I was 7 when this film came on television so I was able to watch it when it first aired. I recall falling deeply in love with this fantasy story as a child and was given the entire 7 book collection as a gift. Needless to say, I read the entire collection because of my love for this made-for-TV Movie. I do not personally have the books but the are still in the family.This old TV film is a good watch but I will admit that it is not perfect yet it is a good classic TV film for kids and adults alike.If you liked the older animated dramas like "The Hobbit (TV Movie 1977)", "The Black Cauldron", "The Secret of NIMH" or "The Last Unicorn" then you might like this TV movie classic The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (1979).9/10

The children are badly animated blue-eyed zombies, Aslan has all the fierce majesty of a Hanna-Barbera animal-clown, and Narnia is a sloppily drawn, garish seventies water-color mess. This awkward attempt to create an animated version of Lewis's classic illustrates why the author was so reluctant to have his many-layered "children's" books given the film treatment. He believed no film maker could adequately portray the rich world of Narnia or particularly the awe-inspiring nature of Aslan. Melendez,of Charlie Brown fame,attempted to oversee the work of international contributors to this crude Saturday morning cartoon version of a great book and the result is flat and an aesthetic disaster. Of course, in fairness it should not be compared to the later, more successful advanced technique Disney version, which might have pleased Lewis, but even comparison to earlier animated versions of classic tales, makes it clear Melendez and crew didn't have a clue as to the real power of the story or try create a moving or even slightly eye-pleasing film. Perhaps they excused their carelessness by considering it just a kid's story. They certainly show little respect for children or C.S. Lewis's fine work that has enchanted children and fascinated adults for generations. That Melendez and his crew did not understand the story or their responsibility to children is obvious in the self-congratulatory voice-over comments offered on the DVD.

This one is even superior to the 1988 BBC TV presentation, which was dull in story, shoddy in effects, less-than-mediocre casting, and horrible action. But I do wish the animation was better. However, the animators did do good on the expressions of the characters. Just as with the 2005 version, everything was as I had imagined, it's just that this was an animated feature, and that was a live action feature. That is the only difference. Some people might wonder why the only thing I dislike about it is the animation, and say that I should have given it a higher rating, since that was the only thing wrong with it. WRONG! With animated films, it is always very complicated to try to understand how to write a review on them. The animation in movies that are animated all the way through should at least mean something when you review them. With movies that are animated at only some parts, this opinion should not be used as much, because, more than likely, there is more live-action in the movie than there is animation.

This animated version of the first of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia is unsuccessful in that its script does not follow the original book, its animation is crude and more reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons than of the artistic masterpiece it could (and should) have been, and its voice characterizations, which were done by American actors, sound very odd whenever they declaim British-flavored lines scripted directly from the book. These faults removed much of the magic that was the original selling point of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Also, the book's underlying religious theme was completely ignored, although I imagine this was more to protect the broadcaster from criticism than due to any actual neglect on the part of the producers.On the positive side, this show was useful in introducing the land of Narnia to viewers unfamiliar to the story. It is to be hoped that those viewers, enjoying the premise, sought out the written chronicles, and later watched the 1988 live-action version, which is far superior to this.