Prince Caspian
A few things--numbered, because I use lists when I feel scattered:
1. No Half-Blood Prince trailer. I started to realize there wouldn't be as the afternoon wore on and no one had posted a cell-phone video of anything on YouTube yet.
2. The soundtrack was, again, really lovely, and Brett the Vet and I seat-danced to the Reepicheep theme, which I have promised to acquire for him.
3. Really beautifully filmed, particularly Caspian's escape at the beginning, lots of nice swooping, beautiful cinematography, great costumes, wonderful armor.
4. Kind of a mess, storywise. I mean, I liked the movie. I would see it again; I will totally own it. It all flows logically, that's fine, it's just... it feels so overstuffed. There were points when I honestly could not figure out how much movie was left. Maybe it was frontloaded with too many Miraz machinations? I don't really know how to put my finger on it--I'm not saying I insist on a three-act structure or anything, but there's a point when you can go, "Okay, this is the beginning of the movie, where they start establishing things. Okay, this is the middle of the movie. Okay, this is where everything starts winding down." I got to the "winding down" part in Prince Caspian, and we still had another battle and a half to go. I don't know--maybe if I saw it again? Which I wouldn't mind at all.
5. It's not The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Try to keep that in mind when you go--it's not going to have that innocence, that sense of wonder; the book itself doesn't have that. The book itself, like the movie, is about going back and finding everything you loved destroyed, and having to set things right, prove yourself, and prove your faith. It is, by necessity, darker in tone (if not in cinematography), and probably better released as a summer movie than a Christmas movie, honestly.
6. This is, in part, because there's a lot more action. Remember the link I posted earlier today? Yeah. The PG rating is a lie. Keep that in mind if you're taking young kids to see it. It's largely bloodless, but there is a lot of action and violence. And it's not just stuffed animals wailing on each other this time; it's people, too, which may make it seem more real to younger kids. Also, the movie starts with a really screamy childbirth scene; a young child behind me (this is at 8:30 pm, mind you) blurted out, "What happened to her?" This is not even to speak of the part where half Caspian's followers are trapped in a courtyard and pretty much slaughtered by Miraz's archers. Yes, actually killed dead, while he and Peter watch. I mean, the boys angst very prettily, but it's still really disturbing.
7. Y hello thar, Prince Caspian.
8. Okay, to be serious: Ben Barnes does a really good job, and gets several great emotional notes to hit. His final confrontation with Miraz is really, really well done.
9. That said, why was he wearing a blouse and gauchos at the end?
10. There's a reason Peter announces at the end that he and Susan won't be coming back to Narnia: Queen Susan has got it goin' on. I mean, she already had it goin' on in the first movie, so you can imagine how bodacious she is now. There's a scene where Anna Popplewell and Georgie Henley are lying on the ground by a campfire, and Popplewell's breasts are just... well, I'm a straight girl and I noticed them. Clearly Susan knows that her time is up, too, because there she is at the end, in her off-the-shoulder princess gown, snogging King Caspian. If she's going to hell for boys and lipstick, she might as well start now.
11. Speaking of hell, I think I just bought a one-way ticket there, because Skandar Keynes is rapidly growing into a very fine-looking young man who was not born in the '90s, thank you very much holy Moses, just set me out on the ice floe now.
12. All in all, I liked it. We may have been sitting too close, if that makes any sense--we didn't get there in time to grab the rail like we usually do, but ended up in the very second row in the front. I almost wonder if I'd feel less overwhelmed by the movie if I'd been sitting further back. Anyway: would pay to see again, probably will pay to see again, will own the inevitable special-edition DVD.
1. No Half-Blood Prince trailer. I started to realize there wouldn't be as the afternoon wore on and no one had posted a cell-phone video of anything on YouTube yet.
2. The soundtrack was, again, really lovely, and Brett the Vet and I seat-danced to the Reepicheep theme, which I have promised to acquire for him.
3. Really beautifully filmed, particularly Caspian's escape at the beginning, lots of nice swooping, beautiful cinematography, great costumes, wonderful armor.
4. Kind of a mess, storywise. I mean, I liked the movie. I would see it again; I will totally own it. It all flows logically, that's fine, it's just... it feels so overstuffed. There were points when I honestly could not figure out how much movie was left. Maybe it was frontloaded with too many Miraz machinations? I don't really know how to put my finger on it--I'm not saying I insist on a three-act structure or anything, but there's a point when you can go, "Okay, this is the beginning of the movie, where they start establishing things. Okay, this is the middle of the movie. Okay, this is where everything starts winding down." I got to the "winding down" part in Prince Caspian, and we still had another battle and a half to go. I don't know--maybe if I saw it again? Which I wouldn't mind at all.
5. It's not The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Try to keep that in mind when you go--it's not going to have that innocence, that sense of wonder; the book itself doesn't have that. The book itself, like the movie, is about going back and finding everything you loved destroyed, and having to set things right, prove yourself, and prove your faith. It is, by necessity, darker in tone (if not in cinematography), and probably better released as a summer movie than a Christmas movie, honestly.
6. This is, in part, because there's a lot more action. Remember the link I posted earlier today? Yeah. The PG rating is a lie. Keep that in mind if you're taking young kids to see it. It's largely bloodless, but there is a lot of action and violence. And it's not just stuffed animals wailing on each other this time; it's people, too, which may make it seem more real to younger kids. Also, the movie starts with a really screamy childbirth scene; a young child behind me (this is at 8:30 pm, mind you) blurted out, "What happened to her?" This is not even to speak of the part where half Caspian's followers are trapped in a courtyard and pretty much slaughtered by Miraz's archers. Yes, actually killed dead, while he and Peter watch. I mean, the boys angst very prettily, but it's still really disturbing.
7. Y hello thar, Prince Caspian.
8. Okay, to be serious: Ben Barnes does a really good job, and gets several great emotional notes to hit. His final confrontation with Miraz is really, really well done.
9. That said, why was he wearing a blouse and gauchos at the end?
10. There's a reason Peter announces at the end that he and Susan won't be coming back to Narnia: Queen Susan has got it goin' on. I mean, she already had it goin' on in the first movie, so you can imagine how bodacious she is now. There's a scene where Anna Popplewell and Georgie Henley are lying on the ground by a campfire, and Popplewell's breasts are just... well, I'm a straight girl and I noticed them. Clearly Susan knows that her time is up, too, because there she is at the end, in her off-the-shoulder princess gown, snogging King Caspian. If she's going to hell for boys and lipstick, she might as well start now.
11. Speaking of hell, I think I just bought a one-way ticket there, because Skandar Keynes is rapidly growing into a very fine-looking young man who was not born in the '90s, thank you very much holy Moses, just set me out on the ice floe now.
12. All in all, I liked it. We may have been sitting too close, if that makes any sense--we didn't get there in time to grab the rail like we usually do, but ended up in the very second row in the front. I almost wonder if I'd feel less overwhelmed by the movie if I'd been sitting further back. Anyway: would pay to see again, probably will pay to see again, will own the inevitable special-edition DVD.