My favorite book is The Horse and his Boy.

Mine too....Love, love, love Horse and his boy!

I love The Last Battle...the storyline just captivated me, I suppose. I've just always loved that book.

I couldn't really say which one was the best...They're all so good!

I'm with you there - it's hard to make a definite decision!

eru

The Magician's Nephew was my favourite, I think. Although they are all really good!

I second Elanor's post! Although Horse & His Boy comes in a really close second...

I can't pick a favorite, either. I just like to read the whole series.

Mine's The Silver Chair.

I haven't watched or read any of Narnia. Shocking, I know. Should that be an option?

No. It should definitely NOT be an option! You must read the books immediately and return to cast your vote. But make sure you read the books before you see the movies-the books are so much better!

Mine was Prince Caspian, I think what makes me love it so much is how The "old Narnians" are all hiding out in the wilderness and then Caspian starts an uprising-it's somehow similar to the Revolutionary War which is my favorite war to read about and learn about! I also just love Centaurs and stuff.

Wow, I can't believe The Horse and His Boy has gotten so many votes.

I was tempted to vote Horse and his Boy, actually...that was the first one I've read--actually, had read to me. It's really neat the way it takes a bit of a pause from the Pevensie Epic to immerse us a bit more in the Narnia world and put some images to the otherwise obscure names of "Calormen" and "Archenland". I don't think we visit those countries in any other story, do we?

But in the end, I just had to go with VotDT. There's so much content to that story--it's almost like a collection of stories, each with a little bit of significance in some way. And we see the handing of the torch from the Pevensies to Eustace, an interesting turning point in the series.

I LOVE the Horse and his Boy!! It's my ideal book. Horses, running away, the Arab feel, haunting past, escaping arranged marriage, disguises, a secret twist at the end and the teeniest, tiniest bit of romance.

The Horse and his Boy -- no contest.

I chose The Silver Chair. Puddleglum is also my favorite character in The Silver Chair, for obvious reasons.

I think I'd have to pick The Horse and his Boy.

The Horse and His Boy is definitely my favorite.

I also like The Magician's Nephew; my least favourite would be The Silver Chair.

I love the Horse and His Boy.

I'm the only one that picked Prince Caspian...not that it's unusual for me to stand alone when it comes to favorites.

The Horse And His Boy, of course. (I also love the title )
My favorite of the older movies, though, would have to be The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
My favorite of the newer ones would have to be the same, because the kiss at the end of Prince Caspian bugged me. And The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was okay, but they changed too much.

Oh yeah, and The Last Battle. I love how Lewis incorporated elements from Revelations into it. And the creepy door

Yeah, my favorite book was Prince Caspian, but I was REALLY ticked off when PC and Susan [spoiler]kissed. [/spoiler]
So yeah, my favorite of the new movies is also LWW

Yeah, I had already seen it in theaters, but when my family bought it, we had our friends' family over to watch it since they hadn't seen it yet. And my friend Chris freaked out. "WHAT?! THEY'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KISS!!! THAT'S RIDICULOUS!!!" It was actually rather funny. But yeah, that just totally turned me off to the whole movie...
(On a side note, he stood up in front of everyone and started singing the song they played during that part. Then he acted out Little Red Riding Hood. He's rather odd...)

Uh...yeah that isn't the average reaction I'm pretty sure.

You have to choose one out of the seven? Oh, dear! *Hems and haws for a couple of minutes* I think I will choose...Prince Caspian! Yes, that one will do. The book, mind you, not the movie. The movies are okay, but they are starting to get more and more away from the books.

Yay! I think you're the only other one to say that! Yeah, I was disappointed by the movie in a few different ways, but I think that in that case they actually added allegory to the story instead of just taking it away, so that made it a little better.

wow, i thought no one would choose the 'horse and his boy' cause it is the book that most people have never heard of it. I LOVE IT!

Yep, I was only the second one to vote for it. In the movie, I did like the way they brought out Peter's struggle with handing the control over.

Hmm. That's one of the things I dislike about it most, actually. He behaved like a fourteen year old, or something absurd like that, not someone who, remember, has probably at least fifteen extra years of age. And a lot of it was completely out of character.

I'm a little torn here, I think that I was disgusted with Peter's attitude, while at the same time I could somewhat understand what drove his attitude. I think they just went over the top with it, I guess.

I think my favorite part of the movie was where at the end of the battle at the castle, the minotaur held of the portcullis (in a position similar to the one Jesus was in on the cross) while other Narnians escaped. I could just really see a type of christ there, a mini allegory of the Gospel.

Finally someone who agrees with me about Peter's immaturity in the movie! *high-fives Arien*

I am so thrilled at how many voted for my FAVORITE - The Horse and His Boy! That seems like an uncommon favorite, so it's pretty cool how many other people love it.

I find Shasta the most relatable hero... I've gotten him on a lot of Narnia personality tests.

