I saw the movie Sunday afternoon and it is pretty good. There are folks who can point out a quibble here and there, but I didn't find anything jarring. Or at least nothing that bugged me that didn't bug me in the book. If you've been pondering seeing the movie, I recommend you do go see it, and stay for a bit after the credits start rolling.
The showing of the fox at the coronation, showing he wasn't forgotten by the river, was a nice touch and it wasn't overdone.
The only thing bugging me is something that's bugged me for a long time about Narnia and I know I ought to just relax and accept it. Narnia is, after all, a magical realm. So magical that even humans (the least magical of all creatures, at least to us) can have magical effect.
But the gas lamppost bugs me anyway. maybe it's explained in a later book in the series, which I have not read. The simple explanation is, "It's Narnia. It's magic. It just is." And that it's recognizable lamppost, well it is on or near the border shared with the human world. SO maybe our world has a bit of a magical influence.
Or if not magic, or entirely magic, it's a way to burn off seeping gas or some such. Or maybe there's a Narnia Gas & Light company we don't see which laid a gas line out in the woods just for the border marking lamppost. But nobody seems to use gas.
Not really a big deal, just one of those odd things that I end up thinking about.
The other thing is that it seems every animal talks, but that make the end weird. Hunting the stag seems an odd thing in such a word, unless it's something like the world of Kevin & Kell.
It also strikes me that the deer or reindeer are about the only non-speaking animals. They get the treatment that horses or oxen usual get: they're non-speaking power and transportation, and that's all. At least Phillip the horse got a couple lines.
One thing I really liked was that C.S. Lewis, unlike most, has centaurs on the side of the good guys.
no subject
Date: 13 Dec 2005 15:33 (UTC)I thought it was beautifully done and enjoyed the creatures. The only thing I found jarring was some of the animal movement. Lions DO NOT have horse asses. For the faces, I was forgiving because they needed to connect with the audience and ununciate like a human. It was especially obvious which parts were running, real wolves and not.
I don't blame the animators, I blame my own biases on natural history :)
no subject
Date: 13 Dec 2005 17:12 (UTC)basically, while Narnia was being founded/created, someone from our world ends up there, carrying a piece of metal broken off a lamp-post. They drop it, and there is so much magic flowing around that it grows into a lamp-post.
(It's in The Magician's Nephew)
no subject
Date: 13 Dec 2005 17:16 (UTC)Aha! That fits well with things. But I am still amused by picturing a Narnia Gas & Light company.
no subject
Date: 14 Dec 2005 03:16 (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 Dec 2005 22:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 Dec 2005 17:34 (UTC)I could be wrong tho.
lol @ Narnia Gas & Light :D I wonder if Mr. Tumnus takes care of the bill?
no subject
Date: 14 Dec 2005 02:09 (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 Dec 2005 02:48 (UTC)Ah, something not clear in the movie and that I'd forgotten from the book.
no subject
Date: 14 Dec 2005 05:18 (UTC)glad you liked it!