What are your fears about VODT?

I don't see them messing up the Sea Serpent; that's a key "action" element in the story, and on the animatic in PC (there's a little feature about the Concept Art for Dawn Treader) there is something coming out of the water that could be the Sea Serpent. I think they'd try to get that as right as possible. The reason why I don't like the look of Gumpas is because he looks too tough and not enough like the wimpy character we know him to be; it's hard to be wimpy when you look tough.
 
I know that's why I think maybe they will make him more tough and a more formidable enemy, like they did with my beloved Miraz. I think that would be good. :)
 
It's possible (though greatly against Walden's inclinations) to make significant changes which DON'T ruin the SPIRIT of the story. There could, for instance, be some added plot element which gives more urgency to Caspian's voyage, without ruining the theme or characters. But I really AM almost certain that they WILL contradict Aslan's true Biblical identity in the ending.
 
If they do that....if they make a head-on denial of Aslan's identity AS JESUS CHRIST, one that they can't smooth over or weasel out of....I will be DONE with them. There will be NOTHING that can win me back to their bogus film series in that event.
 
Michael Apted is an agnostic, yet he directed Amazing Grace beautifully (the film is chocked full of religious themes, such as Wilberforce not wanting to move ahead without the guidance of God), so I don't think Apted would intentionally do something like that; but depending on who his screenwriters are, could be a different story (I'll check on them and see what films they've written)

EDIT: Just looked on imdb.com; the screenwriters are Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (sp?); same ones who wrote for previous 2 films, but I was thinking that they had gotten another team....oh well, I think Gresham and Apted are smart enough to learn from PC's flop.;)
 
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The problems of making Christian based books into movies.

If they don't do good with the scenes with Aslan in VODT, then I'll be seriously afraid if they do Last Battle.
 
If they don't do well at all on VotDT they won't be able to continue the films, because pretty much the only reason they could do PC was because of how much money LWW made (over 700 million worldwide in ticket sales, not to mention how many millions in dvd sales). While the fans hold a position in the sense of criticizing these films, the majority of movie-goers are the ones who will ultimately decide how well Dawn Treader fares at the box office...unless of course all these fans tell people not to go just because they're mad. ;) (Won't be me; if it's well-written and a good movie, I'll enjoy it regardless of changes they make, simply because I like good films that are interesting and family-friendly)
 
Aravis Kenobi said:
(Won't be me; if it's well-written and a good movie, I'll enjoy it regardless of changes they make, simply because I like good films that are interesting and family-friendly)
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Same here. Afterall, what I enjoyed about the books when I first heard them was not just that they had the symbolisim to them, was that it was a good story set in a wodnerous world. No other fantasy world was able to enchant me like that, at least untill I discovered Middle-earth.

Actually, I don't think Aslan's line will be a problem .Afterall, He only says, " In your world I am known by another name. You have been brought here as that by knowing me a little here, you may know me better there."

If He had said, "In your world, I am known as Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Would you like to accept me as your personal Lord and Savior? if so pelase pray this prayer..." Then we'd have a problem.


And actually, I think it's different writers for this film. I'll get back to you on that.

His line is much like Christ's question to Peter and the Apostles. I always felt that Lewis wanted us to do with Asaln as Christ wanted us to do and decided if he really was who he claimed to be. Only in Aslan's case it's too decided if He's "Just an athropomorphic kitty cat, The Cowerdly Lion on steroids, a literary figure-on on par with Gandalf the Grey, Merlin, Oz the Great and Powerful and Albus Dumbeldore, or something more." I certainly believe he is more, but many of my coworkes ( I work at a secular movie store. I could only get a retail job after I finished college with my degree in English Literature and Writing.) are not Christians and yet they love Narnia even though they dont' see Aslan as Christ.
 
I checked on imdb.com and they listed the same writers for Dawn Treader as for the previous 2 films, but I SWEAR that there are different writers for Dawn Treader. Ugh.

