The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was written by C.S. Lewis in 1950. It is the first published book in the Chronicles of Narnia, although he did write a prequel later called The Magician’s Nephew. It tells the story of Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy, four children sent to the countryside to get away from the bombs being dropped on London during World War II. While playing a game of hide and sake, Lucy discovers the land of Narnia at the back of the wardrobe. The other children slowly discovers the world and learn that they are prophesized kings and queens destined to defeat the White Witch, the villain of the book. The story is highly allegorical, especially when Edmond betrays his siblings to the White Witch and Aslan, the lion and king of the world, has to save him by giving his own life. It is clearly a nod towards the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. However, the story is also great when you ignore the allegory and just concentrate on the wonder of the book itself. I think this first book is really the best book in the series.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979)

This is a cartoon version of the story and one of the first versions I ever saw. It sticks pretty close to the original story and has decent animation for the time.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1988)

I recently rewatched this version of my childhood. The acting is good and they stick pretty close to the storyline. I had forgotten how horrible the special effects are though. The more fantastical creatures such as griffins are drawn cartoons, the beavers are clearly people in costumes and Aslan is a huge puppet. However I have always found that movies with poor special effects are sometimes better. They have to rely more on character development.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)

The best version by far. The characters are as great as always and the special effects in this new version are pretty cool too. One thing that was interesting about this version is that they show the bombs falling on London so you really understand why the children were sent to total strangers in the first place.