I don’t think I have much to add, but I’ll give you all my personal opinion (a bit late because the Narnia movie here was not released till the 23rd):
Well, the Narnia movie was certainly interesting. Actually, I loved it. I have seen it twice now and still would not mind seeing it again. It was even better than seeing Lord of the Rings, since I was far more familiar with the Narnia books than I was with Tolkien’s work at the time.
They followed the book very closely – as close as I have ever seen a movie follow a book – which I can only admire. The few additions did not seem over the top or in anyway degrading. The special effects were marvellous. Especially the talking animals greatly exceeded my expectations. I was quite impressed with the performances of all the children, the youngest girl in particular, and found the overall casting very well done. The humour sometimes seemed a little cheesy and I heard many people complaining about the length – two of my friends admitted to being bored during the first half of the movie -, but that did not bother me. I must say I agree with Valesse about some of the costumes. Honestly, that dress was awful.
It is interesting how this movie has awakened a hype in Holland, but I fear it is a hype mostly limited to the fantasy fans and people my age. The books were not very well known here at all and there are still many people who look surprised when I tell them The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe was originally a book. As for the general public, the movie was not well received here. The reviews were pretty bad – some downright awful - and since practically none of the parents knew the book, most were rather apprehensive to take their children to see a movie that might possibly be violent. Of course, I have done my best to promote it – and the books, too, but even my parents rather believe the critics than me.
Compared to Lord of the Rings, I still think Peter Jackson wins. His challenge was far greater, of course, and his movies were revolutionary, whereas Narnia is merely entertaining. But I do feel that Narnia has really shown that a book can be adapted to the screen without doing serious damage to the contents. For example, this adaptation was endlessly superior to the Harry Potter movies, which make me cringe every time I watch them. And of course - as books, Lord of the Rings is far better than Narnia. When reading Narnia, I sometimes feel a little patronised, while in Lord of the Rings - even though it has its own moral - I never feel like someone is trying to force me to think in a certain way.
As to the religious theme: I’m not really a Christian myself – just a little, every once in a while- , but I guess davem used the right quote:
Quote:
|
'Jesus to me was just a man in a book, but I could have died for Aslan'
|
I guess I’m not that surprised that evangelists seize the opportunity to do some promoting, and they have the right to. I fear that they will mostly get puzzled looks from confused children, though.