Favourite aspects of the Walden Films

[knightofnarnia]

What I really liked was how in the first movie they made Tumnus hesitate for a second rather then in the book where he imediately blutes out that he won't do it. Making Lucy say, "I thought you were my friend." Then he looks at her with a look that clearly says, "I have now made my descision.

[kristi]

"The World Ash Tree"? What on Earth? (As you can see, I've not read the American edition. I knew about Fenris Ulf and Dark Island, but the World Ash Tree is brand new information to me.)

Ha, glad I could make you guys laugh.

When the new Companion to Narnia came out with its Narnian cosmology illustration showing Narnia, if I recall correctly, in orbit around their sun, I remember going. "Pretty sure it can't look like that. They've got a World Ash Tree." Which raises the question: Is that fact still canon, even though the American versions are out of print? They were Lewis' own words and he wrote them /later/ than the British ones.

[kristi]

The animated film of LWW that came out in 1979 also replaced the voice actors for Mr. Beaver, Jadis and a couple of other characters when it was finally released in the UK.

I know some folks don't like the film, yet it's one of my all time favourites due to the extremely reverent way Aslan's resurrection was handled. The music, the prance of Aslan across the meadows where each touch of his paws caused flowers to burst into bloom...no words!

This was my first visit to Narnia and I still adore it. Does the animation hold up? Not great. Does the script and voice acting? Yes. (In fact the missing "YES, IT IS MORE MAGIC" in the Walden films just about devastated me. It's so powerful in the cartoon. I'm fairly sure the voice of God in my childhood brain was either the actor of Aslan or Superbook XD )

Interestingly, Bill Melendez of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" fame also directed this movie. Charlie Brown's classic look has aged a little better.

I did a podcast with Glumpuddle over on NarniaWeb about this film and we came away with a quite positive review in the end.

[kristi]

The animated film of LWW that came out in 1979 also replaced the voice actors for Mr. Beaver, Jadis and a couple of other characters when it was finally released in the UK.

I know some folks don't like the film, yet it's one of my all time favourites due to the extremely reverent way Aslan's resurrection was handled. The music, the prance of Aslan across the meadows where each touch of his paws caused flowers to burst into bloom...no words!

Oh, I remember thinking the flowers springing up where he stepped was canon, this was so ingrained in my brain. It's reminiscent of the character of Olwen of the White footsteps from Norse mythology and falls into one of my rare "better than the book" moments. I suspect Lewis would have approved.

[kristi]

So now that I've spent half an hour responding to posts three years old, I wanted to offer my love for the Set and Prop design in Walden's "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".

I was working on some Narnian papercrafts today and I so love to draw from Weta's designs when making crafts, bookmarks and such.

Props: Tumnus' housekey, the design of the gifts and all the thought that went into them (The prophecy on Rhindon, the roaring lion on Susan's horn, the firebird bringing back a berry on the cordial, implying Ramandu's berries are the source of the juice, which makes total sense and I'd never thought of). You can see how much care went into every design. Are they all 100% book accurate? No. The cordial doesn't particularly look like it's made of diamond, I think Tumnus' flute is slightly different than described. Do they work? Absolutely.

Sets: Tumnus' Arts and Craft/Art Nouveau doorway is just stunning. And Aslan's camp, though they deviate from the single pavilion described in the book, has got to be the most beautiful war camp in the history of cinema (Eat your hearts out Elrond and Theoden.)

The Costumes: I adore the pre-raphaelite look that Isis Mussenden captured so masterfully. Narnia looks like a Waterhouse painting has come to life, and I am in love. This was everything the Golden Age needed to be.

Combining all of these, Narnia is vibrant, alive, full of rich jewel tones, exactly what it should be. Middle Earth is an Alan Lee painting. Narnia is a Christian Birmingham. And they captured that beautifully.