El León, la Bruja y el Armario

From the director of the Charlie Brown and Peanuts movies, comes this funny, delightful little cartoon adaptation of the classic C.S. Lewis novel. Although made for television, it still holds a bright candle to the book itself. With such clever narration by the lead voices, and the expressions given to the characters, this one delivers a gold trophy. Every line, and action is directly from the book, and portrayed well. Beth Porter certainly supplies the most fun as the voice of the desperate white witch. All other character voices are pleasant and appropriate. Maestro Michael J. Lewis serves us an impressive and, at times, tear-jerkingly powerful musical score to energize the senses. Truly on par with Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams. The running time is not three hours, so they managed to fit an entire story into the cartoon. You are actually watching the novel, and all things that C.S. Lewis may have written in the novel, that cannot be stated by the characters, is well implied. This TV special is probably the only version that could possibly work as well as it did. The voices fit the actions as dead on as perfection, and the dark moments are not taken too seriously. This make for a good animated adaptation!

This one is even superior to the 1988 BBC TV presentation, which was dull in story, shoddy in effects, less-than-mediocre casting, and horrible action. But I do wish the animation was better. However, the animators did do good on the expressions of the characters. Just as with the 2005 version, everything was as I had imagined, it's just that this was an animated feature, and that was a live action feature. That is the only difference. Some people might wonder why the only thing I dislike about it is the animation, and say that I should have given it a higher rating, since that was the only thing wrong with it. WRONG! With animated films, it is always very complicated to try to understand how to write a review on them. The animation in movies that are animated all the way through should at least mean something when you review them. With movies that are animated at only some parts, this opinion should not be used as much, because, more than likely, there is more live-action in the movie than there is animation.

This cartoon has impressive credentials. It is a co-production of Bill Melendez (Charlie Brown) and the Children's Television Workshop (Sesame Street and The Electric Company).

It is simply and economically animated. The draughtsmanship may be rudimentary, but that is not a serious drawback. The music is very good. The humiliation, death, resurrection, and ascension of Aslan, the lion, are handled movingly. The parallels with Christ are clear.

This is the first novel, in publication order, in C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. The books have most recently been reissued in internal chronological order, according to the author's posthumous wishes. Franz Kafka's posthumous wish to have all of his works destroyed was ignored by his literary executor, Max Brod. If only Lewis's nonsensical request had also been ignored. This book unfortunately and regrettably now appears as Volume 2 in the current series.

I recently saw this programme in French, not English, under the title "Le lion, la sorcière et l'armoire". If there was a shortcoming to the French version, it was in the actor cast to portray Aslan. His voice was too gruff and did not have the majesty necessary for a Messiah, as English-language Aslans can normally be counted upon to have.

The excellent live-action BBC series from 1988 based on the Narnia books improves even on this praiseworthy cartoon.

This is one of the best animated films I've ever seen. C.S. Lewis' classic book comes alive with vigor and fun. I recommend this to anyone who has read books by Lewis, and especially to fans of the Chronicles of Narnia. The illistrations are exceptional and the music is very good.

This version is by far the best and most faithful to the original books, including the new one Disney just put out. Though a few things are missing and one or two changed, it is 90% true to the book with a good portion of the dialogue. True, the animation is from the 70s but that makes it even safer for younger kids and I still find it enjoyable. The voice characterizations were incredibly on the money. The witch seemed to come straight off of the pages of the book as did Aslan. The musical score for this production is absolutely beautiful and captures the feeling of Narnia, and should not be overlooked. The scene beginning with the girls following Aslan to the stone table and culminating with his death was portrayed very tastefully yet powerfully. I can never watch it without crying. My children and I have seen all of the versions (including Disney's latest) and this one is by far the favorite. A classic.