Greta Gerwig “Loved” Animated Narnia Movie

Apparently, Director Greta Gerwig is a fan of the 1979 animated adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. That’s according to Dr. Ted Baehr, then-president of the studio that produced the animated version.

Dr. Baehr’s comment came in a video and article reacting to the Aslan casting controversy surrounding Gerwig’s upcoming Narnia movie. He mentioned a brief meeting with Gerwig at the Critics Choice Awards:

“I talked with Greta Gerwig about a year and a half ago. She said she loved this animated version that we did.”

Ted Baehr (2:37)

Baehr also says that, at one point, the Children’s Television Workshop suggested that Lucy and Susan could pour anointing oil on Aslan to bring him back to life. The final version of the scene is close to the book.

Listen to NarniaWeb’s review of the animated movie.

Writer/Director Greta Gerwig’s Narnia movie, which appears to be an adaptation of The Magician’s Nephew, hits IMAX screens Thanksgiving 2026.

12 Responses

  1. DavidD says:

    Listening to this, I found I had a silly hope (which is almost certainly not what’s happening).

    What if the rumors that Greta Gerwig was writing a Musical could be true? (I liked the idea that it’s an animated musical rather than a Live Action musical AKA something like “The Lion King”.) This would make sense that they were looking to cast a pop singer (Charli XCX) as Jadis for a while.

    It may also make the discussions for Meryl Streep make some sense too (I know some have suggested that she might be one of many voices who collectively bring Aslan to life). Given Streep has shown herself to be a capable singer (she’s sung in some of her movies – ‘Mama Mia’ and even ‘Death becomes Her’ come to mind), so if she helped with the singing parts, but Aslan was still a male character, I would not have any objections.

    Making it a musical would not mean it would necessarily be animated, but I love the animated styles of “The Wingfeather Saga”, The “Spider-verse” movies, the latest “Puss in boots” movie, etc. How cool would it be if they mimicked Pauline Baynes’ drawing style for the images on screen!

  2. icarus says:

    I can definitely see with Greta being an American, rather than a Brit, that she is much more likely to have grown up with the 1979 animated version of Narnia than the live-action BBC versions of Narnia from the late 80s.

    Its cool though to hear that she really enjoyed this version… hopefully one of the things she loved about it was Aslan’s somewhat over-the-top deep booming voice!

    I wonder though if there are any other influences or inspirations she could have taken from this version?

  3. Col Klink says:

    I was kind of disappointed when I read this that it wasn’t an entire interview with Gerwig about Narnia, just something someone had heard her say. Oh well. Still a fun little tidbit, I guess.

    That’s weird about the Children’s Television wanting them to bring Aslan back by anointing him with oil. Glad they didn’t do that.

  4. Tarva Lord of Victory says:

    @icarus, I agree! I think this might be my favorite Aslan in any version: he’s huge, for one, he seems so magnificent and I love the scene of him playing with the girls.

  5. so this is her impression of Narnia

  6. Glumpuddle says:

    I like the animated version. The only thing I really have a big problem with is the crude animation which occasionally takes me out of the story. But it’s a nice tight script, the score is great, and Aslan’s resurrection is lovely.

  7. Mrs. Beaver says:

    I also grew up loving the animated version. Aslan’s voice in it, to me, is as awe-inspiring and commanding as it is supposed to be. (And yes, the resurrection is lovely, indeed, as is the music.) I also really appreciate that in the animated version they took many lines verbatim from the book, and didn’t mess with them just to prove that there were writers involved, or whatever was going on with the 2005 Walden version (a good movie, but did they have to alter all of the lines?) Incidentally, I saw the BBC version of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” once as a kid, and the weird beaver costumes that looked like bowling pins with the hands flapping out of them really bothered me! Eek. Also, I was in a stage production of “Narnia: the Musical” 20 years ago — Yes, it exists, and you can guess which character I played — but I don’t know that I’d like to see a musical of Narnia put to film. I would really love to see a straightforward adaptation of “The Magician’s Nephew.” It could be so epic! Waiting to find out what is going on with whatever they are working on is a practice in patience! Hopefully there will be more detailed information soon.

  8. Just Queen, not High Queen says:

    Kind of ironic that Children’s Television Workshop suggested that Susan and Lucy anoint oil on Aslan, since in the Walden film, Lucy’s considers using her juice on Aslan before Susan tells her it’s too late.

  9. Very Cool! I haven’t seen it in a few years, but that movie is really sweet 🙂

  10. Locopells says:

    Mrs. Beaver, was that the RSC one at the Barbican?

  11. Jay Davis says:

    I was introduced to Narnia with the animated movie, later seeing the BBC versions, reading the books and finding all the audio versions before the Disney/Walden movies started up.

    I think one thing people might miss about the animated one is that even though it largely retains Lewis’ dialogue, the children dress in modern (for 1979) clothing and there’s no explanation as to why they’re staying with the professor. It’s a rare adaptation that brought the story into (what was then) modern day over keeping it a period piece like the other film and TV versions.

    We probably don’t give it too much thought because the kids aren’t wearing anything outlandish (they had to keep it easy to animate).

    I know, the animation isn’t great and that has to be one of the most comical looking battle scenes (at least they didn’t just show dots moving on a screen, RANKIN-BASS HOBBIT), but I feel like it’s good for what it is, even if there might be better options available now.

  12. Narnian78 says:

    I thought the animated version had the Pevensies look like they came from the 1970’s. The BBC series and the Walden films at least had authentic clothing from the 1940’s. The animated version from 1979 was too modern for the time period. The movie was a bit too plain, and the cartoonists made the backgrounds without much detail. I was glad when the BBC series had real people as actors instead of cartoon characters playing the roles. it made Narnia seem more like a real place. 🙂

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