and in this case, treating the story more like a series to bedtime stories worked a lot better.
The problem with a lot of these movies are their use of CGI. You don’t need CGI or special effects for A LOT of scenes in Harry Pitter because it’s about the dynamics between characters mostly. Narnia in here to needs CGI and effects
Yeah the third one always felt mysterious to me because I nearly forgot it was even apart of the same franchise by the time it came out. That three year gap definitely killed it. Also the only thing I remember from the marketing was “sarcastic sword rat”.
Another reason is that even within the books, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe stands out among the other stories. It's a more iconic, captivating, and well-rounded story when compared to the others. Some of the others just don't have the substance to stand on their own and make a good film.
I honestly forgot this movie existed. I remember and LOVED the first movie. I remember the second movie and thinking it was alright. So I must not have liked this one if I don't have any memories of it. I read the books, thanks to a childhood friend. So I was excited when they were being made into movies. Oh well, at least the first movie was great.
I wish some producer, would adapt all 7 books, into an epic, 7 season, series told in sequence. From book 1: The Magicians Nephew - Book 7: The Final Battle.
The books. Book 1: The Magicians Nephew Book 2: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe Book3: The Horse and his Boy Book 4: Prince Caspian Book 5: Voyage of the Dawn Treader Book 6: The Silver Chair Book 7: The Final Battle. Every Director, just misses the point, the children aren’t the main Character, its the story of Aslan and how he created the world of Narnia.
Yeah, I was always kind of frustrated about the high-action direction these took-- it's just not a series that lends itself well to being Harry Potter or LoTR competition. It's comprised of such scattered, thoughtful stories. Prince Caspian in particular frustrated me a lot since it utterly failed as an adaptation, despite being a quite entertaining film on its own merits. I didn't find out that there was a third film made until shookingly recently, and though I haven't seen it, I'm not surprised to hear about the mixed reception. The Dawn Treader would make a fantastic mini-series in the right hands, but does not fit gracefully into the adventure blockbuster mold. I'm- apprehensive about the new Netflix adaptation. Their track record with adaptations is very mixed, and I don't really trust them to get something so dear to my childhood any kind of right. But we'll see! As usual with adaptations, I'll try to proceed with high hopes and low expectations.
Chronological Order: Book One - The Magician's Nephew Book Two - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe Book Three - The Horse and his Boy Book Four - Prince Caspian Book Five - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Book Six - The Silver Chair Book Seven - The Last Battle
I really liked the movies, but I am excited about the Netflix adaption if for only one reason, I want to see them done all the way through. If they can pull off an adaption of the Last Battle, it will be a cinamatic masterpiece, an amazing achievment and great story to tell. We'll see though.
I recently rewatched the trilogy and I think the issue with Dawn Treader is that while the first two feel like Narnia movies, Dawn Treader feels more like a generic kids movie with Narnia branding. The tone is completely different and everything aside from the ship itself feels artificial and cheap. With the first two you actually felt like you were in an entirely different world, thanks to the beautiful locations they were shot in and the incredible level of detail that went into the set and costume design. Combine this with a lack of care for the world building of the previous two, such as the Telmarines now having English accents for some reason, and major departures from the book, and you have a recipe for failure. I understand Dawn Treader is already a difficult book to adapt but it feels as though either Fox or Apted just didn't care enough to produce something on the level of the two Disney produced Narnia movies.
As a book fan, Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite of these movies, because the previous movies where so different from Lewis' stories, especially in spirit, Dawn Treader being even more different made it feel like it's own story, yet it felt more light-hearted and less angsty than the past films, so more closer in spirit to Lewis' original works. The returning leads' acting stood out as not being as good because they weren't surrounded by the more wooden acting of their co-stars in the previous movies, with Michael Apted casting better actors for Dawn Treader, like WIll Poulter and Simon Pegg as Reepicheep. Apparently, the Green Mist was supposed to be the Green Witch from The Silver Chair, and they were trying to set up a conflict narrative to be paid off in the next movie, but because they didn't make it obvious the Green Mist was caused by the Northern Green Witch, it fell flat. The Netflix Narnia series sounds horrendous, as Greta Gerwig is the exact opposite kind of storyteller to accurately capture Lewis spirit.
I didn't read all of the books so I can't judge based on that but from a cinematic point of view the Dawntreader was my favourite actually. I loved the colours and clarity of the picture and have watched it most out of all three. I also enjoyed the adventure theme, despite the weak villain. (also Ben Barnes, but not as a main reason ;) )
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was the film that was the least faithful to the books, which was sad because Dawn Treader is my father's favorite Narnia book. He likes the baptism of Eustace and the opening line, "There once was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it."
I think it's because they tried to make it into a movie. As I recall, there was a longer story, but it was comprised of smaller adventures along the way. The BBC serial format seemed to respect that more and was better for it.
The main problem is that Disney overestimated the marketability of the Narnia franchise. They wanted it to be as popular as Harry Potter, but with this franchise most kids outside the church never read any of the books after the first one, so it didn't have the built-in audience they had hoped for.
