Sunday, December 11, 2005

Narnia



OK, so I've seen it, Can't say, I wasn't entertaint, the visuals are spectacular, the characterdesign is great, the CG-stuff excellent and the villainess gorgeous,....and yet ....
Can't help but feeling , that there's something missing, can't really put my finger on it, but what I am missing is "depth". Is it just me , or is there no second act ? The kids come to Narnia, are introduced to the problem, meet Aslan, fight a battle and win it-over-the end. Reminds me of Shrek , I'm afraid to say.Coming to Narnia and the first person you meet is the witch, that makes the world rather small, doesn't it, it's like landing a spaceship on earth and the first person you meet is the pope, right ?
I don't get the feeling that it is a world , that's at stake here, I don't get a feeling of space, time and size, feels more like a park, rather than a world. I also miss a sense of history, what's the witches story ? Aslan's history ? They're all just there, somehow.
I would like to know more about that centaur-guy for example, he looked cool, like he had a story to tell .
Nevertheless, it was great evening at the movies, If you haven't yet, go and see it.

7 comments:

Bonnie Branson said...

Ok when I was growing up, I loved Lord of the Rings, but my best friend loved all the Narnia books. I tried to get her into LOTR and she tried to get me into Narnia but we couldn't cross over. I have been told that I made the mistake of reading it when I was too old, (15?) Thought it was soooo dry. As for the movie, I'm Netflix-ing this one. To be honest, I'm getting tired of all these "fantasy books turned into SUPER special effect movies!!" They are all starting to feel the same to me. I hear that they will also be turning Phillip Pullman's trilogy: His Dark Materials into movies as well. I love these books...not sure how I feel about them joining the bandwagon. You know what happens when something sells, they bring out all the clones! (I'm also waiting for the Matrix gags to end as well, all that "I'm jumping and you see me paused from every angle.")

Ben Balistreri said...

Harald,

My wife and I felt exactly the same. Fun, but a bit underwhelming. I think I like the BBC version better. I loved the look of the queen, but I felt a little confused by her performence. I also think I'm sick of this need to start every movie with a big action sequence. At the start of the movie I don't care enough about the characters to feel any real sense of threat or danger. I would have loved a slow mysterious build up, and had all the action and excitement left in Narnia alone. I doubt their are many execs or test audiences that would agree with me on that. How about that shot of the griphons diving into battle? That was awesome!

Uli Meyer said...

Just saw a 'King Kong' screening yesterday. I think you will find all the things you were missing in this amazing re-telling of the old classic.
Haven't seen Narnia yet, but also don't feel the urge to go to the cinema.
Who knows what they will do with the Dark Materials, it's early stages. I just know that one of my favorite artists is working on it and if they can get on screen his visuals, at least it will look amazing.

Wingman said...

I am going to see the movie tonight. I assume it to be a bit flat cause the book for this movie does not have much depth storywise either. If you look at it cronologically this is the second book in the Narnia series. The first one "The magiciens'nephew" describes how Narnia is created, how the wich gets there, why the wardrobe is magical and who professor Kirke is. What I find surprising is that the Narnia books have a different feel to them. I totally love "The horse and his boy" which plays mostly in an oriental setting and "The voyage of the dawn treader" which is a long sea trip with distinct adventures (very allegoric) on different islands. "The silver chair" is also nice and will probably be great for the underground massive creature scenes. "Prince Caspian" the book that they'll make the next movie from is average, to my mind. I wish they would do "The horse and his boy" but the four kids are grown up in it and I guess they need to film the ones with them still being kids first.

Anonymous said...

I haven't seen the movie but what you say when you compared shrek and the witch is good and funny...
:)))
alien landing on earth and first personne he meet is the Pope....could be the beginning of a very good story
:-)))

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