What do you get.....

OK, start with a few aging stage actors and actresses, and add four child actors.  Then, find the cast of a local renaissance fair, and give them plenty of ale, mead, and a truckload of dress up clothes from last Halloween.  Finally, hire a few cartoonists away from the old Hanna-Barbera "Scooby Doo" crew for special effects, and film the whole thing in rural Wales.  What do you get?

The BBC version (1990) of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."  From stilted overacting (especially on the part of Jadis) to amateurish special effects and the renaissance fair crew in high heels and fur pants, this movie cured me of any ideas I've had that a BBC production would actually feature people who knew how to act, a producer who understands the story, and might pretend to do justice to a wonderful story.

To be fair, it stays relatively close to the story (far closer than the 2005 version) in the script, and the first few scenes--from the train in London to the country manor of the professor--are actually quite good.  In fact, almost all of the manor scenes are quite good.  It might be stated that the producer and director understood English professors and country manors far better than he understood Jadis, Aslan, and Narnia.

One might guess that it has something to do with the recent state of C.S. Lewis' Anglican Church.  Hmmm....