Falling In Love With The Lion Again

J

judyfromkansas

New member
I recently rented LWW a few days ago, and watched it for the second time. I'd seen it at the movies and...rather liked it. But I was a bit shaken and dismayed by the differences between the book and the movie, and at the rather unclimactic scenes involving Lucy's passage from the wardrobe into Narnia (that could have been MUCH better staged IMO) and when the snowy woods transformed into spring. Plus the dialogue was different (I do wish Mr. Beaver had said "Don't you know who is the King of Beasts?" as he did in the book. That puts Aslan's rulership into its proper iconic place IMO.) And then there's the whole Father Christmas-as-raggedy-old-man controversy...

But overall I loved the movie better the second time I viewed it. There is so much there that was done just right. Tumnus is wonderful, the CGI is incredibly convincing, and the children are just plain wonderful. They beat the broomstraws out of the "Harry Potter" cast IMO when it comes to appeal and talent. I can't wait to see them again.

I just wish the DVD had more "making-of" extras...that was disappointing...I suppose Disney will come out with a special edition in about 5 years or so with gobs of extras in order to induce fools like me to shell out more bucks for it.

And I daresay I will :D
 
In my opinion, the meeting at the lamppost between Tumnus and Lucy deserves to go down as one of the 100 great movie scenes of all time. Georgie was great in her way, but McAvoy really carried that one.
 
DVD extras? I suggest you get the Extended Edition. It's 4 DVD's and I don't know of any other movie that comes with 2 DVD's totally devoted to extras and another one devoted to the author of the original story. Seriously, get the EE. The transformation of winter to spring is longer in it anyway. It came out like a year ago at least. Look it up on ebay or Amazon.

I agree with POTW, that scene was wonderful and McAvoy can carry any scene he wants to I think. Georgie was an amazing 9 year old. Not all scenes in a film are going to be climactic, nor should they be. It was done very well. The biggest issues I have are with parts of the script. Some of the footage in the EE was good to leave out, like Peter joking about McReady when running from owning up for his mistake.

Most have seen the Extended Edition I think. Check it out. It's worth it. The DVD on Lewis, CS Lewis Dreamer of Narnia is incredible!
 
judyfromkansas said:
But I was a bit shaken and dismayed by the differences between the book and the movie, and at the rather unclimactic scenes involving Lucy's passage from the wardrobe into Narnia (that could have been MUCH better staged IMO)
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Actually, I thought that was incredibly well done by Georgie. It's not easy to show "enchantment" for an extended period of time like that when you're the only one on screen and walking through a forest in the snow. And I thought she pulled it off magnificently (as well as the meeting with Tumnus of course).

But I do agree with you about Aslan and the slightly different portrayal of him than in the book. They also altered Mr Beaver's line "Safe? Who said anything about safe?...Of course he isn't safe, but He's good" (maybe this is close to the quote you are referring to?) until the end, which I thought was one of the most important lines of the book in its original context.
 
Into the Wardrobe said:
DVD extras? I suggest you get the Extended Edition. It's 4 DVD's and I don't know of any other movie that comes with 2 DVD's totally devoted to extras and another one devoted to the author of the original story. Seriously, get the EE. The transformation of winter to spring is longer in it anyway. It came out like a year ago at least. Look it up on ebay or Amazon.

I agree with POTW, that scene was wonderful and McAvoy can carry any scene he wants to I think. Georgie was an amazing 9 year old. Not all scenes in a film are going to be climactic, nor should they be. It was done very well. The biggest issues I have are with parts of the script. Some of the footage in the EE was good to leave out, like Peter joking about McReady when running from owning up for his mistake.

Most have seen the Extended Edition I think. Check it out. It's worth it. The DVD on Lewis, CS Lewis Dreamer of Narnia is incredible!
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I agree! The extended edition is great. Don't ask me how (long story) but I ended up with two of them. One with the bookends and the other one by itself.
So ya. If you really wanna fall in love with the Lion again, you must have this edition.
 
Charn_Tim said:
Actually, I thought that was incredibly well done by Georgie. It's not easy to show "enchantment" for an extended period of time like that when you're the only one on screen and walking through a forest in the snow. And I thought she pulled it off magnificently (as well as the meeting with Tumnus of course).

But I do agree with you about Aslan and the slightly different portrayal of him than in the book. They also altered Mr Beaver's line "Safe? Who said anything about safe?...Of course he isn't safe, but He's good" (maybe this is close to the quote you are referring to?) until the end, which I thought was one of the most important lines of the book in its original context.
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I wasn't criticizing Georgie's performance at all. She is an incredible actress (and I was so down on her at first, sheesh). I meant I thought the tension, the feeling that something odd was happening, should have been built up more. The effect was somewhat pedestrian IMO.
 
I agree with Judy and others that some of the most important lines were left out, including those Judy and Tim cite, or else placed where their impact was not as high. I also agree that Georgie's entrance into Narnia and the Meeting at the Lamp Post were magical.
Judy said:
And then there's the whole Father Christmas-as-raggedy-old-man controversy...
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I could not have been more delighted with how Father Christmas was portrayed unless they had stayed even more closely with his dialog in the book, which I wish they had. As far as his appeaarance, I loved it. I truly cannot stand a western Santa who looks like a big stupid clown in a fire engine red suit. The LWW Father Christmas was much more, to my mind, what Santa really should look like.
 
Saint Nicholas in Russian legend, helping out the folktale adventurer Sadko the Minstrel, would have been like the rugged Father Christmas in the movie.
 
Copperfox said:
Saint Nicholas in Russian legend, helping out the folktale adventurer Sadko the Minstrel, would have been like the rugged Father Christmas in the movie.
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Yah, that's what I like. That's a better image than some kind of clownish freak ...
 
PrinceOfTheWest said:
In my opinion, the meeting at the lamppost between Tumnus and Lucy deserves to go down as one of the 100 great movie scenes of all time. Georgie was great in her way, but McAvoy really carried that one.
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Definitely agree with you! I thought that was a great scene, and I can't really think of any improvements that could have been made at all.
 
personally I was very disappointed in teh actual EE of the film. for 70 dollars, the film was extended by a whopping 10 minutes. The original I think is better, plus disc 2 is basically what I already had so except for teh bookmarks, the EE was NOT worth the money I paid for it. I may never do that again if they keep putitng in chinchy scenes that I didn't care to see.
 
Darth, Santa is taken from the real Saint Nicholas of Myra in Lycia (in what is now Turkey) in the fourth century. He became famous for giving presents to the poor. There are a few parallels between the mythological Father Christmas and Odin, the Norse god.

There are many different legends of Santa Claus and his many other names. Although he is supposed to live in Finland in some of the stories.

MrBob
 
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