Narnia?

So no one's seen Narnia yet?


Saw it today and liked it more than I thought I would. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't known it was a Christian allegory going in. But all the kids were good and the FX excellent. The littlest girl is going to give Dakota Fanning a run for her money.

It didn't make me want to run out and buy the statues...but I did think it a very good film.

Wow, this is the very reason I got on to post. Beat me by a few seconds Dave.
I went last night and thought it was great myself! I didnt know about the Christianity symbolism til I saw an article about it at work. I agree Dave, Dakota Fanning came to mind after that little girl had a terrific display of acting in Narnia. The movie followed the book 95%. The movie was able to pull off the kids going off to war but I did have a problem with the effects on Aslan. Just looked way too fake here and there. Of course the battle scene was great, Jadis kicked some a$$!
Although I loved it and will be getting General Otmin and General Orielus from Weta, my younger brother was dissapointed. He was convinced there would be more battle action which does not happen 3/4 into the film. All I had to say is thats what happen when you make final judgments with the trailers alone.

Haven't seen it yet. As far as the Christian content goes, do they actually talk about Jesus and stuff, or is it more like the Lord of the Rings--the author had Christian views that may have influenced the themes of the story, etc., but there is nothing on the surface that would be obvious to someone who wasn't looking for it?

Saw it today and thought it was Damn good!! It was as good as I hoped and I will see it again before it leaves the theaters.

The problem was, having been forced to read a lot of CS Lewis as a kid (except for Narnia) I had a real bad feeling about this film. The Christian parallels are blatant, although not they are not heavy-handed in the film. My problem was trying to fit EVERYTHING into a Christian motif.

SPOILERS



Ala Peter is the king on earth (aka the Pope) while Aslan rules from elsewhere, Jadis is Lucifer ("the betrayers are mine..."), Edmund is Judas, etc. My brain trying to fit everything into nice little Catholic boxes impeded my enjoyment of the film.

I enjoyed the film. I would have loved another hour to develop some characters in the film and some of the storyline but the book didn't really develop some of those aspects either so it wasn't that annoying. The CGI (for the most part) was pretty good, the costumes were fabulous, music was great, and of course the weapons and armor were just spectacular.

I'm really hoping that this film will do well enough for other films to eventually be made. *crosses fingers*

I posted this whole long thing elsewhere so I figured I might as well copy/paste it here:

*spoilery goodness ahead!*

Just got back from seeing it, I thought it was good, but not great.

And I'm only judging it based on how it hit me as a film, nothing else. I haven't read the books, so it may perhaps be 100% faithful to it, but still did not wow me as a movie experience.

Emotionally it was rather flat- the highpoint is undoubtedly meant to be Aslan's sacrifice, however, so little time was spent with the character prior to that event, that if the little beaver dude had bit the dust it might even offer some competition.

Can't help but compare this to Potter, another film(series) in a very similar vein in that not only are they stories for children, but are also both fantasy stories with children at the forefront of the story- in HP, the acting by the kids is better, the effects are more polished, the pace is faster flowing. Narnia isn't bad in any of the above, but felt outshined especially since the latest installment hit the screens not more than a month ago.

Towards the end too I was holding back laughter at some unintentionally funny scenes- Susan showing up and killing that one little dwarf guy at the end, and Peter's Prince Valiant adulthood makeover- how could this come from Adamson who himself cleverly parodied this very thing in Shrek 2?

I think the film will do an amazing opening weekend, if the crowds are any indication. Chatter I overheard was very favorable as well(one guy thought this was better than Goblet of Fire), so chances may be good for the in-the-works sequel(s).

I'd watch em!

I thought it was a great film.

Viking28 said:

I thought it was a great film.

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Yup, I'd have to second that. Yes, the christian symbolisims are there but I watched the film and enjoyed it without letting those effect me. I'm fairly religious but I wasn't about to bring that into a film and let that decide if I liked it or not. Emotionally, I think it was anything other than flat. I felt edmunds dislike for how his family treated him and why he would betray them. Other areas I thought where emotional as well but that's just me. Overall, I thought it was pretty damn good as I said above before I went to bed yesterday. I thought it was much better than the last HP movie and I really enjoyed that one as well.

