The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The criticisms of this BBC adaption, made as the first in what proved to be a set of four of C.S. Lewis' books are largely unfair. The budget was small - by American standards, at the time in the UK it was positively lavish - and the effect achieved given these constraints and the fact that the show is now almost 15 years old is pretty impressive. The adaption is an even-handed one, the leads are relatively engaging the animals don't look at all bad with Aslan clearly having the majority of the budget for the whole show lavished on him. Only those drunk on the slick fantasy effects of the 90's could complain. Above all Barbara Kellerman is the standout, however, as the White Witch, sending a chill into the hearts of even the most confident of seven year olds; as I was when this was first shown on British television. As far as I'm concerned the whole series was seminal. They don't make them like this anymore - though some would say thank goodness.

Narnia requires a big-budget adaption for the big screen. But until that comes along this is easily the best screen version of C.S. Lewis' best known story out there. And the music is absolutely fantastic.

This series showed how a small and resourceful budget can produce the maximum feeling and atmosphere in this truly classic version. It remains, like the other dramatisations, faithful to the text, and although the special effects are cheap, remember they were state of the art in 1988 and the amazing acting from the children and Barbara Kellermann's stunningly sharp and real portrayal of the witch more than makes up for it. And by the way, unlike other reviews state, this was a series, not a movie, so isn't too long when you think about it. See it if you can, though! Truly classic version.

Being from America I remember this film when I was very young, honestly it was great for my young mind. Then after the movie I read all the books, great books if you haven't read them you should.

Now as a adult I see many people have never heard of the movie and when they see it they mock it, but to me its still great this is one of few movies that are remotely close to the book , I do suggest to everyone who loves the books they get this movie or rent it, give it a try. What will it hurt, not much I know. Just because its a old film doesn't mean it will suck , and just because it didn't have a big TV budget doesn't mean it will be bad.

I've watched this a zillion times with my kids, and never tired of it. But I wonder now what it will seem like after having seen the big-budget 2005 Narnia. While my kids adored the modern version, I found it lacked the charm/continuity of this the 1988 BBC version. In the modern Narnia I hated the father Xmas scene, also the initial scene of Lucy and the fawn. By the way I'd never realised there were religious undertones to TLWATW, I still think you have to look really hard. I'm writing this without having read other recent comments so look forward to see how many of you preferred the old version.

Keep looking for Narnia!

I am frequently appalled by the denegration (from previous comments, one in particular not sure how many in total) of this series people inflict on it. It may have hand-drawn animations and really bad bluescreen composite effects and lack breathtaking special effects but thats how the 1980's were, they tried and I give them points for trying and it did seem spectacular in that era. Nowadays we have CGI SPX that kicks-ass but lets not denegrate a series because of the limitations of the period, lets appreciate it.

I remember watching this as a child and taping every single episode ofa the BBC (BBC rock for not putting advertisements in) and I was not dissapointed at all, I enjoyed this series. I still have the VHS tapes of them all and shall never record over them.

It is not to be taken too seriously, of course you can tell that some of the animals are played by people and the acting is a bit off but it is after all a children's program. Perhaps it was intentional to have the animals look so obviously like people, to symbolize the duality of men and beast, depends on your interpretation!.

This is a television series not a big budgeted movie, so considering all this, the production has done a great job in reviving the spirit of the book.

As always, movies can hardly replace the book but this one does an adequet job of it especially considering when it was made. Musical title score is above par, the sets constructed do the job and show great creativity, the great direction and crew production quality shows.

I hope they do put all of the Chronicals of Narnia TV series' on DVD (if they haven't already) to preserve its quality. I am sure there are plenty of fans out there who would buy it like me.

I do not want to go into the story (perhaps I should sometime), as with all my reviews I only comment on the impression left behind and production quality. I think children would find it most entertaining however if you do have the opportunity to watch this I suggest you do.

Final thoughts are is that it is a memorable series.