You failed to mention that in the broader public consciousness, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has a strong connection, many people know it. The remaining books in the series are not as deeply embedded in general consciousness so the ability to draw crowds was already hindered by the fact it was the ‘wrong’ book
Probably, I remember that one, I remember the Dawn Treader, I'd probably remember The Magicians Nephew better if I had read it first as it was the prequel to the whole thing and I didn't really get that at the time as I read it near the end as that's where it was placed in the set my parents bought.
Dawn Treader was my favorite book, and quite frankly this film felt like they rushed through it. The books are a challenge to adapt, Prince Caspian could be told in half an hour but Dawn Treader could be a miniseries. Didn't help they added a goofy subplot trying to tie all the different threads together, with that strange magic fog following them around or whatever that was...beats me I only saw the movie once and never again.
The Horse and his Boy is actually a great adventure story. It explores the borders of Narnia through new protagonists and really opens up it's Universe.
Never read the books but my impression of Dawn Treader was: "Oh, they got rid of the two more intersting characters and replaced them with an insufferable kid... Bold move."
I liked Eustace, he started out rather useless, but he had a real character arc to him over the period he was in the series and became a pretty decent guy as I recall. But, he was the worst to start off. I have to credit the actor for doing such a good job of making him so wretched at the start, but so much better over the course of the TV series.
Couldnt agree more. This was begging to to a tv show split into different episodes and would've been far better received compared to the movie productions which killed the series
@bend7726 by making them overblown movies, they slowed down production (which is bad for a series with kids in it) AND forced comparisons better franchises
I heard the next movie was gonna be The Magician's Nephew, which got me excited cuz that was the only Narnia book that I read. Still waiting for that movie.
That was an initial rumor I heard, then I heard they were going to do Silver Chair with a new cast. Then everything fizzled out and now apparently a Netflix series is what's planned next?
There is old live action adaptions! I remember laughing with my sister at how bad it looked when we were kids. It’s actually pretty funny as far as I can remember
The Narnia books were my first fantasy books and still my favourite. I very much enjoyed the movies, but a quite scared for the Netflix version as I don’t need to see it made for “modern audiences.” As long as they stick to the source material it would be good, but given how such much now contains “the message” it likely wont.
Disney markets "Prince Caspian" as a boy's action adventure. Meanwhile, my teenage sister watched it over and over so she could drool over Ben Barnes. You missed your target demographic, Disney.
That's really funny! As a teenage girl at the time, I was really irritated that they aged Caspian up and shoved a romantic b-plot into the film instead of working closer to the source material. To each their own, I guess! XD
And to think Andrew Garfield was turned down as Caspian for not being “attractive enough”
I agree. Saw this one multiple times for Ben Barnes. 😂
@@luigiboyinblu whaaaaa?!
@mariacargille1396 "a romantic b plot" is being very generous tbh.
They mostly spend the movie looking at each other, exchanging no words and we're supposed to believe they fell in love?
Not to mention a 15 year old Lucy flirting with a Caspian twice her age, in the next movie.
The reason the first and second movie were so successful was because although it was a kids movie, the cinematography, writing, and direction were so mature.
Dawn treader seemed to lean in more to being a kids movie. You could really feel the change in directors.
Thats a good view on it tbh. The third film was a Century Fox production instead of disney and also had the lowest budget of the 3 films. I dont mind the 3rd movie but compared to the 1st, the difference in quality is night and day. I feel like disney giving up on narnia is the ultimate reason it failed, but sometimes you just can't top the 1st movie which is what happened here.
@ i think losing that disney marketing budget really affected the series. I mean, i was a huge narnia fan and even i didnt know when dawn treader had finally came out because the marketing was almost nonexistent.
The 3rd kinda creeped me out doe it might of been bec I was a little kid and the Ice queen creep me out their
3:20 To clarify a point chronologically there’s only one book in between LWW and Prince Caspian and it’s not even set in between books, it actually takes place in between the last chapters of LWW and the Pevensie’s are side characters so from a franchise perspective it wouldn’t make sense to do that next.
I thought the same. One took place in the years before they left Narnia and we see them leave at the end of the first movie. Now would actually be a better time for The Horse And His Boy especially since the original actors would be old enough to cameo as their older selfs. Before Prince Caspian, they would have had to use adult actors.
That's what he said
wtf is LWW, just type it out queen this ain’t a Reddit fan group
@@paul4000 its The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
I remember, as a huge fan of the books, how impressed I was by the first adaptation. I thought the kids were cast so well and the world of Narnia looked so real. But I hatedddd Prince Caspian when it came out 😭 One of the main themes of the book is the Pevensies grappling with a completely different Narnia and how they fit in it- they barely spent any time on that at all in the movie. There's no grieving over their friends from the first movie, no desperately seeking Aslan, hardly any introspection at all. Even their relationship with Trumpkin felt so hollow compared to how it was in the book. I did enjoy the Dawn Treader movie, although the kid's ages were so significantly different from the first book it felt strange. It was nice to go back to the whimsical feel that I associate with Narnia.
It focused way too much on boring lore nobody cares about.
honestly I loved prince caspian. I felt it was a solid film, and loved how dark it became
Didn’t care much for Prince Caspian as a kid, we had the DVD. Rewatched it as an adult, the other day, it fucking HIIIIIIIT!
I hated Prince Caspian with a passion. Dawn Treader was not a significant improvement, but it did enough so that I have watched it multiple times.