I agree with you jlmsu I also thought it was better than the last HP film.

Towards the end too I was holding back laughter at some unintentionally funny scenes- Susan showing up and killing that one little dwarf guy at the end,

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Actually the entire theater laughed at that part in the showing we were at, I thought it was meant to be funny myself (but then again I have dry humour.)but that doesnt explain everybody else.

Viking28 said:

Actually the entire theater laughed at that part in the showing we were at, I thought it was meant to be funny myself (but then again I have dry humour.)but that doesnt explain everybody else.

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So did the theater I was at. I thought it was kind of meant to be funny.

I would disagree that the kids in HP are better actors. The Narnia kids were really excellent. But I can't conceive of Narnia being better than any of the Potter films. As Chuck pointed out, it lacks that emotional resonance.

Darklord Dave said:

The littlest girl is going to give Dakota Fanning a run for her money.

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I hope so. I can't believe Hollywood can't find any other young actresses and keeps going to back to her.

Darklord Dave said:

I would disagree that the kids in HP are better actors. The Narnia kids were really excellent. But I can't conceive of Narnia being better than any of the Potter films. As Chuck pointed out, it lacks that emotional resonance.

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Different strokes for different folks as they say. For me I don't own any of the Potter films and don't plan on it despite Goblet of Fire being very good, but Narnia yeah I'll buy that for sure. Again as far as emotional guess that depends on the person.

Saw Narnia today and thought it was great, the CGI was excellent. Now I will have to see about getting around to reading the series.

A bit of trivia here, did anyone recongnize the dwarf who was the white witches servent from any other movie?

Answer below:


















He was the dwarf from the movie LEGEND, the one who was disguised as a goblin and was almost made into a meat pie He stood out to me since Legend is one of my favorite movies and I haven't seen him in anything else since then.

Well, my daughter and and I saw it today, and while hating to be the voice
of dissent, neither of us cared for it much. It wasn't "bad" persay, but just
wasn't all that great either, and I can't put my finger on why.

The acting was good - especially the little girl and Tumnus.
(One of the Narnia Statues that I'd never own)

The special effects were fine as well. Nothing too terrible there, and much
looked very, very good. I especially liked the Centaur when he drew both
swords, as it just looked really neat to me.

BUT, the whole story just didn't grab me at all, and I've read the book a few
years back, but had forgotten most of it, so it was like new to me.

I liked the latest Harry Potter more for comparison.
Any of the LOTR films were better, as were the Star Wars films, IMHO.

I wasn't "geeked" to see this movie, and wouldn't see it in the theater again.
I'd rent it when it comes out, but I also wouldn't buy the DVD either.

I fully expect that King Kong will stomp all over TCON:TLTWATW come Wednesday.
From what I've heard, the action, humor, and emotion of KK is beyond amazing.

THAT is one move I'm dying to see, and will be seeing first thing Wednesday.

JS

I fully expect King Kong to stomp all over LOTR if its as good as they are saying.

One of Nine said:

A bit of trivia here, did anyone recongnize the dwarf who was the white witches servent from any other movie?

Answer below:
He was the dwarf from the movie LEGEND,

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Yup, Kiran Shah. He was also one of the stunt hobbits/doubles in the LOTR films.

Viking28 said:

I fully expect King Kong to stomp all over LOTR if its as good as they are saying.

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Now, that is just crazy talk. I expect Kong to be great but the LOTR movies put up crazy numbers at the box office and lets not forget the 11/11 Oscars ROTK put up.

I'm more incline to think the Oscar 11/11 sweep was more for all 3 films than just ROTK. Best editing for ROTK? hmmmm

But we will see if it does it does if it dont it dont no big deal to me I just can't wait to see Kong to take on 3 Rexs! And I hope Jackson gets the award if its as good as everyone is saying.