Narnia & Hogwarts
Two great debates that go great together.
And, what do you know, I have something to say about both genres today!
First off, I have the first three pages of my new HP fanfic written. And I'm going to be going back to tweak it later, because I really did a number on Ron, and I feel I should go back and at least partially fix it.
It's amazing how dark my brain can be sometimes. Let's just put it this way, in the search for the Horcrux I have:
1) made Ron mute
2) made Hermione a gimp
3) turned Harry into a focused, unemotional mission machine
4) come up with a lot of ideas that will lead to more than a few dead bodies, and a few betrayals, in the next two or three scenes. And more later on in the story.
I'm twisted.
In happier news, I saw The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe over the weekend. Considering I had no idea what to expect going in, I really enjoyed myself.
Spoilers to follow....
seriously...
One of the good things about making a movie about this book, as opposed to Potter, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, or, well, pretty much any book-turned-movie in the history of mankind, is that TLTWATW is pretty damn short. I watched a cartoon version of the book last week and came to discover that a direct translation of the book only covers about 90 minutes. To make a film that's supposed to compete with the HPs and the LOTRs of the world, Narnia's gotta run at least 2 1/2 hours.
So to fill that gap, they added scenes that were either hinted at in the original text, or left out completely. The biggest addition is probably the opening of the film. I'm sure there were more than a few confused faces in the audience when the first shot of the film is of a Nazi warplane during the bombing of London. But this scene really helped flesh out the characters, and also showed how they got to the house and to the wardrobe in the first place.
Another major scene they added a conversation between Edmund and a pre-stoned Mr. Tunmus in the White Witch's palace. It was a welcome addition, but one which I was hoping to see a little more payoff for when the White Witch told Tumnus that it was Edmund that sold him out.
Beyond that, most of the big changes were made either to make some of the character decisions more plausible, or to heighten the action in order to compete with the Helms Deeps and Tri-Wizard Tournaments of the world. But none of these changes would be what I consider over the top, and they pulled them off well.
The biblical allegory was still there in force, the whole Easter Story thing. It should be interesting to see what they decide to do with the rest of the series, if they're going to just focus on the Pevensie stories (Prince Caspian & Dawn Treader), or if they're going to just choose the major stories and not focus on the Pevensies (most likely Dawn Treader, which would bring back Lucy and Edmund and introduce their cousin, Eustice, & Last Battle, which has Eustice & Jill Pole). Or if they're planning a huge endeavour they could always just do every other book in the series.
Time will tell, of course.
When all is said and done, and in making the obvious comparisons between Narnia, Potter, and LOTR... well, I'm not ready to make that comparison yet, as we've only seen one Narnia and four Potters. It's easier to make the comparison between the opening movies of each series, as they all ultimately share the same overall goals: introduce the characters & their world, make big action sequences to hook the audience, and leave them with the obvious realization that the story's not over yet.
As such, I would put Wardrobe as a close second behind Sorceror's Stone, and ahead of Fellowship. Stone gets the edge because the characters were more engaging than likeable than in Wardrobe, while Fellowship has a lot more slow points than Wardrobe.
Narnia having a wider array of interesting "species" doesn't hurt, either. Fights with a ton of human-like characters & orcs are interesting, but they don't hold a candle to a battle with humans, centaurs, minotaurs, dwarves, gryffins, wolves, cheetahs, lions, and a woman that can turn people to stone.
Overall, a damn good movie, I'd suggest it to anyone.
And, what do you know, I have something to say about both genres today!
First off, I have the first three pages of my new HP fanfic written. And I'm going to be going back to tweak it later, because I really did a number on Ron, and I feel I should go back and at least partially fix it.
It's amazing how dark my brain can be sometimes. Let's just put it this way, in the search for the Horcrux I have:
1) made Ron mute
2) made Hermione a gimp
3) turned Harry into a focused, unemotional mission machine
4) come up with a lot of ideas that will lead to more than a few dead bodies, and a few betrayals, in the next two or three scenes. And more later on in the story.
I'm twisted.
In happier news, I saw The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe over the weekend. Considering I had no idea what to expect going in, I really enjoyed myself.
Spoilers to follow....
seriously...
One of the good things about making a movie about this book, as opposed to Potter, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park, or, well, pretty much any book-turned-movie in the history of mankind, is that TLTWATW is pretty damn short. I watched a cartoon version of the book last week and came to discover that a direct translation of the book only covers about 90 minutes. To make a film that's supposed to compete with the HPs and the LOTRs of the world, Narnia's gotta run at least 2 1/2 hours.
So to fill that gap, they added scenes that were either hinted at in the original text, or left out completely. The biggest addition is probably the opening of the film. I'm sure there were more than a few confused faces in the audience when the first shot of the film is of a Nazi warplane during the bombing of London. But this scene really helped flesh out the characters, and also showed how they got to the house and to the wardrobe in the first place.
Another major scene they added a conversation between Edmund and a pre-stoned Mr. Tunmus in the White Witch's palace. It was a welcome addition, but one which I was hoping to see a little more payoff for when the White Witch told Tumnus that it was Edmund that sold him out.
Beyond that, most of the big changes were made either to make some of the character decisions more plausible, or to heighten the action in order to compete with the Helms Deeps and Tri-Wizard Tournaments of the world. But none of these changes would be what I consider over the top, and they pulled them off well.
The biblical allegory was still there in force, the whole Easter Story thing. It should be interesting to see what they decide to do with the rest of the series, if they're going to just focus on the Pevensie stories (Prince Caspian & Dawn Treader), or if they're going to just choose the major stories and not focus on the Pevensies (most likely Dawn Treader, which would bring back Lucy and Edmund and introduce their cousin, Eustice, & Last Battle, which has Eustice & Jill Pole). Or if they're planning a huge endeavour they could always just do every other book in the series.
Time will tell, of course.
When all is said and done, and in making the obvious comparisons between Narnia, Potter, and LOTR... well, I'm not ready to make that comparison yet, as we've only seen one Narnia and four Potters. It's easier to make the comparison between the opening movies of each series, as they all ultimately share the same overall goals: introduce the characters & their world, make big action sequences to hook the audience, and leave them with the obvious realization that the story's not over yet.
As such, I would put Wardrobe as a close second behind Sorceror's Stone, and ahead of Fellowship. Stone gets the edge because the characters were more engaging than likeable than in Wardrobe, while Fellowship has a lot more slow points than Wardrobe.
Narnia having a wider array of interesting "species" doesn't hurt, either. Fights with a ton of human-like characters & orcs are interesting, but they don't hold a candle to a battle with humans, centaurs, minotaurs, dwarves, gryffins, wolves, cheetahs, lions, and a woman that can turn people to stone.
Overall, a damn good movie, I'd suggest it to anyone.
posted by Bill at 10:28 AM
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