posted
Battler, I thought it was incredible!! It kept true to the books, and it certainly held that youthful tone that differed from LOTR. Disney should try for this quality in all it's movies, instead of the sappy feel good mush it usually pushes.
All of the children got defined, and we even see a little of Susan's future maturity come through. Edmund never came across as an evil boy I first remebered, just a snotty brat. It was nice to see the fox on the side of right and wolves finally portayed as the villainous beasts they really are. And Aslan was done rather well.
A wonderful adaptation.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Arachne: Does the movie cover all the books, or just the first?
I just started to read the series this weekend.
The first book only, if your set counts them in publishing order. LW&W was the "first" book when I first read them, but some sets these days number "The Magician's Nephew" as the first since it's chronologically set before LW&W.
From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
This particular movie is subtitled, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It covers that book only. Rumour has it the books weren't published in order of Lewis' intentions. However, the tone and story of the Magician's Nephew is perhaps the most mature, so I can't see why he would have chosen that title to start with.
Magician's Nephew was my least favourite, and the slowest paced of the series. I think that would also be the most difficult to adapt.
But they did a fantastic job here, and hopefully they continue throughout the series.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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quote:Originally posted by l.e.g.i.o.n.JOHN: and wolves finally portayed as the villainous beasts they really are. seems like someone doesn't like wolves???
Hehe, there's a bit of bias there yeah. I find foxes to be the most perfect creature. But here in this wolf infested state, folks are always trying to give me wolf-themed gifts, claiming they are the same thing. RRRRRRRRRRRRR.
From: Denver, CO | Registered: May 2004
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However, I do think that LWW is a beautiful place to start, and when the history of the Wardrobe comes back (in prequel form) in The Magician's Nephew, it gives one a really nice tingle to find out at long last from where it actually came. That little shiver of delight (as well as finally finding out the history of the White Witch) is worth reading TMN later, at least for me.
-------------------- White. A blank page or canvas. His favorite. So... many... possibilities.
From: Birmingham, AL | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
I guess by that essay I would be a publicationist. LWW is certainly the one that I would consider the appropriate one to start a young reader on the series with. Starting with The Magician's Nephew would be like reading the Lord of the Rings starting with the Appendices. I was interested to note that A Horse and His Boy has been resequenced also, it's always been my least favorite of the series.
From: Douglasville, GA | Registered: Jul 2003
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"Tolkien was a close friend of C. S. Lewis', and a member of the Inklings, a literary discussion group to which both Lewis and Owen Barfield belonged."
Straight from Wiki. I knew you were talking about the resemblences of the movie making...not the books but still pretty cool.
Now if Disney would only remake Alexander Lloyd's Black Cauldron with this quality!
From: Tampa | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
i really enjoyed this film, and i've currently been to see this twice over this last week !!
i loved it's 'old fashioned family film' feel !! from what i can remember of reading the book years ago, i think it was very true to what was written !!
anyone know of any details that were missed ??
the SPX were great, it was really had at points to tell what was 'real' and what wasn't IMO !!
like the beavers, i thought they were great !!
Matthew.
From: Manchester United Kingdom | Registered: Jul 2003
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posted
We went to see it on Friday and while Chris absolutely adored it I was a little less enthusiatic. I'm not entirely sure why though because it was certainly very good. Tilda Swinton was absolutely perfect as the White Witch, most of the effects were brilliant and the story worked very well without them cutting out any significant amounts. But...
I dunno, I think possibly it's that I find all four of the children ever so slightly irritating. That's not just a fault of the film though. I felt like that when reading the books and watching the BBC version from the 80s (which is worth seeing btw) so I think it's probably something I'm always going to feel. OK so you're not supposed to like Edmund for most of it but I found the other three annoying too. Peter is the only one who was a bit wooden in the film (Lucy was a great actress) but I just felt like slapping all four of them.
Also, the fact that most of the effects were so good showed up when they were really bad. The bit where they're on the top of the cliff looking out on the frozen river had some appaling matting going on and Aslan was hugely inconsistent in terms of his size. There were bits where he was regular lion size and then other bits where he was huge. That might have been intentional but it didn't appear to be, or at least the change in size didn't make any sense in terms of the story (like if he'd been bigger when he coems back to life that would make sense, but he wasn't). Plus the fox was really crappy compared to the other animals. He just looked a bit cartoony. Perfect voice casting with Rupert Everett though.
I did think though that it was a shame that while little was cut out the whole explanation for the stone table and the ancient magic and stuff wasn't explained terribly well. I don't think it mattered hugely in terms of the plot but it did make the whole Aslan coming back to life thing a little... well, maybe not confusing but not terribly clear. OK so it's a Christian allegory but in the books at least you get an explanation of the spell on the table and stuff which I thought got short thrift in the film.
All in all a good film (loved the costume design, even the White Witch's bizarre big backed dress from when she was in her palace) but it just left me a bit unsatisfied, but I think that's because of my own slight dislike of the four children rather than any failing on teh part of the film, if you see what I mean.
-------------------- Truth and Justice shall Prevail! (Unless Tamper Lad Screws it up...)
From: Manchester, UK | Registered: Jul 2003
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and wolves finally portayed as the villainous beasts they really are.