Didn't the Pevensies grieved over Mr. Tumnus, the Beavers, and everyone they knew from their first adventure during their search on the ruined Cair Paravel upon their arrival in Narnia in the second movie? And Lucy seeking Aslan, eventually finding him in her dream?
Dawn Treader was good as long as they stuck with Lewis. But whenever they brought in their own stuff (“You didn’t believe in yourself”) it felt like Oprah had written the script.
The oppressed billionaire lol.
That’s the problem with Disney (and probably any other studio that tries to adapt Narnia): they don’t understand Lewis or his worldview at all, nor do they really want to understand.
I had the same feeling with the remake of A Wrinkle In Time. It's like they didn't have faith in the source material.
@@jayreed9370they literally got Oprah for A Wrinkle in Time😅
This hurts my inner child so much because I’m a huge fan of those movies. I fear that Narnia made by Netflix is going to be a huge flop and feel hollow. I’m hoping that they stick the landing but I’ve got a bad feeling about this…
C. S. Lewis's stepson is involved in it. But it depends on the contracts on how much say he'll have.
@@MelissaDiemer-q8l and Netflix is famous for playing nice with others. After all, look at ATLA and how their creators dealt with Netflix. I’m certain everything will be OK lol
@@MelissaDiemer-q8lDoesn’t mean anything. Tolkien’s grandson was involved with Rings of Garbage.
If Netflix is making it, we’ll get a pretty decent Magician’s Nephew season, and maybe a half-decent LWW, then they’ll cancel it regardless of its popularity to make room for another kitchen competition series
@@xdecatron2985 I bet you $5 they're gonna replace multiple beloved characters with butch black lesbians.
Peter Jackson made the right decision to film his LoTR trilogy in one shot.
A couple of points. There actually WAS a live-action version of the Narnia series before the movies that the BBC did, and the movie was made to compete with Lord of the Rings as well as Harry Potter.
yup! i watched the bbc version in school
Was the show good?
I remember the BBC show, it was much better suited to Narnia than film is. I loved it as a kid, having read the books around the same time. It was like watching old episodes of Dr. Who, but Narnia.
@@DavidMartinez-ce3lpit was eh at best. For some reason they stopped after Silver chair, now I’m out here thinking this series can’t be adapted to completion!
@@doubleflores8350 was it better than the movies?
the problem with the narnia films is that the books are not THAT action heavy outside of lion, witch, and wardrobe. but they made the movies so action heavy, doesn't help that the prince caspian film was way too dark compared to the book and not to mention it was a huge letdown.
dawn treader wasn't horrible but it just crammed way too much into the story and plus, the dawn treader book was a random event every few chapters, it doesn't work well for a movie.
yeah, they were trying to bring some more of what people expect from a fantasy movie and i honestly dont blame them. the stories are kinda...dry.
The third one also has some action scenes but it would have been hard to adapt given that the Peeseve children are secondary characters and present as adult rulers.
I wouldn't be so sure. If they kept going based on the ages of the actors the next film would have likely been the Horse and his Boy, which has plenty of action and adventure. Mostly without the original cast, but it includes an easy to expand side story that Peter is busy warring with the giants for most of the plot.
Narnia is not an action franchise so much as adventure or questing. Both Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are better suited for action, as was The Hobbit. The children are growing up and moving beyond the adventure quests of fantasy for the adventures of adulthood and the mysteries of life, which is why they are not allowed to return.
Franchise Killers: Eragon, Percy Jackson, and The Golden Compass
I can see PJ, but the other 2 are definitively Failure to launch, they never established a franchise to kill...
ooh the golden compass promised us a lot and then it just died. very disapointing because i remember being genuinely disturbed by Nicole Kidmans character and would have loved to see where the story went
I agree i wish we got a series of films. Althought the series is pretty decent.
@@NIGHTGUYRYANthe books are here if you want to see what happen next, and if you are not interested by litterature you can watch the show made in 2019 , it adapt the three books
For the Golden compass the series is really good and have an end.
Like others have said, I think Narnia is better suited for an animated tv series.
I watched the old BBC adaptation as a kid. A series is the best option as it is the _Chronicles_ of Narnia
@@melissaharris3389 The BBC narnia series was definitely so much better than the films!
You know, the shame is, I ADORE the Narnia series and will still rewatch all three of them with great fondness! The release order to make sure they could keep the kids I still think was a very smart choice, but you definitely see how all the other influences did so much damage.
I have hopes for Gerwig's version, if only to see the other books get a beautiful adaption like these three did. I really want to see the Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and the Last Battle on the big screen someday.
My big concern is if they keep re-adapting the books that already had adaptations.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would have been a much better series instead of a single movie due to the structure of the book.
Yeah. It's Lewis writing The Odyssey.
The first one is just so good. One of my favorite movies ever. I did like the other two but there is something especial with the first one.
You can’t turn Lewis’s works into Tolkien’s, no matter how hard you try.
The difference between Action/Adventure and Questing.
Yes, I preferred the slower pace of the BBC production, it's just a shame that they only did 3 of the books.
@@SmallSpoonBrigadeThey did the silver chair as well at least!
Fun fact: Tolkien and Lewis knew each other quite well, and corresponded often by letter. But although they were friends, neither particularly liked the others works. Tolkien thought the Narnia books were vapid and empty-headed, while Lewis found the Lord of the Rings to be overwritten and pretentious; Perhaps they both had a point lol.
