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From the Page to the Screen – The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a classic 1950 fantasy novel written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered to be one of the best fantasy novels ever written and belonging to one of the best fantasy series of books. That is all for many great reasons as it truly stood the test of time and is still a magical, wonderful read. It is definitely one of the best entries in the series.

THE FILM ADAPTATION

The film was released in 2005 to pretty good critical reception and excellent box-office. It was well received and justifiably so as it truly is an epic, cinematic and truly great counterpart to the novel and the only truly great entry in this movie franchise as the rest were much inferior in quality.

PLOT

Now the film follows the book quite faithfully and is actually as magical or as endearing as the novel itself. But no matter how wonderfully it adapted the story, the book is still the original one and Lewis’s imagination is responsible for this entire world.

WINNER – BOOK

CHARACTERIZATION

The film’s character development is actually pretty strong. Admittedly the child actors were not great and their performances are quite weak overall, but most of the characters are as great as they were in the book with Aslan, Edmund and the Witch being the highlights. Plus Peter and Susan are actually better developed here than they were in the original.

WINNER – TIE

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EMOTION

The entire third act in the film is very moving emotionally speaking and highly endearing. The entire magical trip was worth it as that ending is very rewarding and I loved it. It was as weighty as it was in the written form.

WINNER – TIE

THEMES

The film is very much action and spectacle oriented whereas the book touches upon many themes ranging from good versus evil to man’s relationship with nature to spirituality and most importantly to betrayal and forgiveness.

WINNER – BOOK

TECHNICAL ASPECTS

I love Lewis’s writing and he is the one responsible for this whole world as his imagination and world building are incredible. But the film does everything a movie adaptation should do – it gives us epic scope, arresting scenery, beautiful score and simply fantastic special effects that are some of the best of its decade.

WINNER – FILM

BOOK 4: FILM 3

This was a pretty close race but in the end the novel takes the win. Certainly the film is undoubtedly the best of its franchise, very faithful, magical and incredible to look at, but the novel is the original one with a fantastic story and with more themes incorporated into it. But still the fact that we got such a phenomenal film from this classic fantasy work should be respected more as this flick is unfortunately quite underrated.