We’ve done “Rank ‘Em” here before — I think with American Idol winners. I could link to it, but, frankly, I’m too busy ogling the Liam Neeson poster below. The guidelines are simple: “Rank ‘Em” is your personal preference. My #1 may be totally different from your #1 and that is okay.
So I thought I’d do “Rank ‘Em:The Chronicles of Narnia” since I just watched Prince Caspian on my laptop last night whilst MB was at a production meeting. You know, I have this to say in general about the Narnia movies so far: Please get a better director. Please find a better editor. And, well, the actors playing Peter, Susan, and Edmund are …. boring. Also, please give Aslan a bigger better mane — he looks like he just came from the lion groomer’s and it totally bugs me. Everyone raved that the second movie was so much better than the first and I’ll give it this — it had a bigger budget — but that’s all I’m giving it. And this isn’t the post to talk about all the ways they changed the story, ahem. Still, Narnia deserves better.
But seeing the movie got me thinking about these books again and how much I loved them, how I’ve read several of them over and over, and next think I knew, I had scribbled out my rankings — my personal list of my favorite to least favorite of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Again, this list is my personal order of preference, so there’s no need, I would hope, for anyone to take issue. It’s preference. No accounting for taste, as the phrase goes. Last time, with Rank ‘Em: AI, I ranked winner Taylor Hicks very low on my preference list and I could NOT believe all the Hickheads who came out of the woodwork blasting me: “How could you rank Taylor Hicks last?? How can you say that?? Fantasia Barino — or whoever — should be last!” Then their Taylor Hicks website linked to my list so that even more people could CHOOSE to get all offended over nothing. It was insane! So, seriously, if any random As-heads or Lionheads or Narn-heads, whatever they may call themselves, want to get all obstreperous about it, I will delete the comments. It’s for fun, not arguing. Personal preference, remember?
Feel free to do yours. Of course, if you haven’t read the books, well, I imagine it will be harder for you.
1) The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe — The first one I read so it had the impact of being first, but I love everything about this story. I fell in love with Narnia and Aslan from this book.
2) The Silver Chair — Puddleglum! Harfang! The Lady of the Green Kirtle! “It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym.”
3) The Magician’s Nephew — Chronologically, the first book. I am MAD for Polly and Digory and weird Uncle Andrew and the whole creation scene.
4) The Voyage of the Dawn Treader — “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb and he almost deserved it.” Yes, I’m a nerd. I have these opening sentences memorized. Feel free to check their accuracy. I adored Eustace, Reepicheep, the Dufflepuds, the magician’s book, the “dragon” ….. ooooh.
5) Prince Caspian — Actually, this book has one of my favorite scenes in all of the Narnia books — where Lucy wakes up and hears Aslan calling her and reunites him in the pool of moonlight. (They completely botched this scene in the movie. It was a turn-off, man.) I love Doctor Cornelius and Trufflehunter.
6) The Last Battle — I have only read this one once and it was years ago now. It was disturbing to my little mind at the time — the whole “antichrist” angle — but I remember how my heart just soared over the descriptions of New Narnia at the end.
7) The Horse and His Boy — Another one I’ve read just once. I don’t know. It didn’t resonate for me at the time. It was foreign — it was foreign, wasn’t it? Less Narnia? I remember next to nothing about it so I think I will reread it this year and see if my ranking here changes.
Feel free to rank ’em for yourself.
I’m having a hard time disagreeing with your list and reasons. I do think that Voyage of the Dawn Treader has the possibility of being the most awesome of the movies if done right though, just because the visual could be so tremendous. Puddleglum is probably my favorite Narnia character.
…trying not to lick my laptop screen whenever Liam Neeson’s picture scrolls by…
Oh!? You wanted something? Aha… a ranking of the Chronicles according to my own personal preferences… okeydokey, I think I can [wiping my drooly chin] accommodate you.
1. The Horse and His Boy
I know, it’s a hop out of kin, as Anne of Green Gables would say, but it was my favorite because it was HORSES and I was a horse-crazy girl. And I liked it precisely because it was a standalone in many ways. I loved the horses’ personalities, Shasta’s scrappiness, the sights and sounds and smells of Tashbaan… all of it. I probably re-read it more than any of the others, although I re-read all of them so often that many of the pages of the paperbacks were dogeared and smudged with finger grease. They were all loved very, very much, like the Velveteen Rabbit.
2. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The adventures were just too fascinating for me… and the beauty of the end of the world so tangible. I also was very fond of the cover illustration; I wanted to BE on that wonderful ship and I often imagined that I really COULD leap into the picture like the kids did in the book.
3. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
I always… ALWAYS… cry at the part when Aslan dies. ALWAYS. And a few years ago I purchased the Radio Theatre version put out by Focus on the Family and I bawled my eyes out when that part came up.
4. The Silver Chair
Puddleglum! And the Parliament of Owls! I would literally *become* Jill every time I read it.
5. The Last Battle
I loved Jewel the Unicorn. The horse-crazy thing, remember? And Puzzle… I always pictured him as this whiskery-fuzzy donkey version of Piglet (voiced by John Fiedler).
6. Prince Caspian
I’ve never been able to bring myself to listen to Jason Mraz because his name is too close to Miraz. I did like the part where the Four figure out they’re in Narnia again only hundreds of years later.
7. The Magician’s Nephew
Digory’s uncle always frightened me rather a lot… as did the crawling-through-the-attics part. I did, however, adore the whole old-timey London setting. I should’ve been English, I sometimes opine; I’m very fond of their humor, their spelling, their stiff upper lips… LOL
These books were my BEST FRIENDS. I was an only child and I read voraciously from the age of three (yes, three — my mom was in college to be a teacher when I was a baby, so she practiced on me at home every night, and I soaked it up like a ShamWOW!) (Are you following me, camera-guy?). I received the Chronicles as a boxed set from my AuntyOh on my tenth birthday and I don’t think I re-emerged from my room for a couple of years after that.
GraD — Yeah, I think I really need to go back and read The Horse and His Boy. You’re making a strong case!
And yes, PUDDLEGLUMMMMM!!!
I might trade Caspian for Dawn Treader in the ranking (I was never that interested in ship travel; I think that’s it), but otherwise my ranking would mirror yours. For pretty much the same reasons. Horse and His Boy kind of bored me. And I found Last Battle uncomfortable. (Especially the part about Susan apparently choosing her own damnation, and also the whole Tash thing. I know now that Lewis was making a theological point and was warning against syncretism, but it was still uncomfortable)
Oh, and I think I cry harder over Aslan’s death as an adult than I did as a child.
I saw the movie of “Wardrobe” a couple weeks ago for the first time and was just bawling at that part. Even though I know how it comes out. I still bawl.
ricki — Okay. So I wasn’t necessarily alone in my response to The Horse and His Boy once upon a time. Still, I think I’ll go back and read it.
And yeah, Aslan’s death. It is harder now; I agree.