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Seeing the teaser trailer of X3 reminded me of the hotly anticipated (at least in my household) movie opening this Friday.
Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
My five year old and I watched the "Making of" on the discovery channel last week, and now it is a part of his daily question retinue. "Dad, is today the day we can go see the Narnia movie?" The CGI, and effects work in this film is phenomenal.
I suspect I will see it this weekend, and I will most likely drop some cash on the DVD version when/if it is available.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
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kandrathe,Dec 6 2005, 03:17 PM Wrote:Seeing the teaser trailer of X3 reminded me of the hotly anticipated (at least in my household) movie opening this Friday.
Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
My five year old and I watched the "Making of" on the discovery channel last week, and now it is a part of his daily question retinue. "Dad, is today the day we can go see the Narnia movie?" The CGI, and effects work in this film is phenomenal.
I suspect I will see it this weekend, and I will most likely drop some cash on the DVD version when/if it is available.
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The wife and I would also like to go see it. She has read the books, I have not. Either way, I think it looks nifty.
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They're going to butcher it.
"AND THEN THE PALADIN TOOK MY EYES!"
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Rinnhart,Dec 6 2005, 03:51 PM Wrote:They're going to butcher it.
[right][snapback]96368[/snapback][/right] At least they're not trying to stuff all the books into one movie.
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Rinnhart,Dec 6 2005, 03:51 PM Wrote:They're going to butcher it.
[right][snapback]96368[/snapback][/right] I did a quick search for some reviews...
Narnia Fan Reviews
Test screening review from Sept 1, 2005...
It seems that even the devoted fans are convinced that the movie is better than Ok.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
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kandrathe,Dec 6 2005, 04:06 PM Wrote:I did a quick search for some reviews...
Narnia Fan Reviews
Test screening review from Sept 1, 2005...
It seems that even the devoted fans are convinced that the movie is better than Ok.
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I don't doubt that it will be good. I simply take issue with making a movie/video game/book out of every decent movie/video game/book.
If you're going to change a story to make a movie out of it, why not create something original instead? I promise you can find an original script for less than licensing a well known book series.
I watched a 'making of' special on it. One of the producers (or something, I didn't catch his name) made a comment along the lines of "You know, the battle in the book, it's like half a page maybe, but now we've got this huge battle, just like I always imagined it to be, with thousands of animals and monsters fighting!" Cool. Sounds like a really spectacular scene. Hey, maybe C. S. Lewis kept the battle in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe short for a reason? Oh, that's crazy, who doesn't want a massive, violent, gory war? What reason could he have had for not dwelling upon the battle?
How about the philosophical points, did those make it through the coolness filter?
But we have $180,000,000! How can this not be awesome?
Yeah, and that's exactly the point. To be awesome.
"AND THEN THE PALADIN TOOK MY EYES!"
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12-07-2005, 01:45 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-07-2005, 01:47 AM by Doc.)
Actually, about that battle scene.
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, along with all of the other books, were heavily edited and trimmed down because at the time, the publishers believed that kids would never read such long novels. LWW had over 100 pages trimmed out.
I am pretty confident that had the books been kept whole, the battle scene would have been in greater detail.
The edited texts have never been released in whole, but some snippits about Char and the White Witch were released in a book about CS Lewis and his life, but I can not think of the name of that book off of the top of my head.
I heard on the radio that Disney is already hard at work scrubbing away all of the racist Arab stereotypes out of "The Horse and His Boy."
All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.
"Isn't this where...."
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Doc,Dec 6 2005, 08:45 PM Wrote:LWW had over 100 pages trimmed out.
I am pretty confident that had the books been kept whole, the battle scene would have been in greater detail.
Hmm. That's a very interesting question. Hopefully some day the full unedited novel will be released.
Though I think both you and Rinnhart are correct in different ways. The battle scenes would probably be longer, but how much longer would they really be? If they are the places they cut much of the pages out of, then they must not have been deemed as an important focus point for the author.
To me, the short focus on the battle scene is reminiscant of The Hobbit. More-or-less the big battle starts, Bilbo passes out, and he wakes up after it.
All I have to say is Mmm Turkish Delights. Mmmm.
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Doc,Dec 6 2005, 08:45 PM Wrote:I heard on the radio that Disney is already hard at work scrubbing away all of the racist Arab stereotypes out of "The Horse and His Boy."
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They really plan to do "The Horse and His Boy"?
It doesn't really fit the story line of the rest of the books, since the children (i.e. Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy) are not the central characters. I would have thought that if they were to carry on with the stories, they would skip that one.
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ShadowHM,Dec 6 2005, 11:07 PM Wrote:They really plan to do "The Horse and His Boy"?
It doesn't really fit the story line of the rest of the books, since the children (i.e. Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy) are not the central characters. I would have thought that if they were to carry on with the stories, they would skip that one.