The Chronicles of Narnia is a very unusual franchise because while all of the novels are popular in the U.K, I think The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is the only novel in the series that is popular worldwide.
Prince Caspian I think is one of the weakest novels of the series but I thought the movie was a lot better.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always going to be a challenge to adapt to the screen because there is no antagonist in the novel.
Disappointed we didn’t get the adaptation of The Silver Chair because it’s my favourite novel of the series.
I don’t think that’s very accurate. In the past several years I’ve seen plenty of copies of The Chronicles of Narnia for sale, but it has been a long time since I’ve seen them sold separately. If what you said were true, there would be plenty of incentive to sell the books separately, yet except for the fancy set I got as a kid the only Narnia books I’ve seen are single-volume collections.
They all sell well in the States, but it is also true that LWW sells better than the others. Personally, I have also always been partial to Silver Chair, particularly the confrontation with a witch with a strange penchant for postmodern philosophy.
I'm not sure about that, the books were sold as a box set in the US, and PBS picked up the BBC production fairly soon after they were originally aired in the UK. I think the issue more than anything else is that the movies messed with the material a lot and there wasn't really the same sort of charm that the books and the BBC production had, even though they had plenty of technology to make the movie reasonably accurate in terms of the effects that were described.
The first Narnia movie will always be the best and magical to me 🥹💛
Its the best one out of the three and fortunately the one everyone remembers and talks about
All problems aside, I’m glad they released the movies in order by publication because that’s the order the books were intended to be read in. I don’t think it was until after C.S Lewis’ death that they re released the books in chronological order, and to me I feel like that’s underestimating people’s intelligence to be able to recognize a prequel when they’re reading it. There’s a lot less impact when reading The Magician’s Nephew if you read it first instead of last. It’d be like telling people to watch the Star Wars movies in chronological order instead of by order of release. Like sure, you CAN, but it’s gonna spoil most of the big reveal moments and kill any sort of suspense that the series introduced
Watching SW chronologically is the best way to watch the saga, starting with Episode I. Watching in "order of release" would be to watch Episode IV first. As it was released first. You may want to reword your statements. Telling a new viewer to start with Episode IV is stupid.
You're right, and that's why it took me so long to "get" Magician's Nephew when I was younger. It's like watching Pulp Fiction with the scenes arranged in chronological order.
@@improvwithlions4173 Yep, it was written 2nd to last, if I understood correctly, but it's a prequel to the entire series.
Everyone knows the reveal that justifies release order for SW. So it really doesn't matter which order you watch, both work just as well as each other, just give radically different experiences.
It definitely doesn't work for Narnia, the Magician's Nephew is all about getting the "oooooh!" reactions from the reader once all the pieces start making sense.
@@shadowaccount It’s not stupid to tell new viewers to start with Episode 4 lol. That’s the order that the films were intended to be watched in. It’s not even just about the Vader reveal, it’s that the prequels were made with the implication that you already knew the major characters at play (Anakin, Obi-Wan, Palpatine, etc.)
Make a Disney's G-Force video
Oh shit I forgot about that 😭
The kid they cast for Eustace was absolutely perfect for the role.
The problem with Chronicles of Narnia is that unlike with Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Hunger Games or even Twilight, the first book is a complete story and also far more popular than any of the following books. Because of that as good as the movie adaptation was it ends on such a complete note that it didn't really leave much excitement for the follow-up.
Yes there are plenty of franchises where the first film is a complete story, but usually the second film succeeds by promising to offer something more (in superhero films this is usually the promise of a bigger more threatening villain, see The Dark Knight for a prime example). With Prince Caspian, everything felt like a downgrade. No iconic villain, no memorable winter setting, and it takes place centuries later where most of the magical creatures have been driven to extinction, leaving a bland medieval setting. The movie was simply put adapting a weak unpopular book and it was just a question of how much it was going to drop off from the original, though obviously the summer release date and 2.5 year wait didn't help.
Dawn Treader was based on a more popular book, but not one that made for an easy film adaptation and making the mist a bad guy was just dumb. Also, at this point, the main characters start changing, which hurts things even more. Even though it was succesful and Silver Chair was probably one of only 3 books that made for a good movie adaptation (the others being the first and The Magician's Nephew) I think they realized that it would be a big ask for people to come see a film where the main characters are a boy who was mainly an annoying git in the third film and a girl who was only mentioned in passing.
I agree 10000%
Yeah I really liked reading the Narnia books as a kid but they're all really different from each other in the tone and stuff. I loved the magician's nephew but I can't imagine it would be a super popular movie. And a horse and his boy too. I can't remember most of the other plots super well cause it's been a long time
One hundred percent. LWW has everything a good fantasy needs. An interesting world, action, fantastical creatures, and (at least in this book) the allegory was subtle, it wasn’t as in your face as the other books. It felt like Lewis didn’t know he was going to make a series and just decided to tell a decent story instead.
@@bookshelfhoney About the books being so different from each other in tone - you may be interested to read "The Narnia Code", which describes a theory that the seven books represent the seven planets of the ancient world - Lion/Witch/Wardrobe as Jupiter, Prince Caspian as Mars, Dawn Treader as the Sun, Silver Chair as the Moon, Horse and his Boy as Mercury, Magician's Nephew as Venus, and Last Battle as Saturn. So the different tones are an entirely deliberate and intentional part of an overall vision. Fascinating!
