Nar-nee-yah
I went to see the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe last Sunday night. I loved the book, and had heard good reviews from my workmates and other mates. But I was disappointed. I've been complaining about it for a few days now, so need to blog it out of my system, and get over it!
I thought the beginning of the movie was the best part! The bombing, the emotion, the train journey to the country all struck an emotional chord. Sadly, that was the last emotional chord strummed for the movie.
The acting of the children was poor, compared to the Hogwarts crew. Most of the CGI characters, like the beavers and the fox, were more authentic than the actual people! The girl characters were often different from the book as well. Peter was okay, the Edmund character was great (but could've been better had the movie followed the book storyline closer), but Susan was petty and girlish, and Lucy was occasionally sarcastic and untrusting.
Mr Tumnus was too human, and a poor attempt at a faun.
The White Witch was good, and great acting. Her dwarf was excellent. Aslan ... you could tell they tried so hard to get Aslan right. My first thought when I saw him was "oh, he's computer-generated!" And larger than I imagined. Looked okay, but the voice sounded like Aslan had a tape recorder in his CGI mouth. Always sounding the same, whether speaking to a large crowd or intimately with Susan and Lucy.
The winter scenes were terrible. It obviously wasn't snow, and the children obviously weren't cold. Lucy hardly even shivered when in her pyjamas. The children fell about in the snow, getting "snow" all over their clothes, without even doing the instinctive thing after you fall in snow - brush it off your clothes! When in a snowy winter, noses run, eyes narrow from the reflection, mouth narrows to limit the cold air, and bare hands do not rest casually on the snow!
The girls' ride on Aslan was poorly done. Aslan's bounding along at a million miles an hour, and the girls just sit there happily, wide eyed, not really holding on, hair barely moving. Yeah right.
I didn't like the professor. He was too nutty, and not deep enough or wise enough for me.
A lot of little things bugged me for being inconsistent with the book, when there was no reason why they should be. For example:
But all in all, the movie failed for me because I did not buy it. I did not believe I was in Narnia. I was not caught up in the story or the emotion, poorly acted and directed as it was. I did not believe in most of the main characters, their personalities or their motivations. If it had that X-factor, like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have, I wouldn't have spent most of the movie exasperated, thinking "that doesn't make sense", "that's different from the book", as I would be too absorbed in the movie itself.
I rate the BBC version of the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, made without a lot of the special effects, as better than this one. I suppose Disney & co had a good hash at it, and most people like it, but it was still disappointing for me.
I thought the beginning of the movie was the best part! The bombing, the emotion, the train journey to the country all struck an emotional chord. Sadly, that was the last emotional chord strummed for the movie.
The acting of the children was poor, compared to the Hogwarts crew. Most of the CGI characters, like the beavers and the fox, were more authentic than the actual people! The girl characters were often different from the book as well. Peter was okay, the Edmund character was great (but could've been better had the movie followed the book storyline closer), but Susan was petty and girlish, and Lucy was occasionally sarcastic and untrusting.
Mr Tumnus was too human, and a poor attempt at a faun.
The White Witch was good, and great acting. Her dwarf was excellent. Aslan ... you could tell they tried so hard to get Aslan right. My first thought when I saw him was "oh, he's computer-generated!" And larger than I imagined. Looked okay, but the voice sounded like Aslan had a tape recorder in his CGI mouth. Always sounding the same, whether speaking to a large crowd or intimately with Susan and Lucy.
The winter scenes were terrible. It obviously wasn't snow, and the children obviously weren't cold. Lucy hardly even shivered when in her pyjamas. The children fell about in the snow, getting "snow" all over their clothes, without even doing the instinctive thing after you fall in snow - brush it off your clothes! When in a snowy winter, noses run, eyes narrow from the reflection, mouth narrows to limit the cold air, and bare hands do not rest casually on the snow!