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Disney and Walden have a contract for all seven books.
All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.
"Isn't this where...."
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ShadowHM,Dec 6 2005, 08:45 PM Wrote:It doesn't really fit the story line of the rest of the books, since the children (i.e. Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy) are not the central characters. I would have thought that if they were to carry on with the stories, they would skip that one.
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Yes, they are making all the novels into movies. The Narnia book collection I have starts with #1 The LW&W, however in a newer collection just released, the series starts at #1 with The Magicians Nephew. It's funny because my cousin and I got in a big argument over which book was #1 in the Narnia series and it turns out we were both right, just different versions I guess.
It seems to me that if the creators of the Narnia cinematic series did any serious research such as the depths of Peter Jackson did, they would surly know of this "edited" works left out of the C.S. Lewis novels and would definitely include what they felt would look good on film. However, since they started with the LW&W and not the more recent variation with The Magicians Nephew at #1, I doubt they dug very deeply, which is rather a shame.
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Nobody really knows what happened to the scraps. CS Lewis' family has been very tight lipped about them. They have never been released, save for a few snippits, like the parts about Jadis and Char. Some suspect that the publishers may have done some dirty deeds when they edited, and may have done something to retain the rights of said works, so they could be sitting in some vault some place gathering dust, never to see the light of day, much like the fabled spider cave scene from King Kong. We know it was shot, some of the scripts and props still exist, but nobody has ever actually seen a copy. At the time, it was censored, snipped, for being graphically violent.
It has also been said that there was an 8th book. People have talked about it, CS Lewis made a very cryptic remark about Narnia being finished after it was an octet, but if this book was made, it was never released.
As it was, and this may suprise people, the books sold very poorly when they were released. They were what amounted to dime store serial novels, and Lewis was pressured to release one about every year.
All I remember about the mention about Jadis and Char was that Jadis had great magic and technology, and she had burned her world with great fire. Probably a subtle reference to the nuclear panic of the age.
All alone, or in twos,
The ones who really love you
Walk up and down outside the wall.
Some hand in hand
And some gathered together in bands.
The bleeding hearts and artists
Make their stand.
And when they've given you their all
Some stagger and fall, after all it's not easy
Banging your heart against some mad buggers wall.
"Isn't this where...."
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Rinnhart,Dec 6 2005, 09:33 PM Wrote:I don't doubt that it will be good. I simply take issue with making a movie/video game/book out of every decent movie/video game/book.
If you're going to change a story to make a movie out of it, why not create something original instead? I promise you can find an original script for less than licensing a well known book series.
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Because movie studios are conservative. They will only bankroll films that have name recognition. Buying an original script is just a drop in the bucket compared the how much they spend on producing the movie.
It's far safer to produce a movie with built-in name recognition. Look at all of the huge blockbusters this year.
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005)
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Batman Begins (2005)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Madagascar (2005)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Hitch (2005)
The Longest Yard (2005)
Look at how many are based on previous franchises. Star Wars and Batman are both prequels. War of the Worlds, Charlie, and The Longest Yard are all remakes. Harry Potter is both a book and a sequel. Madagascar is the token CGI animated kiddie movie of the year which always sells well. I don't know the history of Wedding Crashers, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, or Hitch, so they may be the only original screenplays.
And then look at some of the other good grossing movies this year. Sin City is not original. Fantastic Four is not original. The Dukes of Hazzard is not original. I could go on and on (Doom, House of Wax, Land of the Dead, etc). It's quite rare that an original (not based on a previous franchise) movie sells well at the box office.
I really don't agree with it, but this is the way it is. Hollywood is wary of original stuff. It is untested and scary to them. They like to know the appeal of the franchise before they plunk down their millions of dollars before they make a go of it. I guess I can't really say that I blame them.
I like orginal stuff just as much as the next guy, and I like really obscure stuff more than most. I do, however, think that Hollywood is producing pretty decent films on some of those non-original franchises. I liked Star Wars III. I liked War of the Worlds. I loved Sin City. Batman Begins was better than any of the previous Batman movies. I hated Fantastic Four, but we can't win them all.
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12-07-2005, 07:17 AM
(This post was last modified: 12-07-2005, 07:25 AM by Rinnhart.)
MEAT,Dec 6 2005, 08:41 PM Wrote:Yes, they are making all the novels into movies. The Narnia book collection I have starts with #1 The LW&W, however in a newer collection just released, the series starts at #1 with The Magicians Nephew. It's funny because my cousin and I got in a big argument over which book was #1 in the Narnia series and it turns out we were both right, just different versions I guess.
It seems to me that if the creators of the Narnia cinematic series did any serious research such as the depths of Peter Jackson did, they would surly know of this "edited" works left out of the C.S. Lewis novels and would definitely include what they felt would look good on film. However, since they started with the LW&W and not the more recent variation with The Magicians Nephew at #1, I doubt they dug very deeply, which is rather a shame.