EDIT: while I don't think that Wikipedia is entirely certain on their info on anything, they did list another writer, Michael petroni as one of 3 writers (the other 2 being the ones I mentioned above) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia:_The_Voyage_of_the_Dawn_Treader
 
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Aravis Kenobi said:
I checked on imdb.com and they listed the same writers for Dawn Treader as for the previous 2 films, but I SWEAR that there are different writers for Dawn Treader. Ugh.

EDIT: while I don't think that Wikipedia is entirely certain on their info on anything, they did list another writer, Michael petroni as one of 3 writers (the other 2 being the ones I mentioned above) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Narnia:_The_Voyage_of_the_Dawn_Treader
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I could swear the same. Even if not ,judging by the sever backlash every one involved in the films experienced from fans, they won't make the same mistakes twice. All reports indicate they are going back to the formula from LWW.

Not only would they have learned form how the fans reacted but the overall box office receipts and film reviewes. Look at the comparison between the two films:

LWW: Rotten tomatoes rating: 75% Fresh ( overall). 78% ( from the critics reviews). Metacritic 75/100. Yahoo Movies: B
PC: Rotten tomatoes rating: 65% Fresh ( overall). 62% ( from the critics reviews). Metacritic 63/100. Yahoo Movies: B-

Yeah, the ratings for PC are good, but LWW's are better. If I were with the films I would strive more for LWW and less for PC, not only from a fan perspective but a buisness perspective.

To put it simply: Good reviews equal more people going to see the movie which means the movei makes more money. That keeps the franchise going .

That and being a bit more fan freindly ( but with in reason). The problem to often with films that are 100% faithful to the source material is that there is no room for viewers to breath. For example, Watchmen, I liked it, but at the same time after a while I was checking my watch not just because of some awkward scenes in it, but because it was so faithful I was thinking to myself "gosh, I just spent two hours watching the graphic novel .I could have just read my copy at home!" What was more, my dad was lost and confused through the whole thing as he never read it.

Also with this one there is the added burden that it is a favorite by many fans and non-fans. PC, not so much.
 
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I think you have a good argument there - money talks, as they say... you would think they would do everything they could to please their solid fan base i.e. stick with the story and don't decide you knew better than Lewis how it was 'supposed' to go. :cool:
 
Primsong said:
I think you have a good argument there - money talks, as they say... you would think they would do everything they could to please their solid fan base i.e. stick with the story and don't decide you knew better than Lewis how it was 'supposed' to go. :cool:
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Exactly. Some changes, ie a characters hair color are irrelevant. As I've said before, look at Georgie Henley. While she isn't "Golden haired" as Lucy is supose to be , personality wise and performance wise, she is our little Lucy. ( for that matter does her hair color really tells us anything about Lucy as a character besides how well she can sun burn? On top of that Pauline Bayens kind of drew her with brownish hair too.) I think for all us fans she always will be that to us. Thats why after sh's doen with Narnia, I may not go see very many movies with her in it as I dont' want to wreck Lucy for myself as she is my favorite charcter in Narnia.

Or say the Air Raid on London at the begining of LWW, it was perfect as it helped set the stage for the story ( and refuted the idea that it had to be set in the present day to work). Or the Battle of Beruna. We hear it mentioednd in the book, now we see it.

Or take something really minor. Putting Peter and Edmund in armor for the battle of Beruna. Even when I was a kid I always thought it was dumb in picture books and even the BBC films that neither of them wore armor into battle.

On the converse you have say the Night Raid, which while I enjoyed it, at the same time I felt I was watching the Battle of Helm's Deep in LOTR. And in the case of Helm's Deep that was actually in the book. I felt like they were just trying to the crowd aon the message boards aintitcool.com, ( who savagely tore apart not only Narnia, but LOTR, HP, Twlight, Star Wars, Star TRek, The Dark Knight.. lets face it, they like to hate everything.)

Ironically, when Adamson went to Peter Jackson for advice before starting the Narnia films, Jackson told him to respect the fans. ( Granted Jackson had the much more complicated narartive to try to adapt with a number of charatcers, like Tom Bombadil, who'd only hamper the flow. Plus, judging by the number of changes Tolkien made to his own material, I doubt he'd object.)
 
I don't really trust RottenTomatoes as a reliable critic/public rater base to my satisfaction. I loved "The Two Towers," critics on RT hated it. I loved "The Mummy Returns," critics on RT (as well as many, many other people there) hated it. I loved "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," critics on RT (and many, many other people there) hated it. But then, most of the movies I love are hated by most other people. But that's RottenTomatoes for you: the critcs on RottenTomatoes are rotten tomatoes. :rolleyes:

As far as changing the line or the meaning of it at the end of VDT, I doubt they'll do such a thing. Why? Think about it. "I am known by another name in your world" is an incredibly vague phrase. He could be Allah, Buddah, Jehovah God, Jesus Christ, Shiva... even Zeus! The line Aslan utters gives absolutely NO reference to a particular creed, which is perfect for the filmmakers because it gives leeway for anyone's beliefs to tie in with his character. No change will be made to the line because it's too vague a phrase. It will most definately be kept in; no one will be offended. :)

...Besides, if you think about it, Lewis himself equated Hinduism with Christianity as far as "advanced religions" went, and happened to pick Christianity. So for all we know, when Lewis wrote that line in VDT he could've been holding on to grassroots like the idea of Nirvana, if you know what I mean. But that's another long debate that I'll save for later. ;)
 
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I agree that the I am known by another name phrase is very generic... if anyone else had said it. But only Aslan had died for the sins of someone else. And in this world, there is only one who has died for the sins of others. So the line cannot be applied to anyone else but Jesus (and I didn't even mention resurrection).
 
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BarbarianKing said:
I agree that the I am know by another name phrase is very generic... if anyone else had said it. But only Aslan had died for the sins of someone else. And in this world, there is only one who has died for the sins of others. So the line cannot be applied to anyone else but Jesus (and I didn't even mention resurrection).
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Ha! :D Yes, you're definately right. But you know people, they always construe anything to mean anything. :rolleyes:

Still though, it's a pretty hard fact to get around when you consider the events of LWW.
 
Well, I have my fears, but at the same time trying to keep my hopes up. Some changes or adaptations of scenes are good, or at the least neutral, so I hope if the change something, they make the right changes.
 
some changes are good.but others like makeing peter as he was in Pc are not that good.but the castle screen was alright but not my fave in their. but i guess we shall have to see.
 
Truman and BK, you both are correct in your posts; while ASlan's line is a very generic phrase, we Christians know what Aslan meant by it. (The last time I read DT, though, for the first time I caught, "I'm the great Bridge Builder", which references Christ bridging the gap between us and God through His death). However, there are plenty of people in the world who see Narnia as simply fantasy, and they don't see any Christian elements in it at all (some so-called Christians are of the same opinion), so I don't believe that there is a reason to cut it out in the fear of offending someone. I think only those who see the parallels within Narnia will see that and recognize it. Not to mention, would even the writers/director recognize the meaning of that line? Probably not.
 
Aravis Kenobi said:
Truman and BK, you both are correct in your posts; while ASlan's line is a very generic phrase, we Christians know what Aslan meant by it. (The last time I read DT, though, for the first time I caught, "I'm the great Bridge Builder", which references Christ bridging the gap between us and God through His death). However, there are plenty of people in the world who see Narnia as simply fantasy, and they don't see any Christian elements in it at all (some so-called Christians are of the same opinion), so I don't believe that there is a reason to cut it out in the fear of offending someone. I think only those who see the parallels within Narnia will see that and recognize it. Not to mention, would even the writers/director recognize the meaning of that line? Probably not.
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i agree with that and yes i thin i understand where you are comeing from
 
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