(no subject)
Now for the second thing I want to rant about, well review actually.
Chronicles of Narnia
Now to start off I've never read the book. I have not been a fan of it before, but after watching the movie I can certainetly see its appeal.
If you wanted to watch it for the battle between the two massive armies you saw in the trailer don't worry it won't cut back on it. That battle scene made the movie worth it, as you can expect from the people who did similar scenes for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'd have to say that if you did watch it for the battle scenes you got your money's worth.
What was wrong with it? For anything else other than the battle scene you may be disappointed. That is not to say the plot or story was necessarily bad, it's just that keep in mind this is made by Disney, and C.S. Lewis wrote this book for children. Not for the adolescent generation of today who want kickass battles and the like. So you do have kids wielding weapons and killing all kinds of monsters. This theme may not resonate with everybody, but for a kids movie I'm pretty sure they would enjoy it. Although you should keep in mind there is killing, and for the really young the Witch can be pretty scary.
Plot-wise there are some plot holes. Again, I have not read the book so maybe C.S. Lewis does cover certain aspects that the movie missed because it had to edit those scenes out. After all this movie is 3 hours long, it wouldn't surprise me if things were edited out just so we wouldn't have our asses fall asleep in the theatre (although mine still did). As a result you get certain "scratchy" moments. Such as hardened bonds and relationships amongst the characters you only see develop over the course of the split second between scenes. Without getting too much into spoilers I found myself scratching my head at certain emotional scenes wondering "Since when did Character X care about Character Y?" Also because it is a children's movie don't expect intense drama. (Kinda a spoiler so read on at your own risk) Like how certain characters won't die, or how it only shows the "bad guys" being defeated but not the kill itself. Also at the end of the great battle scene you're left with an ambiguous assumption of how many people actually were killed, but it's a children's movie so yeah. There's also the fact that in what seems like a short while in the movie the kids suddenly become experts at their weapons without ever having any prior training. (end semi-spoilerage) But still the actors didn't let up despite the supposed editing. There was still depth in their acting, and there weren't any blatant scenes of anyone necessarily being out of character. I especially liked the acting of Tilda Swinton, or maybe you'd remember her as the angel Gabriel from Constantine. She did a really good job with he role as the Witch, after all she scared the kids in the theatre. The kids in the movie...well I can't say their acting was superb, but considering the fact that they were staring at CGI animations of fellow characters in the story; they didn't suck, and they didn't rock either. How's that? They had a real good relationship with the rest of the actors, and they were a great help to progressing the plot as main characters of the story. That is if you can let yourself get over the fact they're kids with swords, bows, arrows, and bloody daggers. Some people in the theatre couldn't get over that but it's a kid's movie pal, deal with it.
As you would expect from the Dean Wright the world created was fantastic. The special effects worked nicely into everything around the actors. He, along with his fellow special affects crew, did an excellent job at creating a whole new fantasy world for audiences to immerse themselves in. And I said this before but I'll say it again, the battle scene rocked, especially with all the mythical creatures in it, and how they were involved was just greatly done. Unfortunately there were some bad points. For example the minotaurs didn't exactly have a whole lot of expression with their faces. Just a jaw that dropped as they roared. Don't get me wrong, the detail on it was incredible but I would have liked a bit more expression such as a fierce angry face in battle or something. Maybe it was too hard to see amongst the dark fur that he was glaring at you, but I didn't catch it. The movie was kinda dark when I was watching it, and it'd switch from dark scenes into lighter ones and that really messed up my pupils.
Overall it was a great movie. Just don't go into it expecting a movie about war with fight scenes, and rampant killings. This isn't Lord of the Rings, and this isn't a rated R movie. It may be PG13 but it is still made by Disney for kids. If you go for the aforementioned you might as well wait for a couple of hours before entering the theatre. Not saying the other scenes weren't nicely done, but people were snickering at how dorky the movie was because of that, or decided to have conversations while these scenes were taking place.
I'm sure if you are a fan you'd enjoy the movie, as they don't quite explain everything and focused on the main plot of it all. So if you've read the book I'm sure you'd understand exactly what's going on with all the creatures and such. I don't think it's that bad, and overall it was fine. I wouldn't necessarily watch it again, but it's for a younger audience so my opinion isn't exactly unbiased here.
