One of my all time favorite books is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe so I was very excited to compare the book to the movie. Both share the same plot, and there are very little differences between the two. It is the story of four children who go to live with an older man (a professor) in order to get away from the air raids that are occurring at home due to the war. While they are staying with the professor, they find a wardrobe in an empty room that leads them to another world called Narnia. The four children enter Narnia and free it from the spell that the white witch has cast upon it and in the process they become kings and queens of Narnia.
This is a wonderfully imaginative tale that all children will enjoy reading. I am not a child and I absolutely love both the book and the movie. In both stories, the children are trying to free Narnia from the 100 year spell that the white witch has cast. It is a spell that makes it always winter but never Christmas. I love every part of the story except for this, I do not know why C.S. Lewis even chose to mention Christmas. The whole notion of Santa Claus and presents should really not even exist in a magical land; they are not living in Western society so it has never made sense to me. There is a scene in both the book and the movie where Father Christmas shows up and gives all four children presents. I have always found this to be the cheesiest part of the book and I think C.S. Lewis could have found a better way for the children to get their presents, which are tools of war, such as a bow and arrow and a sword and shield.
There are several differences in the movie that are not present in the book, but they are very minor and do not change the story. For instance, when the white witch learns that the children are staying at the beaver’s house she sends her dogs after them to capture and kill them. In the book, the two beavers and the children escape before the dogs reach them, but in the movie the dogs arrive before they have left the house, so they escape through an underground tunnel. This does not change the story; it just adds more suspense for the viewer.
The second difference I noticed was how the children all made it into Narnia in the first place. In the book, all of the children are running from Ms. Macready (the housekeeper) who is giving a tour of the house they live in to several visitors and the children all hide in the wardrobe so she will not see them. When they go into the wardrobe they realize that they are standing among trees and that there is snow on the ground. In the movie, all of the children are playing outside, I think they are playing a form of baseball, and Edmund hits a ball through an upstairs window of the house. They go inside to see the damage that has been caused and they hear footsteps coming towards them. They assume it is Ms. Macready coming to yell at them so they run and hide in the wardrobe.
The third difference I noticed is how Edmund is rescued from the enemy. In the book, Edmund is tied to a tree and the witch is standing over him with a sharp knife in her hands as if she were planning on killing him. When several members of Aslan’s army come to rescue him, they free him but cannot find the witch and the dwarf because the witch uses her powers to turn them into a boulder and a tree stump. In the movie Edmund is also tied to a tree, but the witch is nowhere near him, in fact she does not even see anyone come to rescue him. Aslan’s army frees Edmund and they tie the dwarf to the tree instead.
These are a few of the differences that I was able to notice between the book and the movie. There are several others throughout the story, but they are all just as minute and in the end they have no effect on the outcome of the story. Overall, I was very impressed with the movie and it was very true to the book. I have seen my share of movies that were adaptations from books that did not do the book justice, but this one is almost exactly like the book, so it was very enjoyable.
Images courtesy of http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/The-Chronicles-of-Narnia-The-Lion-The-Witch-and-the-Wardrobe-Pre-made-Frame-C12085824.jpeg and http://www.freewebs.com/writersanonymous223/lionwitch.jpg
This is a wonderfully imaginative tale that all children will enjoy reading. I am not a child and I absolutely love both the book and the movie. In both stories, the children are trying to free Narnia from the 100 year spell that the white witch has cast. It is a spell that makes it always winter but never Christmas. I love every part of the story except for this, I do not know why C.S. Lewis even chose to mention Christmas. The whole notion of Santa Claus and presents should really not even exist in a magical land; they are not living in Western society so it has never made sense to me. There is a scene in both the book and the movie where Father Christmas shows up and gives all four children presents. I have always found this to be the cheesiest part of the book and I think C.S. Lewis could have found a better way for the children to get their presents, which are tools of war, such as a bow and arrow and a sword and shield.
There are several differences in the movie that are not present in the book, but they are very minor and do not change the story. For instance, when the white witch learns that the children are staying at the beaver’s house she sends her dogs after them to capture and kill them. In the book, the two beavers and the children escape before the dogs reach them, but in the movie the dogs arrive before they have left the house, so they escape through an underground tunnel. This does not change the story; it just adds more suspense for the viewer.
The second difference I noticed was how the children all made it into Narnia in the first place. In the book, all of the children are running from Ms. Macready (the housekeeper) who is giving a tour of the house they live in to several visitors and the children all hide in the wardrobe so she will not see them. When they go into the wardrobe they realize that they are standing among trees and that there is snow on the ground. In the movie, all of the children are playing outside, I think they are playing a form of baseball, and Edmund hits a ball through an upstairs window of the house. They go inside to see the damage that has been caused and they hear footsteps coming towards them. They assume it is Ms. Macready coming to yell at them so they run and hide in the wardrobe.
The third difference I noticed is how Edmund is rescued from the enemy. In the book, Edmund is tied to a tree and the witch is standing over him with a sharp knife in her hands as if she were planning on killing him. When several members of Aslan’s army come to rescue him, they free him but cannot find the witch and the dwarf because the witch uses her powers to turn them into a boulder and a tree stump. In the movie Edmund is also tied to a tree, but the witch is nowhere near him, in fact she does not even see anyone come to rescue him. Aslan’s army frees Edmund and they tie the dwarf to the tree instead.
These are a few of the differences that I was able to notice between the book and the movie. There are several others throughout the story, but they are all just as minute and in the end they have no effect on the outcome of the story. Overall, I was very impressed with the movie and it was very true to the book. I have seen my share of movies that were adaptations from books that did not do the book justice, but this one is almost exactly like the book, so it was very enjoyable.
Images courtesy of http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/The-Chronicles-of-Narnia-The-Lion-The-Witch-and-the-Wardrobe-Pre-made-Frame-C12085824.jpeg and http://www.freewebs.com/writersanonymous223/lionwitch.jpg
