History YMMV / TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe

** Creator/TildaSwinton played the [[BigBad White Witch]] in here. Jump forward 12 years later in ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', she would be the [[BigGood Ancient One]], who is practically a reverse White Witch while the White Witch herself would not be out of place among Doctor Strange's RoguesGallery.

* LargeHam: Jadis the White Which in the book - at the very latest when she gets to say the line from [[ShoutOut.ToShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Richard III'' "in that knowledge, despair and die!" In Shakespeare's play, variations on that line drag on for all of a scene - so the carry-over audience reation to hearing that line said anywhere else is: "just kill him ''already'' instead of filling half an evening dramatisising about it!", making anyone who says that an [[VillainDecay insta-ridiculous drama queen]].

** He negotiates with her for hours to back off it, and finally offers to die in Edmund's place - which is a pretty strong indicator that Aslan is NOT okay with the whole thing; and only finding a way to ExactWords a way out of it instead of refusing point blank because the Deep Magic (which is a force of nature in that world) would otherwise unmake Narnia. So that refusing to execute someone would be ValuesDissonance with the people of the time the book was written, and ValuesResonance with the people reading it today.

** In the book, Edmund's betrayal of his siblings is said to be due to magic in Jadis's Turkish Delight (although Lewis points out at the end of the book that horrible influences at school were what first made him start to go wrong). The film puts forward the interpretation that it's more due to Peter's BigBrotherBully tendencies, and Jadis is the [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe first person to really show him affection in a long time]]. ''Even if'' he knows the affection is fake (and it's entirely possible that he knows), it's better to at least have someone ''pretend'' they care than nothing at all. This is even more visible later when someone ''genuinely'' cares about Edmund and he's rescued from Jadis - he practically [[HeroWorship wor]][[{{Pun}} ships]] Aslan on sight for it.
** Peter and Susan seem more concerned with trying to look like responsible older children, Peter picking on Edmund to keep him in line and Susan scoffing at Lucy's stories. But in doing so they just expose their own immaturity, only behaving how they ''think'' adults should act. Both call each other out for this at different points in the film. At times one gets the impression that ''Lucy'' is the most sensible one of the children; she displays WiseBeyondHerYears traits and has no problem calling her siblings out, especially in ''Film/PrinceCaspian''.

* EvilIsSexy: More so in the BBC and 2005 adaptations, which cast attractive actresses Barbara Kellerman and Tilda Swinton to play Jadis. She is said to be beautiful in the book, but also quite terrifying at the same time. Tilda Swinton's interpretation of Jadis even behaves more like a sexual predator at first to snare Edmund in (rather than being loud and hammy from the beginning like in the book).

** Sophie Wilcox, who played Lucy in the BBC series, says she got lots of comments about being chubby in the first season. She was also described in a 1988 letter to the viewer feedback program “Points of View” as looking like the daughter of Mister and Mrs Beaver because of her buck teeth.

* {{Narm}}: Quite a lot in the BBC adaptation.

** From the BBC Televised Adaptation, Barbara Kellerman is a LargeHam who behaves in a ridiculously over the top manner as Jadis. She responds to a simple question from Edmund with a hilarious BigNO.

** The BBC version has a lot of narm, but it's generally considered endearing because it is still the most faithful adaptation.

** Despite Jadis' enormously LargeHam tendencies in the BBC adaptation, there are more than a few fans who enjoyed her for a combination of her acting, costume, and imposing voice; even when she was ChewingTheScenery with abandon.
** Jadis comes off just as hammy in the book - at the very latest when she gets to say the line from [[ShoutOut.ToShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Richard III'' "in that knowledge, despair and die!" In the play, variations on that line drag on for all of a scene - so the carry-over audience reation to hearing it anywhere else is: "just kill him ''already'' instead of filling half an evening dramatisising about it!", making anyone who says that an [[VillainDecay insta-ridiculous drama queen]].

* WTHCastingAgency:
** In the BBC adaptation, Richard Dempsey is cast as Peter, yet is unfortunately much shorter than the rest of his siblings, making him look more like a younger brother rather than the eldest. Sophie Wilcox is also considered to be far too tall to play Lucy, and looking more like the oldest (although her performance is seen as fine). Sophie Cook as Susan, by contrast, is actually considered by some to be superior to Anna Popplewell in the 2005 film.
** Barbara Kellerman takes the cake in the BBC version. She's ChewingTheScenery in every scene and acting like a pantomime villain with no subtlety. She did thankfully tone it down when playing the Hag in ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'' and the Green Lady in ''Literature/TheSilverChair''.

** In the book, Edmund's betrayal of his siblings is said to be due to magic in Jadis's Turkish Delight (although Lewis points out at the end of the book that horrible influences at school were what first made him start to go wrong). The film puts forward the interpretation that it's more due to Peter's BigBrotherBully tendencies, and Jadis is the [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe first person to really show him affection in a long time]]. ''Even if'' he knows the affection is fake (and it's entirely possible that he knows), it's better to at least have someone ''pretend'' they care than nothing at all. This is even more visible later when someone ''genuinely'' cares about Edmund and he's rescued from Jadis - he practically [[HeroWorship wor]][[IncrediblyLamePun ships]] Aslan on sight for it.

