Lion, Witch, Wardrobe
I finally saw The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
It was about as I expected.
A good movie, but not a great one.
I admit, I have been spoiled by the Lord of the Rings films. They had more to work with in the first place, however. Although I enjoyed the Narnia books, they are not on the same level as the Rings books.
LWW was fairly true to the book. Some of the CGI was quite good (some of it not). It was vastly better than the BBC series as far as the special effects go, though.
(I have a certain fondness for the BBC productions, by the way. I think they have been unfairly mocked over the years. Tom Baker as Puddleglum was a hoot!)
There were even a couple of scenes in LWW that got me tearing up.
My wife, who has never read the books, got confused at points.
She didn’t fully understand what the bombing at the beginning was about, and she was puzzled why the children were being sent away on the train – perhaps a moment’s explanation would have helped.
She also did not recognize Father Christmas. She had an idea who he was, but had no idea why he was there. I imagine some young viewers might be similarly confused.
So a mixed review. Well worth seeing, but don’t expect a classic.
It was about as I expected.
A good movie, but not a great one.
I admit, I have been spoiled by the Lord of the Rings films. They had more to work with in the first place, however. Although I enjoyed the Narnia books, they are not on the same level as the Rings books.
LWW was fairly true to the book. Some of the CGI was quite good (some of it not). It was vastly better than the BBC series as far as the special effects go, though.
(I have a certain fondness for the BBC productions, by the way. I think they have been unfairly mocked over the years. Tom Baker as Puddleglum was a hoot!)
There were even a couple of scenes in LWW that got me tearing up.
My wife, who has never read the books, got confused at points.
She didn’t fully understand what the bombing at the beginning was about, and she was puzzled why the children were being sent away on the train – perhaps a moment’s explanation would have helped.
She also did not recognize Father Christmas. She had an idea who he was, but had no idea why he was there. I imagine some young viewers might be similarly confused.
So a mixed review. Well worth seeing, but don’t expect a classic.
posted by A Secular Franciscan | 8:21 PM
2 Comments:
I think of you take Narnia as a child's film (which LOTR was not) then its a little easier to take in comparison. I loved the film but the special effects did seem lacking when compared to LOTR which is strange considering the big budget of Narnia and that WETA (who did the FX of LOTR)also did the effects for Narnia.
Oh and Happy New Year!
True. Good point. LWW is more of a children's film - a violent one! - but I wonder if children will be able to follow it all? Maybe. Perhaps we should compare it with the Potter films. Off the top of my head, I'd say it's better than Potter 2, and 4, but not as good as Potter 1 and 3.
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