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Chronicles of Narnia (The movie) striking similarities with The Lord of the Rings (the movie)(s)

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Alll right everybody... I just watched the oddly similarly titled "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" (who's logo and title bare a resemblance to "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" for example)... and I'm here to, in my quriousities, talk to you (and more importantly, SHOW YOU) some similarities that these two films have in common.

please, bare in mind that I am NOT talking about the books. Both Tolkien's and Lewis's books are some of my all-time favorites... great imagination, great writing, great storytelling, etc., ect. (although Tolkien had a much deeper and more whole world... a legendarium... love that word.) So similarities with stories, characters, settings or other things originally coming from the books are not the issue here.

Please go out yonder and click THIS CAPITALIZED BUNCH OF WORDS and look for the Narnia comparison to check out a little edit I did comparing a few of the many shots that look, are visually composed, and feel like it's coming from the same film.

Yes, I truly believe the Walden Media/Disney/Andrew Adamson Narnia flick is not a very good, or original interpretation of the source material. This film feels like it belongs to the other multitudes of cheesy-disney-movie-for-kids flicks that have been made. The changing of a few focus-points in the story to make it more "average" (at least to me) and "family movie-ish" such as instead of having the triumph over good and evil (Aslan defeating the white witch) be the climax, they shift it to this very useful sub-plot (but they made it be the PRIMARY PLOT) of the kids being a family again... wich, to me, took away from the drama... and made it too modern-kiddish... i don't know... that's how it feels to me anyway... it feels like a mere kid film.

Narnia I think has much more potential. The film itself looked, was graded, was shot, and had the fights strikingly similar to that of a far better and more elaborate and original book-to-film adaption called "The Lord of the Rings"... I know WETA designed the props, and costumes and whatnot, but couldn't they make this film LOOK visually far apart from LOTR?

One more thing... I know I haven't covered alot, but I don't feel like typing anymore. I would like to hear from many more users on this board for their opinions... and I'd love to hear that I'm not the only one who things Narnia (THE FILM) is a Lord of the Rings for Kids (visually and screenplay/directing-wise)... they could have done SO MUCH MORE to make Narnia a more dynamic, artistic, and original piece of work everyone can enjoy.

and I close with this great quote: "Narnia is one part Shrek, one part Harry Potter, one part Lord of the Rings, one part New Testament, and all parts unoriginal."

I also think this current trend of kids-books-to-movies and hiring special effects artists as directors of such films is another terrible idea from stupid corporate film-studios and their lust for money...

thanks... I just had to let this all out, thanks for baring with me.

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How long was LWW? Less than 100 pages? It's not like they had much detail to work with in the first place. There were no appendicies or pages of background information on every subject as Tolkien did for his books.

I didn't really feel like I was watching a LOTR ripoff when I saw it. There's only so many ways you can shoot a massive ground battle and make it look exciting and epic.

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I think you're really reaching for some of the stuff there, especially the battle. There are so many damn movies that feature two huge armies going straight at each other and having a gritty fight. You wouldn't have even thought to compare the two if they didn't both involve mythical beasts and monsters.

The first thing you've got in there, again, is a time tested sweep and reveal type of thing, which can be seen in dozens of other "epic" films. It's just dramatically effective. It gives everything that feeling of being huge and grandiose.

The second thing you've got in there, that's just storytelling, pretty much. I haven't read LWW in years, so I can't remember if that specific scene was in the book, but yeah, that's just story.

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Remember: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were the best of friends and colleagues at the time they wrote these seminal works. The similarities go back to the printed page.

Then remember that Weta Workshop and Weta Digital handled the designs for Narnia just as they did LOTR. Just as ILM and Sony have a style, so does Weta.

The similarities aren't accidental. But that doesn't mean Narnia is a rip off of LOTR either.
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I have a confession to make - I've only read the book version of LWW, and that was many moons ago. I thought the film was okay; not the best film I've ever seen but certainly not the worst.
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oh god, that 300 trailer... omg....

You made me cry with laughter.... oh shit.... I'm serious.... oh god

Oh and lol, about the topic... never saw nor cared for narnia.
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Narnia was a very generic movie, true, but it wasn't bad.

I suppose what I disliked was how the pacing of the book (which was slow and tame) was replaced with cheap thrills meant to heighten the suspense (like the wolf chase or making the Witch seem so evil right away).

Narnia's story was supposed to be about the kids if you ask me. It was supposed to be about their experience of some amazing events. That was almost totally lost in all of the cinematically forced emotions and the overabundance of combat sequences. Aslan seemed so unimpressive squashed between all of that.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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I'm very relieved some people share the same "film-world-views" I do...

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This thread contained similar discussions - I voiced my opinion on the marked similarity to Jackson/WETA's LOTR there. I agree with you. It's a day-glo, Disneyfied, kiddified take on what LOTR did. Hell, they might as well have had cutesy musical numbers between the animated and "real" characters...
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I never felt it was a ripoff. It was obvious that they were trying to cash in on the LOTRs success. I have been a fan of the books since I was old enough to read, and I am a fan of a lot of Lewis' other works as well as Tolkien's. I felt narnia was too bright colored and that the fact that the kids just walked into another world didn't seem to be that impressive to the kids and thus not to the audience either. I know the books are very light childrens books, but I was just thinking the other day how interesting would it have been had Narnia been portrayed as a more surreal wonderland kind of place. More kin to something Tim Burtin would direct (odd I say that, because I really don't like Burtins films much). I think it could have worked. Instead you have exactly good and exactly bad, I think it all should have been more dark. Who do we trust? In the book Edmund felt the queen was good and that the beavers were really the bad ones, in the film Edmund is just stupid. We should be wondering, is the queen really evil? And we should be more skeptical about the beavers. Then the film could have carried itself on the wonder of the odd, cold world around them, rather than adding in breaking ice and constant wolf attacks. As the ice melts the world could grow brighter, more pleasant and less Tim Burtinesque.

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I thought it seemed to be takign inspiration from LOTR, no doubt, but I don't think that this means they 'ripped them off'... If you want to say that, you could just as easily say that Peter Jackson ripped off Ocarina of Time or any other fantasy epic.

I thought the visual style of the species in Narnia was distinct enough anyway. It's not like they had hordes of Urukhai.

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Originally posted by: C3PX
the fact that the kids just walked into another world didn't seem to be that impressive to the kids and thus not to the audience either.


You're definitely right there. Something in the movie was really lacking in terms of focusing on the kids. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there seemed to be a lack of wonder from their perspective in the film. It was almost as if the movie was so eager to move into the fantasy world that it never took the time to dwell on the transition. (Maybe.) Also, the transformation of each of the kids as they took on their different roles seemed equally overshadowed.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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I thought the visual style of the species in Narnia was distinct enough anyway. It's not like they had hordes of Urukhai.


they almost did.

And also... I think the visual style (framing, various shots, cinematography, grading, props, costumes, places, set pieces) mimicked LOTR to
an obvious extent... and on top of that, the script, acting, and directing were lacking drama, pace, and an overall sense of "wonder" to the film. It felt
like your typical disney-channel adventure movie... Narnia is worth more than that.

that's why I say this film is not very well made. and what the crap is up with that american-yank wolf!?

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"american-yank wolf?"

Being as fond of the Narnia Chronicles as I am, I do agree that it is a huge shame that the movie was thrown out seemingly as a few squeeses on the teet of the LOTR cash cow.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape