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katsarisI end up feeling ridiculously guilty and disappointed in myself when I promise to write a review and I end up not doing it. Procrastination, laziness and being busy all conspired that I let aside my HP Goblet of Fire review halfway-through and didn't find the heart to pick it up again: I'm still hoping I'll have it up by year's end (which is still far from the "a month ago" that I had first hoped for) but eh....
...Ι went to see Narnia on Christmas, alongside with Tilemachos and his sis, so here's my review of *that* movie for compensation:
In short: Perhaps the best movie adaptation of a book I have ever seen -- I think it's the first time *ever* that I can say that the movie is possibly better than the book. Lovely and delightful in the characters, the atmosphere, in everything...
Characters: The characters are I think, if anything, defined even more sharply than in the book. They all have little traits that make them more *them* them, more earnest and real.
Peter tries to take charge and responsibility, be "the eldest". And it's a glorious addition and *improvement* over the book that Peter believes Aslan to be dead when he gives the battle -- and still goes through with it, leading admirably...
Susan's false sense of "practicality" (which is more like selfishness actually) becomes a sad foreshadowing of her loss in the last book -- perhaps even a clearer foreshadowing of the way she refuses to see Aslan in "Prince Caspian". Oh, Susan...
Edmund's adversarial relationship with Peter is again more clearly defined -- one also really gets the feeling that when Peter and Susan say "we were too harsh with him" they're really not just making excuses for their brother, that this is a case where truly their harsh attitude contributed to his betrayal. Even when criticizing actions of his that *should* be criticized, they were doing it in an generalizing way that could only lead to resentment, e.g. "Why don't you *ever* do what you are told?!" "You always make things worse!" "You never know when to stop.", etc, etc. His three betrayals (or atleast I consider them to be three) are actually moving from worse to better -- one for selfishness' sake in the Queen's Hall, one for his life's sake in her prison, and lastly for the fox's life's sake. That's a moral evolution of sorts. :-) And then he betrays no more.
Lucy gets the same smug "I told you so" look several times throughout the movie -- twice when she feels proven right about Narnia and *again* when they all meet Santa Claus. Very cute. She's also the one that feels most deeply throughout, most likely to cry or laugh -- which is again consistent not only with her age but also with the books, I believe... e.g. in the seventh book she's described as being the one who was so happy for being back in Narnia that she couldn't speak.
Specific scenes: *g* Speaking of Santa Claus, that was the one scene which I had been truly dreading to see its adaptation. It'd have been so easy to make it ridiculous. But they avoided that trap in all the best ways -- his costume for starters not the bright and cheerful red of modern custom, but one that truly looks ancient, like that of a warrior-king. The comments that surround his arrival are also all perfect from the incredulous Susan's "I've seen a lot of things since I came here but *this* is too much", all the way to the brilliant "I *told* you he was real" of Lucy.
Another scene that was an improvement over the original was the one with the fox being petrified. Besides Edmund trying to save it, the other improvement was the fox's dignified resistance -- and the way he turns around his usage of the word "Majesty" -- "Not that I want to be rude, but I wasn't referring to *you*" Wow! Way to turn a seeming act of subservience to an act of supreme defiance instead. Way, way cool, and a vast improvement over the book.
Nitpicks: I need to really scrape the bottom of the barrel to find *anything* to complain about in this adaptation. For example some nitpicks: The titles bestowed on Peter, Susan, Lucy, and more importantly Edmund -- these were not given them by Aslan -- in the book we're told how they earned them so that they became widely *known* as King Edmund the Just, Queen Lucy the Brave, etc, etc. It may seem trivial, but it does show them earning their positions and fames, not receiving them all as gifts. It was a minor loss though, and to tell the truth I have no idea how else it could be shown here without adding a clumsy voiceover.
*g* And I suppose I also missed a bit the scene where (in the book) Aslan plays truly happily with Lucy and Susan, letting them chase him around, soon after his resurrection --- but I understand why the movie-makers omitted it: it would have looked too much as if the three of them were wasting time frolicking around when Peter, Edmund and the whole of the army were all fighting for their lives.
One last thing. In the greek subtitles -- it would have been ultra-cool *if* when Aslan said "It is finished", if they had not translated it with the modern Greek equivalent "Exei teleiosei", but rather with the New Testament one: "Tetelesthai". *g* But then again that may have been heavy-handed.
---
Another amusing thing in the movie theater was all the commentary from kids behind me:
After Aslan dies, from some kid, desperately: "I know he's not dead, I know he's not!"
When the mice appear, from some different know-it-all kid: "They are gonna eat him." When Aslan's body disappears, probably the same kid: "The mice ate him."
And several times throughout the movie, in reference to Edmund: "What a snitch!" ("Τι καρφί!")
...Ι went to see Narnia on Christmas, alongside with Tilemachos and his sis, so here's my review of *that* movie for compensation:
In short: Perhaps the best movie adaptation of a book I have ever seen -- I think it's the first time *ever* that I can say that the movie is possibly better than the book. Lovely and delightful in the characters, the atmosphere, in everything...
