Watched part of this today for the first time in ages and the main thing the stuck out at me is man, is the animation slow. There're several parts where it seems like we're staring at a still frame for 3 or 4 seconds before anything actually happens. And the Witch looks stupid in the scene where Aslan jumps on her because she looks completely static.
shareThe animation is crap. It WAS made in 1979 though, and it wasn't made on a massive budget so I suppose it's understandable.
It was only the storyline that kept it going.
Its fairly average for the time TV animation, the story is realy what makes this version popular.
"Any plan that involves loosing your hat is a BAD plan."
I don't mind the animation, I couldn't animate anything this well (it does look pretty strange and exaggerated sometimes).
However, I almost stopped watching when I saw how crappy the visuals in the beginning were - it's like no one put any effort in the artwork whatsoever.
Thankfully, it got better quickly, after that weird fadeout after the credits (fading in at the almost exact same place after a fadeout was an odd choice).
This is certainly something different.. I do prefer the Peanuts art style, though, some of the artwork looks very strange and ugly in the worst 1970s way. And yet I can't look away..
It is perfect. I wouldn't change it for the world.
We're spoiled now by Hollywood's spoonfeeding of over the top CGI.
Well said russellsolomon. I like the animation style. I lost count of the number of times I watched this as a kid. I never got bored and I studied every frame. I believe it was done by a couple of studios and that is why the style doesn't always match. Doesn't spoil it in the least, for me!
shareI don't think the abundance of CGI animation has made it impossible for people to tell the difference between good animation and TERRIBLE animation, of any kind. And this was truly terrible animation, the worst I've ever seen.
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It was just fine. Not all animation looks alike. Get over it.
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While I was able to enjoy the 1978 animated version of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" for what it was-- with the superb story/writing "carrying" the animation (vs Hollywood movies where the visuals must "carry" crap story/writing)-- I still can't quite believe how bad the animation was FOR ITS TIME.
I mean, landmark/classic animations produced/released around the same time like China's "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King" (1979) or the UK's "Watership Down" (1978) appears years ahead in terms of animation quality... dated as they are now, they have stamped their mark/place in animation history in terms of style/design.
Even "The Talking Parcel" (1978)-- which shares a similar aesthetic/art-style with this film-- had smoother animation and more consistent designs!
At first, I chalked it up as these other animated feature having a "bolder" as well as "clearer" aesthetic direction-- e.g. "The Talking Parcel" was more obviously fun and comical, while both "Nezha" and "Watership Down" had extremely stylized violence (though "Nezha" is extremely colorful, and "Watership Down" is extremely dark)... all of which comes naturally as part of their source material.
But having heard the Steven Menlendez's interview on the DVD, I now realized that this animation is plagued from the beginning with a rushed schedule with multiple re-starts, multiple backers with different requirements as well as multiple production studios with communication problems-- in short, the same kind of problem that still plagues the "international/Hollywood" system of film-making.
So I kinda of glad it got made at all... cos its purpose was to make kids read after watching it, and that worked on me.
If you care enough to go around telling people you don't care... you obviously care.
The animation is great to me. It's a product of the time. The abstractness is part of the charm.
Look at some old kid's educational filmstrips from the same era, the drawings are pretty similar in style.
The Lollypop Dragon is a good example.
Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death.
I saw it in 1979 and it was terrible then and it's terrible now. Compare to good animation such as Frosty the Snowman from Rankin-Bass. Rankin-Bass's version of The Hobbit is much better than this thing. C. S. Lewis deserved better.
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