FAQ

During the WWII German blitzes of London, the four Pevensie children—Peter (William Moseley) (the oldest), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley) (the youngest)—are evacuated to the rural town of Coombe Halt to ride out the air raids in the mansion of old Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent). While playing hide-and-seek one day, Lucy discovers a large wardrobe, the back of which leads to a magical world called Narnia, a realm filled with fauns, centaurs, and talking animals. However, Narnia is being kept in a state of eternal winter by the evil White Witch Jadis (Tilda Swinton), and only by allying with the true ruler of Narnia—the magnificent lion Aslan (voice of Liam Neeson)—can peace be returned to Narnia.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is based on the 1950 novel of the same name, the first novel in The Chronicles of Narnia series by British writer and academician C.S. Lewis (1898-1963). The screenplay was a collaborative effort by South African screenwriter Ann Peacock, New Zealand screenwriter Andrew Adamson, and American screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. It was followed by The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010).

The answer is found in the prequel story The Magician's Nephew. At the end of The Magician's Nephew, young Digory Kirke is given an apple by Aslan as a reward for showing his faith in accomplishing a task enforced on him. Once back in the real world, Digory uses the apple to heal his sick mother, and then later buries the apple, along with the magic rings which originally took Digory into Narnia), in the garden of his childhood home. The tree that subsequently grew was thus imbued with Narnian magic. When the tree was blown down in a storm many years later, Digory used the wood to build the wardrobe. The wardrobe seen in the movie is carved with symbols and pictures representing many of the key events in The Magican's Nephew.

Because they are filming the books in the order in which they were first published, not the chronological order into which the books were later rearranged.

...the dying fly when Lucy first enters the wardrobe room: It's a reference to a line from the book: And shortly after that they looked into a room that was quite empty except for one big wardrobe; the sort that has a looking glass in the door. There was nothing else in the room at all except a dead blue bottle on the window-sill.   ...the little white balls that fall out of the wardrobe: Those are moth balls. Their inclusion is a reference to a line from the book: "To her surprise it opened quite easily, and two moth-balls dropped out."

On one side: "When Aslan bares his teeth, winter meets its death". On the other side: "When Aslan shakes his mane we shall have spring again".

Edmund attacks Jadis but she, being more skilled with a sword, succeeds in stabbing him in the abdomen. Peter rushes at Jadis, who holds her own. Suddenly, a roar fills the air. Jadis turns to see Aslan, Lucy, and Susan leading a large relief force. The fighting continues, and Jadis stabs Peter in the shoulder, but Aslan jumps on her and, presumably, kills her. With their leader gone, Jadis' forces scatter. "It is finished," Aslan tells Peter. Lucy revives Edmund with her fire-water juice. Later, at the Cair Paravel, the Castle of the Four Thrones, Aslan crowns the Pevensies as Kings Peter the Magnificent and Edmund the Just and Queens Susan the Gentle and Lucy the Valiant. Following the ceremony, Lucy sadly watches Aslan walk down the beach, but Tumnus assures her that Aslan will return when he is needed. Time passes. One day, as the Pevensie Kings and Queens are out riding horses, they notice a familiar lamp that sends them back into the wardrobe, having not aged a day since they left. Professor Kirke asks them what they were doing, and Peter replies that he wouldn't believe them. "Try me," the Professor replies.

It is the cricket ball from earlier in the film. Prior to all four children entering Narnia for the first, Edmund had accidently smashed a window and knocked over a suit of armour during a game of Cricket outside. The children then fled, being pursued as they thought by housekeeper Mrs Macready (Elizabeth Hawthorne), and came to hide in the wardrobe. After finally leaving Narnia at the end of the movie, the professor playfully throws the cricket ball to Peter, indicating that it had been him, not Mrs Macready, who had followed them into the Wardrobe room. This scene also helps communicate the idea that absolutely no time had passed in the real world whilst the children had been in Narnia.

At several points in the movie, it is strongly hinted at that the Professor knows more about Narnia than he is perhaps letting on. This is a subtle hint towards the events of The Magician's Nephew—a prequel story to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe which was released in 1955 (5 years after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). The Magician's Nephew tells the story of a young Digory Kirke (later to become Professor Kirke) and how he came to be present at the very creation of Narnia itself.

Walden Media have stated on numerous occasions, most notably at Comic-Con 2007, that, if the Narnia series continues to do well, they will continue making the movies and that they fully intend to make all seven books.

They didn't change it. However, some American editions of the Narnia books have several alterations, one of them being that the character "Maugrim" was renamed to "Fenris Ulf." Since 1994, the US publications of the book have come into line with the original UK edition. The movie producers went with the original UK name "Maugrim" rather than the altered US name "Fenris Ulf."

...during the hide-and-seek scene: "Oh, Johnny! Oh, Johnny! Oh!" performed by The Andrews Sisters. It is the only song in the movie which is not included on the soundtrack.

...when the kids are on the train: "Evacuating London", which is Track 2 on the soundtrack from Walt Disney Records. It was written for the movie by score composer Harry Gregson-Williams.

The surprise hit at the winter boxoffice in 2005 got released on DVD in two different version: as the theatrical version and as an extended version that runs several minutes longer and features mostly little story extensions of only a couple of seconds throughout the whole movie. A bit more interesting are the extended fight scenes at the big battle at the end of the movie. Here, the extended version is a bit more violent but it's still a movie for children and families. Don't expect too much.