My second favorite would definitely be The Silver Chair. LOVE Puddleglum, and love that story.

But I agree, they are all good.

So, first off, I'm going to say that I've only read TMN, TLTWTW, and PC. I've listened to the Focus on the Family Radio Theatres of them all, however, and as I understand they are very close to the books.

With that said, I want to say that my favorite book is the Silver Chair, followed by The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

When TVDT movie came out, I was very excited. And as I watched it, I was still very excited. And at the end of it, I was very pleased, satisfied, and still excited. Honestly, I don't really get why people are upset that the filmmakers changed the story. When you go to a movie, do you really expect an unchanged story? Of course not! And the TVDT would have really made a looooong and boring movie. Just think about for a moment, will you? As much as I love this story, it really wouldn't have fit on the silver screen.

Now, I do think they could have lengthened the movie because they could have captured the length of the voyage better, but overall I think they did a splendid job.

Yes, I am being the opposing one here who actually loves that movie. But before y'all all get fired up against me and get ready to throw me your reasoning on why you disliked it (and I say that teasingly ), allow me to share with you my reasons for liking it.

I felt like TVDT captured the essence of the story. An adventurous sea voyage in a fantasy land. All the different lands they travel to. Yes, I realize they changed some of the lands, combined a couple, and rearranged some orders. But does that really matter? They still travel to all of the lands. And I actually liked how the combined Death Water Island with Dragon Island. A very fitting match if I do say so myself.

"But the green mist was very lame. I mean, where did that even come from?!" you say? OK, so maybe that was a major change from the book, but I actually liked what they did with it and turned it into Dark Island. It was almost like the mist was the spirit of the White Witch, keeping her throughout the stories. That works, because in the Silver Chair the Lady in the Green Kirtle is basically a reincarnation of the White Witch. So it's just keeping that tie in there. It also gave the heroes more conflict. Instead of just the smaller conflicts at each island (which they kept), they also had an overarching evil that they had to deal with. This helped move the story along and keep it from becoming boring and pointless. Although I would have preferred it as the original tale, for the book on the screen, I felt like the staff took care of their problems very well.

"But with all of these changes, the intent of the book was lost! Especially with Eustace's transformation! They could have done so much more with that." True, I think they could have done more with that. But did you hear Eustace recap his experience? He described everything that the book described, just at a different timing. For the time restraints of the movie, they handled the dragon transformation excellently in my opinion. And you even got the gist of the original scene from the book. But I disagree that the intent of the book was lost.

I didn't like Prince Caspian as a book adaptation. I enjoy it as a movie (and the kiss did bother me at first, but it doesn't really bug me anymore... especially since they added the romance in there in the first place...). But I enjoy TVDT as a book adaptation as well as a movie. Why? Because I felt like they kept the essence that C.S. Lewis evoked in his books in the movie. In Prince Caspian, even though the order of events were more like the book, they lost what C.S. Lewis's essence that he had in the book. Especially with the characters. Susan's character was right, but I felt Edmund and Lucy were a bit off, but Peter the most. Even though they showed Peter's struggle, and I kind of like that, they did take it too far. In the book, Peter had no problem handing over the throne. He realized his time to rule was past, and he came to Narnia to help Caspian, not to become in charge himself. But that's just my opinion.

But it was kept Lewis' essence in TVDT. The adventure on the high-seas, the development of the characters, (yes, especially the development of the characters. They showed Edmund's struggle [similar to Peter's, but didn't take it too far], I loved the scene where Lucy said the beauty spell). I can't really describe it, but I felt like C.S. Lewis would have enjoyed the movie. Of course he would probably have his critiques, and I'm not at all saying the movie was perfect. There were things I would have changed, such as at least slowing the pacing down a little bit so we could savor each land a little bit more and capture even more of that lovely essence they evoked, and I didn't really like the dad and her daughter thing as much (though it was kind of nice). But overall I think they kept the spirit of the book in the movie fairly well.

So... there's my long rant. Sorry it's so long, and if it felt offensive in any way, I am deeply sorry. It wasn't meant to be so in any way, shape, or form. I'm just trying to show my side of how I view the movies and maybe help you see past the changes in the movie.

Oh yeah, and who didn't like that last scene in TVDT? I mean, that scene was caught perfectly. I loved how Caspian was tempted to go into Aslan's land, but then chose not to. And then Reep going over. Shawn cried in the theater at that part. And then the children having to leave. And Aslan was great, too.

And in case there's any confusion, this post does relate to the intent of the thread because it's relating the movies to the books. Otherwise I would have posted in the fireside thread on TVDT. This post was not meant to derail the thread.

Final thought on a book related note: I was surprised more people didn't pick The Silver Chair. This has been my favorite for a LONG time. I love the adventure and the general feel to it. It is a bit darker than some of the other books, which is probably why I like it. And Puddleglum is AMAZING.