Chronicles of Narnia
Now to start off I've never read the book. I have not been a fan of it before, but after watching the movie I can certainetly see its appeal.
If you wanted to watch it for the battle between the two massive armies you saw in the trailer don't worry it won't cut back on it. That battle scene made the movie worth it, as you can expect from the people who did similar scenes for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'd have to say that if you did watch it for the battle scenes you got your money's worth.
What was wrong with it? For anything else other than the battle scene you may be disappointed. That is not to say the plot or story was necessarily bad, it's just that keep in mind this is made by Disney, and C.S. Lewis wrote this book for children. Not for the adolescent generation of today who want kickass battles and the like. So you do have kids wielding weapons and killing all kinds of monsters. This theme may not resonate with everybody, but for a kids movie I'm pretty sure they would enjoy it. Although you should keep in mind there is killing, and for the really young the Witch can be pretty scary.
Plot-wise there are some plot holes. Again, I have not read the book so maybe C.S. Lewis does cover certain aspects that the movie missed because it had to edit those scenes out. After all this movie is 3 hours long, it wouldn't surprise me if things were edited out just so we wouldn't have our asses fall asleep in the theatre (although mine still did). As a result you get certain "scratchy" moments. Such as hardened bonds and relationships amongst the characters you only see develop over the course of the split second between scenes. Without getting too much into spoilers I found myself scratching my head at certain emotional scenes wondering "Since when did Character X care about Character Y?" Also because it is a children's movie don't expect intense drama. (Kinda a spoiler so read on at your own risk) Like how certain characters won't die, or how it only shows the "bad guys" being defeated but not the kill itself. Also at the end of the great battle scene you're left with an ambiguous assumption of how many people actually were killed, but it's a children's movie so yeah. There's also the fact that in what seems like a short while in the movie the kids suddenly become experts at their weapons without ever having any prior training. (end semi-spoilerage) But still the actors didn't let up despite the supposed editing. There was still depth in their acting, and there weren't any blatant scenes of anyone necessarily being out of character. I especially liked the acting of Tilda Swinton, or maybe you'd remember her as the angel Gabriel from Constantine. She did a really good job with he role as the Witch, after all she scared the kids in the theatre. The kids in the movie...well I can't say their acting was superb, but considering the fact that they were staring at CGI animations of fellow characters in the story; they didn't suck, and they didn't rock either. How's that? They had a real good relationship with the rest of the actors, and they were a great help to progressing the plot as main characters of the story. That is if you can let yourself get over the fact they're kids with swords, bows, arrows, and bloody daggers. Some people in the theatre couldn't get over that but it's a kid's movie pal, deal with it.
As you would expect from the Dean Wright the world created was fantastic. The special effects worked nicely into everything around the actors. He, along with his fellow special affects crew, did an excellent job at creating a whole new fantasy world for audiences to immerse themselves in. And I said this before but I'll say it again, the battle scene rocked, especially with all the mythical creatures in it, and how they were involved was just greatly done. Unfortunately there were some bad points. For example the minotaurs didn't exactly have a whole lot of expression with their faces. Just a jaw that dropped as they roared. Don't get me wrong, the detail on it was incredible but I would have liked a bit more expression such as a fierce angry face in battle or something. Maybe it was too hard to see amongst the dark fur that he was glaring at you, but I didn't catch it. The movie was kinda dark when I was watching it, and it'd switch from dark scenes into lighter ones and that really messed up my pupils.
Overall it was a great movie. Just don't go into it expecting a movie about war with fight scenes, and rampant killings. This isn't Lord of the Rings, and this isn't a rated R movie. It may be PG13 but it is still made by Disney for kids. If you go for the aforementioned you might as well wait for a couple of hours before entering the theatre. Not saying the other scenes weren't nicely done, but people were snickering at how dorky the movie was because of that, or decided to have conversations while these scenes were taking place.
I'm sure if you are a fan you'd enjoy the movie, as they don't quite explain everything and focused on the main plot of it all. So if you've read the book I'm sure you'd understand exactly what's going on with all the creatures and such. I don't think it's that bad, and overall it was fine. I wouldn't necessarily watch it again, but it's for a younger audience so my opinion isn't exactly unbiased here.