From the many popular franchises based on young adult’s literature that have been released throughout the years, people tend to forget aboutTheChronicles of Narnia. Although there have been talks about a possible fourth movie,The Silver Chair, joining the movie series, the idea has seemed to be dropped altogether after, according toScreen Rant, Netflix purchased the rights to all of C.S. Lewis' books in 2018. It is said they are planning to make their own reboot of the series, with producer Douglas Gresham hoping to make aseries instead of a movie.
First published in the mid-1950s,The Chronicles of Narniatapped into themany-worlds hypothesisand told stories of a fictional land called Narnia that existed alongside the real world. The first film in the franchise,The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, released in 2005 and followed the Pevensie Children as they ventured in the magical land. It’s been 12 years since the last movie in the franchise,The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, was released. Here’s a look at all three movies in theChronicles of Narniafranchise, ranked.
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3The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
As the last installment of the film series,The Voyage Of The Dawn Treaderdid better than other final movies of a franchise would at the box office. Grossing more than $415 million internationally, the movie became 20th Century Fox’shighest-grossing moviein 2010. In comparison to the two previous movies,The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader’smain cast consists of Skandar Keynes as Edmund, Georgie Henley as Lucy, Will Poulter as their cousin Eustace, Ben Barnes as the new King of Narnia, and Liam Neeson as Aslan the Great Lion. The plot follows the Pevensie family as they embark on a quest to save the seven lost lords of Narnia and restore goodness in the magical land.
We can certainly see some interesting dynamics in this installment. Out of all the characters' arcs, Edmund’s stands out the most. As their cousin Eustace finds it hard to believe that such a magical land as Narnia exists, he gets himself in trouble a lot. Edmund helps him understand that while “you were only an ass, I was a traitor” when he took The Witch’s side in the first movie. The fans praised the final scene in the bedroom after they leave Narnia for properly capturing the solemn, lonely feeling that Lewis described in the book. One of the dominating pieces of criticism from fans for the third book/movie is the fact that there is no name for the woman who marries Caspian and becomes queen, and Lucy’s underdeveloped insecurities about her beauty that just didn’t add up with her character. The story wraps up in a nostalgic manner, with Lucy and Edmund being the last two Pevensies in Narnia, just as they were the first ones.
2The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobewas the movie that started the franchise back in 2005. The movie grossed over $745 million worldwide, making it 2005’s third-most-successful film. It follows the Pevensie siblings as they move to the countryside during the Blitz and discover an old closet that leads them to the magical land of Narnia. Regardless of the accuracies with the books, the attention to detail, the references to the books, and the ahead-of-its-time CGI truly show you just how invested everyone was in the process of creating the magic of Narnia.
The movie has some iconic scenes, such as when the White Witch tries to decapitate Peter with her swords and Peter leans back, and the shot shows from above the swords crossing over his neck, barely missing. The movie also beautifully shows Edmund’s constant feeling of being left out and neglected, which ends up in the betrayal of his siblings, solely because someone was finally paying attention to him. The scenes of the battle between Pevensie siblings and the White Witch after Aslan dies makes you wonder how much of the tactics employed were brought in from the Pevensies and their experience living in WWII. All in all, the fans have strong feelings forThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and they usually don’t tolerate any sort of slander on the film that started it all.
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1The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Prince Caspianis the second movie of the movie series, and introduces a new character played by Ben Barnes: the titular Prince Caspian. The four Pevensie siblings are called back to Narnia to help Prince Caspian fight his corrupt uncle and win over the throne. Despite the criticism towards the darker themes and overall darker look of the movie, the movie grossed over $419.7 million internationally and became the 10th-highest-grossing film worldwide in 2008. Arguably, Prince Caspian was the role that started Barnes' timeless heartthrob title in the popular media.
The first movie forced the siblings to return to being teenagers during the Second World War after spending more than a decade as kings and queens of a magical kingdom. While coping with having to grow up yet again, Aslan pulled them backto the magical kingdom for another adventure, only to make them leave again at the end of it. The trauma that it had to cause coming back and forth between the worlds would be an interesting concept to explore further.Prince Caspiandid an absolutely incredible job at capturing some of the intense bitter-sweetness and nostalgia associated with the idea of kings and queens returning to their lands thousands of years later in the bodies of children.