I remember being big into the Narnia books came out, and I was looking forward to this movie as Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite book of the series. I didn't hate this film, but I did walk away disappointed with most of the changes made. I wouldn't be opposed to rewatching it if someone was seeing the films for the first time, but it's not a movie I view on my own time.
In hindsight, I'm not surprised the Chronicles of Narnia didn't take off as a franchise. The books are great, but they don't lend themselves well to the big movie format, with the constantly changing cast and not having a linear overarching plot. C.S. Lewis's other fictional works are also good (Till We Have Faces is seriously underrated and deserves more attention) but they don't lend themselves well to the blockbuster format.
I second Til We Have Faces. Space series has its moments, but I feel it often lays on the preachiness too thick. Til We Have Faces also has that religious message, but Orual's character and story comes across so vividly that it really works. He hints at the kind of struggles Orual has at various points with different characters in Narnia, but in TWHF he really gets into his character's head and heart. I re-read it along with Narnia around once a year.
No they don't lend themselves well to that format, partially because, unlike LOTR or Dune, each book is only a couple hundred pages long at most. There simply isn't enough material to work with to stretch into a two hour film.
I remember watching Lion, Witch and Wardrobe as a kid. And then reading the books in chronological order since I liked the series.
Let's hope Netflix and Greta Gerwig revitalise this franchise
No way Greta Gerwig and Netflix will be a positive. Completely woke.
Ewww
Considering the track record of netflix shows and how often they are cancelled, I dont see narnia standing a chance.
I actually liked Prince Caspian the most of these three. Lion Witch and Wardrobe probably the more successful in terms of overall tone etc but, I dunno. Guess I have a bloodlust for centaurs messing up minotaurs.
Interested to see what Greta Gerwig does with it.
There was also the tv movie version that adapted 4 of the books including The Silver Chair.
The Horse and His Boy, The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle never got any films at all
I assume you're talking about the BBC version. And yeah, that's where I get frustrated. IIRC, The Magicians Nephew is arguably the first book chronologically in the series, but whenever they start doing a new depiction of the series, they start with LWW.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade there is actually a manga adaptation of the Magician's nephew. Also it's not arguable when it's literally the origin story for the creation of Narnia and the White Witch, along with how the Professor ended up with a wardrobe connected to Narnia.
@@FF-tp7qsit's so sad, the magicians nephew was one of the most interesting ones. a modern adaptation of that with decent cgi and some huge lady to be Jadis would probably be amazing. but I don't trust Hollywood to make that lol.
I honestly didn't know they made a 3rd one. Remember the 2nd being disappointing, and never saw anything for the final one
Same. I didn’t know there was one until they brought it up in the video. Went “wait there’s a third one?”
Honestly with the first 2 movies this franchise had so much promise remember seeing the first one on a school field trip before we got out for Christmas break went to see the second one summer of 2008 had to do a book report presentation on the first book keep hearing Netflix is supposed to be picking this up to do something with it we just don't know when yet would love to see this franchise come back ❤❤
There was only one thing that could have saved this franchise, but they were never going to give Reapacheep, the mouse swordsman, a solo movie. But look at Puss in Boots and the Shrek films, huh?
That would have been a heck of a gamble, and what kind of story are you going to tell with it? In Prince Caspian, he’s leader of the mice. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader he’s going on his last adventure. What big story are you going to tell where the time before his introduction has no major conflicts and the time between the books is only three years canonically for the Narnians.
Funnily enough, I'm going go watch LWW in the theater tonight.
I have always loved these movies, and a lot of the changes made in them hurt my very soul since I grew up on the books. But I grew on these movies as well, and they hold a special place in my heart.
Thing is, LWW is just the one pure showstopper Narnia has to offer to movie adaptation, beside the Last Battle where everyone (and everything) just straight up dies. Silver chair is interesting mystery, Boy and his horse is.. there.
Magician's nephew is great, but if you know beforehand who the White Witch is, why the lamppost is in the woods, LWW loses its mystery and gets hurt in the process. The decision to go in this order makes a lot more sense, not only because of the actors aging out of their roles. You follow Pevensies, and gradually they get phased out.
Because in the end, it is primarily a story about NARNIA, not the characters that interact with it.
Been going down a rabbit hole of your Franchise Killers series, got a subscriber outta me! Can't wait for more and to check out your other series', seriously dope content.
You should make video on 'King Arthur: Legend of the Sword' movie was supposed spawn movie franchise based on Arthurian Legends.
WE had some banger King Arthur movies in the past. But that one was a stinker.
Oh yeah, that's the one that's all grey.
They teased Knights of the Roundtable at the end.
@@nerdjournalFight scenes and music was actually pretty good
To this day Excalibur is the best King Arthur film.
On one hand, having Netflix as its financial partner means that the reboot could have a big budget and maybe great visual effects. On the other hand, Netflix is known for having meh movies and canceling great shows so it’s 50-50.
Narnia doesn't lend itself to film like it does to television. The Dawn Treader film really showed that. All of Lewis' Narnian books need to be in episodes, told properly, and made for streaming.