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Reading The Magician's Nephew first is doing yourself a disservice.
Chronologically, yes, it's first. But part of the magic is learning more and more about Narnia a bit at a time through the books. It's this huge, incredible world and you know as little as the characters from our world do about it.
I had reread The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, agh, now I have to reread them all.
Edit:
Recognizing that they're children's books: I think the Magician's Nephew is a bit harder to understand. I remember when my mother first read them to me and my sister- I barely understood TMN. TLtWatW, however, we got no problem.
Classic good vs. evil or philosophical musing for the first book of a series?
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Rinnhart,Dec 6 2005, 08:33 PM Wrote:I don't doubt that it will be good. I simply take issue with making a movie/video game/book out of every decent movie/video game/book.
...
[right][snapback]96401[/snapback][/right] I too hate to see good stories butchered by film, but I do like to see a faithful interpretation transformed to different media. Or, perhaps it's the crass marketing and commercialism to which you object. No argument from me on that. Still, I would rather they spend 180M and get it right, than 30M and butcher it. I'm more disappointed when a good film gets recycled through Hollywood grist mill, or transformed into a cash cow TV series.
Actually, I think many novels or short stories that stand well on their own as stories transform into good screen plays. Some stories that I think work well on film are Blade Runner by Philip K Dick, Catch 22 by Joseph Heller, or 12 Angry Men by Reginald Rose (as well as many others). In contrast many screen plays are formulaic, predictable, and *yawn* boring to me. Some of that Hollywood schlock seems to be derived via stream of conciousness.
Then again, I just saw Timeline (a book by Micheal Crichton), butchered by Richard Donner, and I still can't stop retching. Then you have the impossible films like Dune, which could never be made into a sensible 3 hour movie.
Anyway, there are no sacred cows when it comes to Disney or Hollywood profits. Just be happy it is not another Pocahontas-ized animated Disney "classic", but rather a dignified re-telling which is faithful to the story C.S. Lewis penned.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
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MEAT,Dec 6 2005, 11:41 PM Wrote:The Narnia book collection I have starts with #1 The LW&W, however in a newer collection just released, the series starts at #1 with The Magicians Nephew. It's funny because my cousin and I got in a big argument over which book was #1 in the Narnia series and it turns out we were both right, just different versions I guess.
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Newer? :blink:
My tattered copies of those books have 1967 listed as the publication date (they are the Puffin softback series), and they start with the Magician's Nephew.
(Yes, I have loved those stories for a long time. :wub: )
And you may call it righteousness
When civility survives,
But I've had dinner with the Devil and
I know nice from right.
From Dinner with the Devil, by Big Rude Jake
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kandrathe,Dec 7 2005, 01:19 AM Wrote:Anyway, there are no sacred cows when it comes to Disney or Hollywood profits. Just be happy it is not another Pocahontas-ized animated Disney "classic", but rather a dignified re-telling which is faithful to the story C.S. Lewis penned.
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I read somewhere recently that C.S. Lewis abhorred the thought of live action productions of his books, and had said animated versions would be fine so long as they weren't by Disney.
So, 2005 rolls around and we have a live action, Disney, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Probably just rumormill fluff.
Right?
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I'm pretty sure "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" was written first. It also has the most title recognition among the Narnia books - I'm sure I'm not the only one who was first introduced to the world in this book, and went on to discover the others. Hollywood adapts existing properties because they already have an established audience - it makes complete sense to start with the most well known book.
To my mind however, the other books in the series don't really have "blockbuster" written all over them. Apart from TLTWATW, I dont' see any of the other books having the same "must see" appeal as, for example, the Harry Potter sequels.
Chris
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Icebird,Dec 7 2005, 11:58 AM Wrote:I'm pretty sure "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" was written first. It also has the most title recognition among the Narnia books - I'm sure I'm not the only one who was first introduced to the world in this book, and went on to discover the others. Hollywood adapts existing properties because they already have an established audience - it makes complete sense to start with the most well known book.
To my mind however, the other books in the series don't really have "blockbuster" written all over them. Apart from TLTWATW, I dont' see any of the other books having the same "must see" appeal as, for example, the Harry Potter sequels.
Chris
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The Last Battle and The Silver Chair have some potential, though the Voyage of the Dawn Treader will probably be the one they make due to its adventure settings.
Occhi
Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the Men 'O War!
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Rinnhart,Dec 7 2005, 08:24 AM Wrote:I read somewhere recently that C.S. Lewis abhorred the thought of live action productions of his books, and had said animated versions would be fine so long as they weren't by Disney.
So, 2005 rolls around and we have a live action, Disney, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Probably just rumormill fluff.
Right?
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The BBC had a live action t.v. series of the Chronicles you could catch on PBS occasionally. It was quite campy but all there was for a long time.
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