One comment, Nemo? There is absolutely no reason to believe that the Lady in the Green Kirtle is at all anything resembling a reincarnation of the White Witch. Not that I know of, anyway. I've seen that in a few places, and never understood it. I rather hope they don't do that in the movies myself...

I also didn't see the green mist as connected to the White Witch. Yes, Edmund saw her in it. Guess what? She makes perfect sense as one of his worst nightmares. Definitely in keeping with the land of dreams, I think.

I think I disagree quite a bit, I do think Peter was messed up bad in PC, but I by no means felt that Lewis' meaning of the story was destroyed, in fact I think it was preserved quite well while new allegories (like the one I mentioned) were added to it.
I also disagree quite a lot about the VDT, but don't have time to say much on the subject, I agree with Arien, it makes perfect sense that Edmund would see the witch in the green mist, and I don't believe it makes sense to assume that the lady of the green girdle is a reincarnation of her (*laughs* oops, lapsed into the Silver Chair).
Another thing is that the "evil" and "dark island" concepts struck me as utterly cheesy, and I wish that it had had the edge of the world like in the story, I think they could have done a better job sticking to the story while still summarizing it.

Ahh, thank you for correcting me there. I had thought it was mentioned in the book that they were the same. In doing a tad bit more research, I see it is only a theory.

And yes, I totally agree that it makes sense that that was his nightmare. I just thought it neat that they tied it in. It appeared that she had something to do with the mist, at least to me. But maybe it was myself just making that connection.



I do think that what C.S. Lewis wrote wasn't completely destroyed in PC, but I felt like a lot of his essence was lost. Maybe I need to re-read the book, or re-watch the movie, or both, but when I watched it (and I've seen it multiple times) I felt like something was lost in the adaptation, which in turn took away from the movie.



Hmmm... in my opinion, they kept the whole edge of the world thing. It just so happened that the edge of the world led to Aslan's country. I felt that wasn't really changed at all... Also, they could have stuck to the story better, yes, but again, I think that having the over-arching plot with the "mini" plots, so to speak, helped make it move better. And I felt like it kept to the book pretty well. It had the islands, maybe out of order or combined, and it had the voyage. It really had the elements of the story to it. The only thing I wished they had kept more of was the part with the Lone Islands.

But, again, I realize they changed a lot of the story, but I still feel like they kept C.S. Lewis' essence in the story. But not many people see the movie the way I do, from what I've observed.

That is how I feel about both VDT and PC.



Um...the book had the edge of the world in the part of the "story" where they were in the dark island...I feel like they totally skipped it since there is no part where you see the edge of the world (which is different from Aslan's country).

Nemo, I didn't really like VoDT because it was rather cheesy in parts and also very New Age-y. I do not agree that C.S. Lewis would have liked the part with the star's daughter being their "guide". It goes totally against the Bible.

I did like some parts of it like the beauty spell, and I can't think of the others right now .

Interesting... I didn't get the new-age stuff out of it at all. Maybe was Romandu? And the star's daughter as their guide, it reminds me of the star of Bethlehem, so I don't see how it goes against the Bible in the least... Do you care to expound?

Ooh, I'm interested to see what happens in this debate...
*sits in big squishy chair and rests elbows on knees, chin in hands, looking back and forth between K and Capt excitedly*

*Tries to remember* It's been awhile since I watched the movie (like 6 months or more) and I have a hard time remembering some movies after only two months . However, I will attempt to explain.

The part with Romandu's daughter was the main part that was so New Age. I hadn't thought of it like the Star of Bethlehem, so I'm not sure what to say exactly. As I recall it, it was partly the way she said "I'm am the one who has been guiding you" (very rough paraphrase), and partly the way it was phrased.

I wish I could remember it better, but that will have to do for right now. Sorry .

What a letdown...

*loves The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe film*

*was sortof disappointed in Prince Caspian film, but likes parts of it fine*

*loved The Voyage of the Dawn Treader film most of all*

(Sorry I don't have a dissertation on the subject like Captain's. I pretty much agreed with her. )

Hmmm... Interesting. I didn't get that at all.



This isn't really a debate. Just a discussion of opinions.

So, going back to the books, what do y'all think the charm of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is? What did C.S. Lewis do to make it so good?

Probably Eustace's transformation-both in the physical and spiritual sense. I wish that would happen to my brothers

Well, it is one of only two books, I think, that explore the rest of the world Narnia is in, which is very interesting. You learn a lot of things about the stars, for example, such as the fact that they sometimes come down for a time.
You get to "see" the edge of the world (which is one of the parts the movie skipped, much to the detriment of its goodness).
I don't know what the theme was, except maybe it was about how Eustace was changed from a complete jerk to a more sanctified jerk (if you know what I mean, I am playing around here a bit).

To tell the truth, I don't know for sure what the book's core was, it seemed to be...a little unfocused I guess, but still a good book with many very good allegories in it.

Maybe my family and I were just reading into it too much. I don't know. It was too long ago .