I think Voyage of the Dawn Treader in particular is better off as shorter 30-40minute TV episodes with a bit of a cliff hanger towards the end the way that the BBC version did.
This video is how I learned they made voyage into a movie
I absolutely loved the second movie. Third one was fine but forgettable.
I don’t care what anyone says. I love all three Narnia movies.
“Is Dawn Treader to blame for killing the series?” No! It isn’t.
I always saw Prince Caspian as the darker, more mature second instalment though releasing it between Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was a mistake though in fairness, no one expected Iron Man to be as good as it was and I’d honestly watch Prince Caspian over Kingdom of the Crystal Skull any day.
That added action scene at Miraz’s castle was spectacular.
My childhood screeched in pain over the BBC Narnia movies when you said they had never made a movie before Disney.
It was a tv show
@@DarkAgeNetwork Also, it was actually good.
@@SmallSpoonBrigade the aslan in the 1988 tv series from the bbc was a huge semi animatronic puppet controlled by three people, two inside the lion costume, and one off camera working aslan's eyes and nose, the mouth was controlled by the person inside the puppet. look for the blue peter episode discussing Aslan, and you'll see how it's done, very good for the time.
I’d want to see it remade as an animated series.
Agreed, I think that's the best course of action. It's easier to adapt fantastical scenes in animation, and it would work really well if they dedicated a short season to each book.
There's plenty of animated Christian allegory out there already.
They did an animated version of "The L, W, W" around 1979. I remember watching it and found it disturbing.
I saw the first two Narnia movies but had no idea there was another after Prince Caspian.
The Chronicles of Narnia has been my favourite book series ever since I was a child. I have read and re-read my collection so many times! The first movie was stellar and did a great job capturing the magic of TLWW but the other two fell short. I think Greta Gerwig is capable of doing a great job on the Netflix series, and I think TV is a better medium for the books since there's more time to tell the stories.
I don't care, ALL three movies are brilliant. The growth of Edmund and Eustace is great and I always love the backgrounds and CGI and magic.
Greta Gerwig being attached to the Netflix movie is insane
Wasn't there a live action series from BBC back in the 80s or something.
Yeah there was
There was. They got as far as the Silver Chair before they petered out. I remember watching them on PBS back in the day.
Yes! They were wild-- I saw them as a kid a few times, and I've been meaning to rewatch them. Excited for the nostalgia, and the hilarity of very aged special effects XD
Came here to comment the same thing
They’re all on TH-cam for free
I think the problem with not being able to do back to back movies was the fact that they would need to changeout the cast, and thus the art direction in each movie. Also it was already a sign the movie was going to bomb when the studio sold the rights to make the film.
I was also dissapointed at the time as I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and the Silver Chair and was looking forward to the Silver Chair adaptation next, but when I watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader I was confused by the quest and the villian in the movie, remembering it being one continuous journey from island to island in the book.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was nominated at the Oscars for Sound Mixing, Makeup and Visual Effects but not for its score or song.
Honestly as a British person, I remember a lot of people I knew preferred the BBC narnia series (which ended about a decade before the first film) to the movies. Despite its very 1980s questionable special effects, it was a lot more faithful to the books and just felt like it had more soul. Hopefully the netflix TV series can capture some of that magic!
I can't help but worry that "soul" and Netflix are not very compatible. In general, this whole idea seems to have been that like, this series could only be "successful" if it was seen as simultaneously better than both LOTR and Harry Potter or something. Netflix has similar problems with dropping everything that isn't absolutely a sensation. Maybe letting people make movies and shows that are just *good* goes further to making them feel authentic and memorable, you know? Maybe actually none of these things *ought* to have budgets of hundreds of millions of dollars that they need to somehow make back.
I don't know, I do hope it will go well, but I'd give so much to have more of these things being made by smaller teams, smaller names, less greenscreen, less "magic" for also less pressure to be the one best fantasy series in the entire world or else they get cancelled midway through. 😩
Watching this made me think this story would work better as a TV series.
It did, the BBC production, IMHO, worked far better than the movies. I had no idea they had even made a 3rd movie. I'll likely rewatch the BBC version at some point, but I definitely won't be watching the movies.
God your truly my favorite channel go tune in to!
my memory is that the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was how the franchise was known to the average consumer. while narnia was known as the series, LWW was the most well known name. I think while LWW was super well known, the fact that there were other stories were not well known, and so i just don't think Prince Caspian felt like a highly anticipated adaptation in the way that LWW did, and I think disney underestimated people's low awareness or low interest in the rest of the books.
The first movie understood the source material. It also had the advantage of adapting the most beloved book of the series.
The sequels did not understand the source material. The protagonist with a character arc in Prince Caspian is supposed to be Caspian. The Pevensies go through some stuff, but the manufactured conflict between Peter and Caspian was totally out of place (and explicitly precluded in the book: Lewis wrote that Peter and Caspian got along very well.)
The character with an arc in Dawn Treader is Eustace. Edmund and Lucy are there to learn that their lives are in their world, and they don't need to keep going back to Narnia in order to fulfill their purpose. In all of the books, Lewis talked about the magic of Narnian air on a previous visitor: all their skill and experience came back to them upon returning to Narnia. The movies didn't trust that premise amd so returned the characters to immaturity at the beginning of each film.
