by Stanley Anderson » December 9th, 2005, 6:16 pm
So we can talk about it now? I'll add a few comments with possibly more to add later on as discussion develops. But if you haven't seen it yet, PLEASE do heed the spoiler alert in the subject line.
I, confessing to be known as the resident LotR movie hater, was surprisingly very pleased with the movie. I have to admit that it won me over early on -- or at least I found that it boded well -- when we got to see that they actually DID put the bluebottle into the movie, though it wasn't quite dead:-)
I was very impressed with the casting all round. Everyone looked pretty much "just like they ought to" and yet with some unexpected twists. I'm not sure what I thought of the initial attempt to "flesh out" Edmund's nastiness by tossing in the reference to his missing his father -- it didn't quite seem to go anywhere, but it didn't get in the way either. In any case, he seemed like a "real" boy gone wrong and not simply a cut-out "bad guy who finally realizes the error of his ways".
Jadis was wonderful. I'm glad they didn't go over the top with her and do the "shrill" thing. Even apart from her being an evil character, I loved her battle scenes -- very Eowyn-ish (or more how she could have been) in a way. I thought it was a particularly inspired "extra-textual" addition to have her wear the cuttings from Aslan's mane in the battle as a sort of pseudo-Aslan ("anti-Aslan?) after killing him -- it hearkens forward a bit, I think, to the "Tashlan" merging attempt by the Calormenes and Ginger in the Last Battle.
In another fascinating "hint" of what is to come in The Last Battle, I found it particularly chilling to hear, after Susan's proclamation of "Impossible" upon entering Narnia, Jadis near the end during the battle also saying "Impossible" when seeing the resurrected Aslan. The parallel seemed unmistakable to me, especially given the other foreboding hints of Susan's eventual turning away in the Last Battle (eg Lucy's "became boring" comment to her), but perhaps others would see it differently?
As I said, the casting and characterization were terrific, and I particularly enjoyed the very respectful and noble portrayal of Father Christmas -- very well done! And professor Kirk was well portrayed by Broadbent, almost unrecognizable, which is amazing since, though we love him as an actor, he is otherwise always so clearly Broadbentian in every other role we see him in.
And, with a very few exceptions, the changes, deletions, and additions to the story were well handled and quite well within in the spirit of the story I think. I did miss not seeing the sewing machine request by Mrs Beaver, and the tree-spirit bit seemed more or less "tossed in" because of a "heck, this is such a good special effect and we just have to use it somewhere in the movie" attitude. But the additional humourous lines added in here and there were done charmingly without resorting to "in-joking" between the director and the audience in a sort of superior and condescending "we know better" tone that many movies fall prey to.
(In a moment of Stanley-mischievousness, I couldn't help thinking of and waiting for one of the children or other characters to try touching their tongue to the frozen lamppost and getting stuck:-)
There was an audible gasp by most of the young teenage girls in the theatre when the grown-up Peter came into view riding his horse at the end. Trying to supplant Viggo and Orlando?:-)
The ending scene midway into the credits was nicely done and a lesson for all those people who can't wait to escape from the theatre the moment the credits start rolling. I could have done without the "songs" that seem to be de rigueur during the credits of all big movies these days, but they were pleasant enough I suppose.
By the way, was the audience in the shows that any of you were at as disrespectful as the one we were at? It was atrocious where we saw the movie. I wanted access to buttons I could push that would be connected to wires that would administer electric shocks in the chairs of all those kids who thought they were being so clever and naughty (and repetitious). Oh well.
perhaps more later,
--Stanley
…on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him that as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a fair green country under a swift sunrise.
Not used in anything like the same circumstances as in John 19, but after the same victory over evil.