** ''Do not cite the deep magic to me, witch! I was there when it was written.'' [[note]]A quote made by Aslan. Thanks to the movie adaptation, it has become popular to people who witnessed how something started to quote it.[[/note]]

** Edmund infamously sells out his family for some Turkish delight, a type of dessert. It's not common or well-known in the US, so when American children read the story or watched the film for the first time, they often assumed it was extremely delicious (if not a made-up magical food) to be worth so high a price -- then when they tried it for the first time and learned it was mildly sweet at best, they were horrified at [[ComicallySmallBribe how low Edmund was willing to stoop for such a mediocre treat]].

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Susan gets hit with this a lot, given that she doesn't get to display her archery skills a lot in the story. She tends to get thought of as weak for not being able to fight Maugrim off herself. This ignores the fact that she gets Lucy and herself to safety and manages to sound an alarm to warn the others of the danger. It's possibly for this reason that the second film gives her more to do in battle.

** There is also the fact that as of this time in the story, Susan and Lucy aren't just women, but ''little girls'' who are not even in their teens yet, so the idea that they should not fight if they can help it actually makes a lot of sense even if one does not object to female fighters. (Though Aslan still thinks Peter, who is only a year or two older than Susan, ''[[DoubleStandard should]]'' fight...) Later books actually portray older versions of Susan and Lucy (as well as Jill Pole, another female protagonist) as capable and respected combatants.
* FirstInstalmentWins: The lager books most assuredly have tons of fans, but ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'' is by far the best-known and most adapted book of the series. It's been adapted four times. The 2005 film is likewise considered the best of the three Walden Media Narnia films.

** Susan's status as the AgentScully in the films is widely accepted by fans as better. Partly because Susan was OutOfFocus for the two books she was in, and thus didn't have [[TheGenericGuy much of a personality]]. It also acts as {{Foreshadowing}} that she will eventually convince herself that Narnia was AllJustADream, and sets it up in a way that lacks the books' gendered [[invoked]]UnfortunateImplications. Unfortunately, the film series was cut short before her arc could fully play out... but [[FanficFuel that's what fanfic is for.]]

* FirstInstalmentWins: ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe'' is by far the best-known and most adapted book of the series. It's been adapted four times. The 2005 film is likewise considered the best of the three Walden Media Narnia films.

** Creator/TildaSwinton played the [[BigBad White Witch]] in here. Jump forward 12 years later in ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'', she would be the [[BigGood Ancient One]], who is practically a reverse White Witch while the White Witch herself not be out of place among Doctor Strange's RoguesGallery.

** Jim Broadbent playing Professor Kirke [[Film/HarryPotter becomes this after he played Professor Slughorn]] considering that one of the characters in ''Literature/HarryPotter'' was named after Professor Kirke.

** The BBC version has a lot of Narm, but it's generally considered endearing because it is still the most faithful adaptation.

* WTHCastingAgency:
** The choice of actors in the BBC adaptation. The characters playing Peter, Susan, and Edmund all look exactly the same age and are about the same height, with only Lucy being noticeably younger and shorter. On the other hand, Susan's actor is considered a better choice than her actor in the 2005 film by some fans.
** Barbara Kellerman takes the cake in the BBC version. She's ChewingTheScenery in every scene and acting like a pantomime villain with no subtlety. She did thankfully tone it down when playing the Hag in ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'' and the Green Lady in ''Literature/TheSilverChair''.

* WTHCastingAgency: In the BBC adaptation, Richard Dempsey is cast as Peter, and is unfortunately much shorter than the rest of his siblings, making him look more like a younger brother rather than the eldest. Sophie Wilcox is also considered to be far too tall to play Lucy, and looking more like the oldest (although her performance is seen as fine). Sophie Cook as Susan by contrast is actually considered by some to be superior to Anna Popplewell in the 2005 film.

** In the book, Edmund's betrayal of his siblings is said to be due to magic in Jadis's Turkish Delight (although Lewis points out at the end of the book that horrible influences at school were what first made him start to go wrong). The film puts forward the interpretation that it's more due to Peter's BigBrotherBully tendencies, and Jadis is the [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe first person to really show him affection in a long time]]. ''Even if'' he knows the affection is fake (and it's entirely possible that he knows), it's better to at least have someone ''pretend'' they care than nothing at all.
*** This is even more visible later when someone ''genuinely'' cares about Edmund and he's rescued from Jadis - he practically [[HeroWorship wor]][[IncrediblyLamePun ships]] Aslan on sight for it.

*** Jadis comes off just as hammy in the book - at the very latest when she gets to say the line from [[ShoutOut.ToShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Richard III'' "in that knowledge, despair and die!" In the play, variations on that line drag on for all of a scene - so the carry-over audience reation to hearing it anywhere else is: "just kill him ''already'' instead of filling half an evening dramatisising about it!", making anyone who says that an [[VillainDecay insta-ridiculous drama queen]].
%%ZCE* SignatureScene: Aslan's sacrifice at the stone table.

** Lucy can count in the initial parts of the book. It's very sad for her when her siblings don't believe her about Narnia, as she's a very truthful girl -- and being accused of making something up is one of the most offensive things in the world to her. It gets even worse when Edmund goes in and then pretends it was all a game just to mess with her.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Lev Grossman, author of the Narnia {{Deconstruction}}, ''Literature/TheMagicians'' trilogy thought the wish-granting White Stag was a wasted character and wondered what would happen if he and Aslan were to fight eachother. He put an {{Expy}} called the Questing Beast in his own trilogy and gave him a chance to grant wishes.

* SignatureScene: Aslan's sacrifice at the stone table.