I understand the changes that are made between page and film for plenty of adaptations, but these books are good enough and enduring enough that if you just make the story that's there, trim it to feature film length, and do it with excellence (looking at you, Spirit Halloween minotaur from Dawn Treader) that you'll have a good movie. That's why the first one was a success and the sequels underperformed.
i remember watching this movie 3 times as a kid and falling asleep 30 minutes in each time. Its just a weirdly paced one tbh.
IMHO, the serialized version that the BBC made just fits the source material a lot better. The books were chapter books and in this case, treating the story more like a series to bedtime stories worked a lot better.
I genuinely did not even realize they had made a film for Dawn Treader (my fave book in the series)
I loved the first two films but Dawn Treader just felt wierd.
The problem with a lot of these movies are their use of CGI. You don’t need CGI or special effects for A LOT of scenes in Harry Pitter because it’s about the dynamics between characters mostly.
Narnia in here to needs CGI and effects
There absolutely were films of the Chronicles of Narnia before this. They were made in the 80s I believe and I loved them as a kid
The biggest problem with Voyage of the Dawn Treader was they deviated too much from the source material.
Yeah the third one always felt mysterious to me because I nearly forgot it was even apart of the same franchise by the time it came out. That three year gap definitely killed it. Also the only thing I remember from the marketing was “sarcastic sword rat”.
Another reason is that even within the books, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe stands out among the other stories. It's a more iconic, captivating, and well-rounded story when compared to the others. Some of the others just don't have the substance to stand on their own and make a good film.
The first two movies were so gooodd!! Don’t remember really watching the third and final film.
Is "Franchise Killers" going to be a new series? :)
(Totally not eyeing that sad whispered end of Divergent)
the Ted Bundy of franchise killers lmao god divergent was fantastically terrible
I loved this franchise. Loved the books too! Loved the Magicians Nephew
i actually loved the second one more than the first one, i loved the dark turns and made me feel more emotional
I honestly forgot this movie existed. I remember and LOVED the first movie. I remember the second movie and thinking it was alright. So I must not have liked this one if I don't have any memories of it.
I read the books, thanks to a childhood friend. So I was excited when they were being made into movies. Oh well, at least the first movie was great.
That Stinks, I was really hoping they would make the Magicians Nephew, I didn't know that it was on the Docket, that would have been Awesome
I wish some producer, would adapt all 7 books, into an epic, 7 season, series told in sequence. From book 1: The Magicians Nephew - Book 7: The Final Battle.
The books.
Book 1: The Magicians Nephew
Book 2: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Book3: The Horse and his Boy
Book 4: Prince Caspian
Book 5: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Book 6: The Silver Chair
Book 7: The Final Battle.
Every Director, just misses the point, the children aren’t the main Character, its the story of Aslan and how he created the world of Narnia.
Yeah, I was always kind of frustrated about the high-action direction these took-- it's just not a series that lends itself well to being Harry Potter or LoTR competition. It's comprised of such scattered, thoughtful stories. Prince Caspian in particular frustrated me a lot since it utterly failed as an adaptation, despite being a quite entertaining film on its own merits. I didn't find out that there was a third film made until shookingly recently, and though I haven't seen it, I'm not surprised to hear about the mixed reception. The Dawn Treader would make a fantastic mini-series in the right hands, but does not fit gracefully into the adventure blockbuster mold.
I'm- apprehensive about the new Netflix adaptation. Their track record with adaptations is very mixed, and I don't really trust them to get something so dear to my childhood any kind of right. But we'll see! As usual with adaptations, I'll try to proceed with high hopes and low expectations.
I enjoyed the old live action mini series. For the time, it was pretty good. Also it used all practical effects.
Chronological Order:
Book One - The Magician's Nephew
Book Two - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Book Three - The Horse and his Boy
Book Four - Prince Caspian
Book Five - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Book Six - The Silver Chair
Book Seven - The Last Battle
I really liked the movies, but I am excited about the Netflix adaption if for only one reason, I want to see them done all the way through. If they can pull off an adaption of the Last Battle, it will be a cinamatic masterpiece, an amazing achievment and great story to tell. We'll see though.
I recently rewatched the trilogy and I think the issue with Dawn Treader is that while the first two feel like Narnia movies, Dawn Treader feels more like a generic kids movie with Narnia branding. The tone is completely different and everything aside from the ship itself feels artificial and cheap. With the first two you actually felt like you were in an entirely different world, thanks to the beautiful locations they were shot in and the incredible level of detail that went into the set and costume design. Combine this with a lack of care for the world building of the previous two, such as the Telmarines now having English accents for some reason, and major departures from the book, and you have a recipe for failure. I understand Dawn Treader is already a difficult book to adapt but it feels as though either Fox or Apted just didn't care enough to produce something on the level of the two Disney produced Narnia movies.
As a book fan, Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite of these movies, because the previous movies where so different from Lewis' stories, especially in spirit, Dawn Treader being even more different made it feel like it's own story, yet it felt more light-hearted and less angsty than the past films, so more closer in spirit to Lewis' original works.
The returning leads' acting stood out as not being as good because they weren't surrounded by the more wooden acting of their co-stars in the previous movies, with Michael Apted casting better actors for Dawn Treader, like WIll Poulter and Simon Pegg as Reepicheep.
