The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Although the special effects are a lot better in the new one, this one still succeeds in being the better film. Made on a small budget, this film/serial captures the tone and magnificence of the book perfectly, while the 2005 one, made on a much bigger budget, destroys the tone and magnificence of the book and instead focuses itself on being a blockbuster action movie with explosions every second. One big problem that changes the tone in the 2005 one is the soundtrack. Here, in this 1988 version, we get a magnificent, memorable soundtrack, composed by the great but unknown Geoffrey Burgon, who sadly passed away seven years ago. In the 2005 one, we get an unmemorable soundtrack that is over the top, clichéd, loud, blaring and annoying. They also overuse the soundtrack in the 2005 movie. There's basically a unmemorable, over the top, clichéd, loud, blaring, annoying song every two minutes in the 2005 one. This 1988 one, however, uses it's music carefully, not making the soundtrack over the top. You'll have to listen to it to understand, but it fits the tone perfectly, because it's wonderful and not clichéd, with a perfect volume.Another thing that this film is great at is pacing. The pacing was perfect, and so was the timing of the music. The music was played in the background at the right times, without making the scene over the top. There was also some character development in this version, believe it or not. The 2005 one, however, almost has close to none, and you don't really care for the characters because of it. In fact, I kind of wanted the White Witch to kill off the main characters in the 2005 one. In this version however, you'll see why the White Witch is so bad.I also love the subtle dark tone in this version. The other one tries to be dark, but fails miserably. You understand the pain and the suffering of the people in Narnia in this version, but in the 2005 version, the reason isn't cared about enough. Instead, the filmmakers of the 2005 one care about making big bucks at the box office by making ground breaking action scenes. Truth be told, the action scenes aren't very good in the 1988 one, but trust me, if you sit down and watch the 1988 one instead of complaining about the special effects and stuffing popcorn into your mouth, you'll love the film.Also, notice how this movie, the CHEAPER movie, feels more like an epic than the 2005 one does? IF you haven't seen this version yet, watch it, compare the two, and you'll see how by your own eyes. No explanation is needed for that once you see.Oh, and I LOVED the White Witch in this version! The 2005 one actually had a decent White Witch, but this one is by far, the best. So is the version of Lucy in this one, she is adorable, always smiles in this one and behaves exactly like the one in the book. The 2005 Lucy may as well be renamed, as her personality is completely different. I thought the actor for Lucy in the 2005 one wasn't too good at her job, either.To be honest, I liked the bad special effects in this version. It made a sort of tone to the movie that fitted the book that I can't describe. That may sound weird, but once you watch this, you should understand.Overall, if you prefer Michael Bay from Ingmar Bergman, go watch the 2005 one. If you prefer Ingmar Bergman, go watch this one. You will not regret it. I rate it a 9.9/10.

This movie may have been true to the book,unfortunately that's the only thing it had going for it.The casting however was awful somehow the four young actors and actresses who were chosen to play the children were horribly miscast. The acting seemed a bit too forced at some points. Sophie Wilcox was unconvincing as Lucy(Lucy is not supposed to be ugly) Richard Dempsey who plays the oldest is shorter than Edmund. I know some people say'Oh she wasn't that bad" but in my opinion and a lot of other peoples she was awful. Though the 2005 didn't go entirely by the book,they managed to do a better job yes,they had a better budget,but the least BBC could have done was spend more time with the casting of the children because that just ruined the entire movie for me.

I must agree with all the past comments on how great this film is compared to the 2005 version. This film is full of magic, joy, hope, and just enough terror to make even me still a little scared. Unlike the 2005 version that felt me feeling as though I had missed out on the true magic of Narnia.The performances by all the children and the white witch are superb and perfectly catch the essence of the characters as described in the book by C.S.Lewis.It is clear that the special effects do not stand up to the CGI effects of today but I think even now children will be as enchanted by the story and amazing costumes as I was as a child.I still love watching this film and recently purchased it on DVD so I didn't have to swap the tapes half way through.This is a must buy for any children's film collection.

The BBC adapted four of the Narnia books over the course of three epic-length miniseries. Each one got better than the previous installment. Here's the first in my three-part review of each: THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE Definitely the weakest, despite easily being the one most regularly seen, due to the popularity of the book. Sadly, the superior Walden Media version has now made this one completely obsolete, except maybe for some nostalgia value.Okay, there're some good things: the musical score is very gentle and pretty, Ronald Pickup has a great presence as the voice of Aslan, and the series is very faithful to the book, bringing just about every single scene and line of dialogue to the screen. Each of these positive attributes carried over into the later BBC entries.The production value being what it is, you eventually forgive them the quality of the visual effects (most notably the fake-looking Aslan, the Beavers whose suits don't look anything like beavers, and the cartoon characters that populate Narnia with the rest of the gang).The series makes up for this with acting, and Edmund and Mr. Tumnus in particular are very good. In fact, I know a large number feel the original Edmund is superior to Skandar Keynes. But there're two clunkers. First is the White Witch; Barbara Kellerman does not how to do anything but overact, and every single line is screamed. "We shall sneak up suddenly and BUST UPON THEM!" Or how about: "Come to me, all EVIL!!!!" The campiness of that line's delivery should go down in history with "No wire hangers, ever!" from Mommie, Dearest.And then there's Lucy. Almost everyone I meet who brings up this version always says: "Remember the fat girl that played Lucy?" I think the problem with the actress isn't just that she's chubby and buck-toothed; she just has a bossy attitude that comes through in the character people don't like. And she's WAY too old for the role. Lucy's supposed to be like 8 or 9, and she looked 12.Finally, the entire series is extremely slow-paced. I realize most BBC productions tend to be this way so that they can be extremely faithful to the source material, but I think 3 hours is just a lot for a relatively short book. Many scenes drag.WEAKEST MOMENT: Each of the BBC entries has one scene that is laughably bad. In the case of LWW, it is when Giant Rumblebuffin is fighting against cartoon goblins, and simply shakes his hands in the air like some kind of fake karate chop. Oy vey! So I don't think there's much question that LWW is the weakest of the BBC series. Fortunately, they would improve, but as far as the story of LWW goes, I doubt I will ever watch this version again, as the new one has surpassed it in every single regard, except perhaps for Edmund.Feel free to contact me for further discussion on Narnia, and check out my reviews on the two other entries.