Saturday, December 10, 2005

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

I saw the movie yesterday. It was amazing. As far as adaptations from a book go, I think I was more favorably impressed with this than with Lord of the Rings. I had read some reviews that were not happy with the computer graphics animals, or the pacing of the movie. For the first, go watch the BBC production from the 80's. Anything is better. I didn't notice a problem with the pacing either. The book kind of takes a good long time about actually getting them all into the Wardrobe and the races through the rest.

I didn't understand why they inserted the ice flow scene. That was the only glaring jar to me.

I loved the additional Edmund footage. Especially the scene imprisoned in the Witch's castle. He ends up face to face with Mr. Tumnus, who he betrayed. It's the first time Edmund is forced to see the consequences of his selfish actions. In the books Edmund is self centered and greedy, then he disappears while the others look for him, and he reappears after Aslan's scouts rescue him. The character development happens mostly behind the scenes. In the movie, a few extra seconds of footage gives Edmund much greater depth. Susan seemed more harpy to me than I remembered, but I'm going to have to re-read the book. Lucy nearly stole the show, and Liam Neeson is a superb Aslan.

As a sidenote, I was more moved by Aslan's death than the entire Passion of the Christ.