Apparently, the Green Mist was supposed to be the Green Witch from The Silver Chair, and they were trying to set up a conflict narrative to be paid off in the next movie, but because they didn't make it obvious the Green Mist was caused by the Northern Green Witch, it fell flat.
The Netflix Narnia series sounds horrendous, as Greta Gerwig is the exact opposite kind of storyteller to accurately capture Lewis spirit.
i love the dawn treader eustace is so funny
I didn't read all of the books so I can't judge based on that but from a cinematic point of view the Dawntreader was my favourite actually. I loved the colours and clarity of the picture and have watched it most out of all three. I also enjoyed the adventure theme, despite the weak villain. (also Ben Barnes, but not as a main reason ;) )
Bro, Harry Gregson-Williams Got No Oscar nominations. Fact check
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was the film that was the least faithful to the books, which was sad because Dawn Treader is my father's favorite Narnia book. He likes the baptism of Eustace and the opening line, "There once was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it."
I think it's because they tried to make it into a movie. As I recall, there was a longer story, but it was comprised of smaller adventures along the way. The BBC serial format seemed to respect that more and was better for it.
The main problem is that Disney overestimated the marketability of the Narnia franchise. They wanted it to be as popular as Harry Potter, but with this franchise most kids outside the church never read any of the books after the first one, so it didn't have the built-in audience they had hoped for.
Narnia is actually one of the few franchises I wouldn’t mind seeing remade
The only reason I remember this movie is that the trailer was on the DVD for Diary of a Wimpy Kid and I saw it every time I watched that movie
You failed to mention that in the broader public consciousness, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe has a strong connection, many people know it. The remaining books in the series are not as deeply embedded in general consciousness so the ability to draw crowds was already hindered by the fact it was the ‘wrong’ book
Probably, I remember that one, I remember the Dawn Treader, I'd probably remember The Magicians Nephew better if I had read it first as it was the prequel to the whole thing and I didn't really get that at the time as I read it near the end as that's where it was placed in the set my parents bought.
Their absolutely was a live action film adaptation of LWW before Disney.
Disney doesn't want anybody to remember because it was better. The effects weren't, but it was a TV production a decade earlier.
@SmallSpoonBrigade The TV movie was so much better. I saw it young, and it felt like a classic then.
The BBC series. They covered four books and they were wonderful for their time.
I can definetly see Bob Iger letting the franchise die out of spite.
2010: Fantasy is dead
GoT: I'm a joke to you?!
2010: You, you are a tragedy.
Can't wait for the Percy Jackson one
Great analysis
Dawn Treader was my favorite book, and quite frankly this film felt like they rushed through it. The books are a challenge to adapt, Prince Caspian could be told in half an hour but Dawn Treader could be a miniseries. Didn't help they added a goofy subplot trying to tie all the different threads together, with that strange magic fog following them around or whatever that was...beats me I only saw the movie once and never again.
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was the most popular book in the series so it was easy to adapt. It has the best story.
The Horse and his Boy is actually a great adventure story. It explores the borders of Narnia through new protagonists and really opens up it's Universe.
The first 4 books were previously adapted in live action by the BBC.
What's more, they were more true to the books. Perhaps that's how they got farther into the series.
@@jaustill237They only got one book further and both Dawn Treader and Silver Chair were shortened compared to TLWW and Prince Caspian.
Never read the books but my impression of Dawn Treader was: "Oh, they got rid of the two more intersting characters and replaced them with an insufferable kid... Bold move."
I liked Eustace, he started out rather useless, but he had a real character arc to him over the period he was in the series and became a pretty decent guy as I recall. But, he was the worst to start off. I have to credit the actor for doing such a good job of making him so wretched at the start, but so much better over the course of the TV series.
Narnia would work better as a 20 part TV series than 7 movies.
Couldnt agree more. This was begging to to a tv show split into different episodes and would've been far better received compared to the movie productions which killed the series
@bend7726 by making them overblown movies, they slowed down production (which is bad for a series with kids in it) AND forced comparisons better franchises
I heard the next movie was gonna be The Magician's Nephew, which got me excited cuz that was the only Narnia book that I read. Still waiting for that movie.
That was an initial rumor I heard, then I heard they were going to do Silver Chair with a new cast. Then everything fizzled out and now apparently a Netflix series is what's planned next?
There is old live action adaptions! I remember laughing with my sister at how bad it looked when we were kids.
It’s actually pretty funny as far as I can remember
The Narnia movies should have taken off!😢
There is a British series from 1988. I haven’t checked it out, have you?
The Narnia books were my first fantasy books and still my favourite. I very much enjoyed the movies, but a quite scared for the Netflix version as I don’t need to see it made for “modern audiences.” As long as they stick to the source material it would be good, but given how such much now contains “the message” it likely wont.
seems like every fantasy film series' fate ends up being a streaming service show in the end.
You can't have the same art with different artists.
My sister's and wife cries at the end of these movies, yet refuse to watch better fantasy films like lord of the rings.
LotR is too much for their brains.
This was literally the only Narnia film I saw in theater
I have a good feeling about Disney's recent acquisition of Jack Brannigan's Turd Hustler series. That will be the next, next big thing.
5:09 windows 8 screen saver