Characters: The characters are I think, if anything, defined even more sharply than in the book. They all have little traits that make them more *them* them, more earnest and real.
Peter tries to take charge and responsibility, be "the eldest". And it's a glorious addition and *improvement* over the book that Peter believes Aslan to be dead when he gives the battle -- and still goes through with it, leading admirably...
Susan's false sense of "practicality" (which is more like selfishness actually) becomes a sad foreshadowing of her loss in the last book -- perhaps even a clearer foreshadowing of the way she refuses to see Aslan in "Prince Caspian". Oh, Susan...
Edmund's adversarial relationship with Peter is again more clearly defined -- one also really gets the feeling that when Peter and Susan say "we were too harsh with him" they're really not just making excuses for their brother, that this is a case where truly their harsh attitude contributed to his betrayal. Even when criticizing actions of his that *should* be criticized, they were doing it in an generalizing way that could only lead to resentment, e.g. "Why don't you *ever* do what you are told?!" "You always make things worse!" "You never know when to stop.", etc, etc. His three betrayals (or atleast I consider them to be three) are actually moving from worse to better -- one for selfishness' sake in the Queen's Hall, one for his life's sake in her prison, and lastly for the fox's life's sake. That's a moral evolution of sorts. :-) And then he betrays no more.
Lucy gets the same smug "I told you so" look several times throughout the movie -- twice when she feels proven right about Narnia and *again* when they all meet Santa Claus. Very cute. She's also the one that feels most deeply throughout, most likely to cry or laugh -- which is again consistent not only with her age but also with the books, I believe... e.g. in the seventh book she's described as being the one who was so happy for being back in Narnia that she couldn't speak.
Specific scenes: *g* Speaking of Santa Claus, that was the one scene which I had been truly dreading to see its adaptation. It'd have been so easy to make it ridiculous. But they avoided that trap in all the best ways -- his costume for starters not the bright and cheerful red of modern custom, but one that truly looks ancient, like that of a warrior-king. The comments that surround his arrival are also all perfect from the incredulous Susan's "I've seen a lot of things since I came here but *this* is too much", all the way to the brilliant "I *told* you he was real" of Lucy.
Another scene that was an improvement over the original was the one with the fox being petrified. Besides Edmund trying to save it, the other improvement was the fox's dignified resistance -- and the way he turns around his usage of the word "Majesty" -- "Not that I want to be rude, but I wasn't referring to *you*" Wow! Way to turn a seeming act of subservience to an act of supreme defiance instead. Way, way cool, and a vast improvement over the book.
Nitpicks: I need to really scrape the bottom of the barrel to find *anything* to complain about in this adaptation. For example some nitpicks: The titles bestowed on Peter, Susan, Lucy, and more importantly Edmund -- these were not given them by Aslan -- in the book we're told how they earned them so that they became widely *known* as King Edmund the Just, Queen Lucy the Brave, etc, etc. It may seem trivial, but it does show them earning their positions and fames, not receiving them all as gifts. It was a minor loss though, and to tell the truth I have no idea how else it could be shown here without adding a clumsy voiceover.
*g* And I suppose I also missed a bit the scene where (in the book) Aslan plays truly happily with Lucy and Susan, letting them chase him around, soon after his resurrection --- but I understand why the movie-makers omitted it: it would have looked too much as if the three of them were wasting time frolicking around when Peter, Edmund and the whole of the army were all fighting for their lives.
One last thing. In the greek subtitles -- it would have been ultra-cool *if* when Aslan said "It is finished", if they had not translated it with the modern Greek equivalent "Exei teleiosei", but rather with the New Testament one: "Tetelesthai". *g* But then again that may have been heavy-handed.
---
Another amusing thing in the movie theater was all the commentary from kids behind me:
After Aslan dies, from some kid, desperately: "I know he's not dead, I know he's not!"
When the mice appear, from some different know-it-all kid: "They are gonna eat him." When Aslan's body disappears, probably the same kid: "The mice ate him."
And several times throughout the movie, in reference to Edmund: "What a snitch!" ("Τι καρφί!")
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-12-31 04:50 am (UTC)http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2005-12-10-extra.shtml
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-04 06:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-04 11:28 am (UTC)However the Chronicles of Narnia were an exception -- after all I started reading them when I was still in grade school and I wasn't nearly as fluent in English back then. So half of the series (including, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe) I only read in Greek.
May I ask what caused you to ask this? Did the above post somehow betray that I've not read this book in the original English?
*g* Also may I ask (since you forgot to sign your comment) if you are perhaps anyone I know already? No problem if you don't want to respond to this, I'm just asking for curiosity's sake.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-05 08:35 pm (UTC)I haven't read translations of any book yet, and one of these days I will try, simply to see what the differences are, if there are any. I realize it's dependent on the translator's ability, but supposedly some of the better works would have been translated with great expertise. I may choose Narnia, in fact, as my first attempt. When it comes to movies, I've found that results do vary.
I haven't read the Chronicles so I can't tell you if your above post betrays anything :)
And yes I'm someone you already know, specifically from Rantburg, first letter of my pseudonym is "R"...the rest you can probably figure out :)