The girls' ride on Aslan was poorly done. Aslan's bounding along at a million miles an hour, and the girls just sit there happily, wide eyed, not really holding on, hair barely moving. Yeah right.
I didn't like the professor. He was too nutty, and not deep enough or wise enough for me.
A lot of little things bugged me for being inconsistent with the book, when there was no reason why they should be. For example:
- The wardrobe not looking 'ordinary', but rather a beautifully carved wardrobe covered with a sheet in the centre of the room.
- Aslan being tied up with only a few ropes, not so thickly and tightly the girls couldn't undo any of the knots.
- The children seeing Edmund walk into the White Witch's castle instead of believing the badgers and fleeing.
- The girls letting the army know that Aslan was dead, via the trees. Would the army have believed that the almighty Aslan, creator of Narnia, was dead? And if they had, would they have bothered fighting, especially considering their many speeches of how much they depend on Aslan. Hardly.
- Lucy and Mr Tumnus taking the "he's not a tame lion" words instead of the beavers in their dam, where it would make a lot more sense.
- And as the wolves encircled the beaver's home, they escape through a network of earth tunnels. Hang on, wasn't their home ON the dam? Only ice and water below there.
- When rescuing Edmund, why miss out the cool special effects of the witch and dwarf turning themselves into trees to escape?
- Etc. etc.
But all in all, the movie failed for me because I did not buy it. I did not believe I was in Narnia. I was not caught up in the story or the emotion, poorly acted and directed as it was. I did not believe in most of the main characters, their personalities or their motivations. If it had that X-factor, like the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter have, I wouldn't have spent most of the movie exasperated, thinking "that doesn't make sense", "that's different from the book", as I would be too absorbed in the movie itself.
I rate the BBC version of the Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, made without a lot of the special effects, as better than this one. I suppose Disney & co had a good hash at it, and most people like it, but it was still disappointing for me.
posted by Andrew | 7:19 PM
2 Comments:
I agree with many of your points, but I really can't believe you rate the acting in the Potter movies higher than this...That doesn't make sense. The kids were great...shame about the adults.
With you, I'm stoked with the non-American Santa and disappointed with the Disneyfication of Aslan. I spent most of the movie having Lion King flash-backs!
Oh come on. I am a die-hard Lewis purist, and I liked it. The wardrobe is supposed to be carved. The wardrobe CSL based it on was carved. I liked the kids' acting, and all the Pevensies squabble, ALL the time. That is faithful to the book. They do actually attempt to untie the knots in the book, and, as in the film, take the muzzle off.
Some of the changes I disliked, principally because I have most of the book in my head. Maugrim did not say "I Hear and Obey, O Queen", the beavers were cut off, you're quite right about the winter scenes, the White witch was wonderful, although not scary enough, and did not say one of my favourite lines "Call out the people of the toadstools! We will fight!". Aslan did not say "Back! Let the Prince win his spurs", only "This is Peter's battle" (Damned republican plot!) and although the Beaver did say "Aslan is on the move", it was a little afterthought.
Lucy rocked. She not only stole the show, she was just as I pictured her. Peter was appropriately heroic (he's always been my favourite), although a little too reluctant. Susan IS petty and girlish. Read the book again, and you'll notice.
I loved the Baynes' map during the girls' ride on Aslan, it was a great nod to a famous picture. And they put in the bluebottle on the windowsill and the mothballs! If you look at the Baynes illustrations, the Prof does look rather nutty.
The trouble is, so much of the book depends on the narrator. Without CSL, the film has to show all he tells us. That's tough. But, despite the added scenes (I didn't like the witch's scene with Edmund and Tumnus), I bought it. And I can tell you when I stopped criticising and thought "Magic", and that was when the children put on their fur coats. Just as the illustration shows, just as I pictured them. The death on the stone table was shocking, terrible, and made me sob. Come on, Andrew. It could have been better, but it wasn't bad. It caught at least some of the magic, and that is what a film should do.
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