Post by Hellfire on Dec 22, 2005 18:23:16 GMT -5
i just watched the film tonight and i did not like it one single bit. now, before you get all huffed up, this isn't simply one of those posts that says "i think it's crap" and it's over. i actually did an extensive analysis on what i thought were the weakspots of this film, because i love the fantasy genre and i really, really, really tried to like it. so here's what i thought about it:
weak cast/performances: from the very first scene in the film i knew in my heart those kids wouldn't have what it takes to carry on a 160-minute film like that. those 4 children are terrible, terrible actors. aside from that little kid playing Lucy (who was only half decent compared to her on-screen siblings, who were complete nulities), they all gave pretty flat performances. the supporting cast, if any, wasn't much better either. aside from Tilda Swinton - and i'm not just saying that cuz i'm a fan, she really was good in the role - the best performance came from the Beaver. disheartening considering he's an animated character, isn't it?
weak plot/screenplay. the vein of the story is pretty basic: good overruled by evil, good strikes back, good wins. yea, ok, like every fantasy film; i wasn't expecting it to be any different. however how about a little more explanation on the hows and whys?? i mean, the movie takes about 75 minutes to really start and up to that point not a single time there's a scene exposing how exactly the wardrobe is magic, why, how it ended up in that house and what exactly does the professor have to do with it. aside from that, the dialogues were some times pitifully hideous, with some of the most bland and nonsensical lines i've ever had to hear in my life.
unsympathetic characters: Yup, not even the White Witch could get away with this one. even though Tilda is a superb actress who did her job really really really well (I wouldn't be surprised if she nabbed a supporting actress nomination for the Oscars), her character was written in such an over-the-top way that it was easy for it to fall on clichéd and cartoonish. i guess that's why Tolkien prefered to leave LOTR's greatest evil incognito, represented by a bodiless eye and an inanimated ring. The White Witch is supposed to be the personification of evil in this film; to me, she just came off as being bad for the sake of it, like a tale written to scare little kids. no depth, no purpose. likewise, a kid like Edmund who seems to sell out the goodies every time he turns around was a character that got tired rather quickly. A pessimist like there's no tomorrow, Susannah was terribly irritating; poor Lucy is too young to know better and that Peter chap was just a mess. worst character/performance of the entire film, which is a sin when the plot is centered around him.
absolutely poor special effects. most of the scenes in this film are done without the aid of special effects - which in its own right is something i must admire, since it's pretty hard to pull it off these days; big battle scenes, forests, make up, the props department of the film was awesome - but where they were around they didn't fulfil its purpose at all. at this day and age, with the technological advances there are out there, watching a wideshot of the main characters on top of a mountain and having the clear sensation they're acting in front of a green screen is absolutely sinful. that happened in Narnia at least three times. the textures of Aslan made him look like a character right out of a videogame, and in the wide shot of the White Witch leaving her castle in her charriot, the reindeers pulling it looked like they were rejects from PC game Age Of Mythology. more like special deffects. were these people on a tight budget or something?
plot relied too much on clichés: now, maybe this is a problem of the books themselves, but like i mentioned earlier, Narnia is full of clichés. there's the great big evil who's just evil for the sake of it; the selfless hero; the confused, insecure soon-to-be-king who needs to find his inner strength to overcome great evil; the good-hearted fellow tricked into selling his allies out in exchange of greatness until he's shown the bleak bad truth; good animal characters are cute and fluffy with silly gimmicks and nice grandpa-like animated voices; bad animal characters are big ugly scary sharp-edged mephisto-like creatures dubbed by big mean bullies; anyway, the list goes on and on.
so all in all, i'd rule out any major LOTR-like repercussion for this film. it's below average in terms of visual awe and the story runs pretty thin too. the performances are subpar and poor Tilda Swinton isn't allowed a co-star good enough to make her superb performance really shine as it could have.
the film does have its few saving graces; two of which i already mentioned: Tilda's acting (which, due to the limitations of her role in the story, didn't allow her to carry the entire film, unfortunately) and the fact most of the film's props aren't computer generated. also, the climatic battle scene, though not as visually grandious as LOTR was, was, in fact, very climatic. all the characters were well-written into the scene, the choreography of it was great, and once again, Tilda... Tilda was unbelievable. you actually believe the pure evil you see in her eyes. she looked fabulous and played the part as well as she dressed it. the costume designer for her character should be shot if you only take the first part of the movie into consideration (really, those stacks of ice coming out of her hair in her first few scenes... WTF was that???), but once things get "warmer" and she loses the ice queen vibe a little, everything fell into place in relation to the White Witch.
my grade: out of love for Tilda's performance and the few technical achievements of the film, 4 out of 10.
weak cast/performances: from the very first scene in the film i knew in my heart those kids wouldn't have what it takes to carry on a 160-minute film like that. those 4 children are terrible, terrible actors. aside from that little kid playing Lucy (who was only half decent compared to her on-screen siblings, who were complete nulities), they all gave pretty flat performances. the supporting cast, if any, wasn't much better either. aside from Tilda Swinton - and i'm not just saying that cuz i'm a fan, she really was good in the role - the best performance came from the Beaver. disheartening considering he's an animated character, isn't it?
weak plot/screenplay. the vein of the story is pretty basic: good overruled by evil, good strikes back, good wins. yea, ok, like every fantasy film; i wasn't expecting it to be any different. however how about a little more explanation on the hows and whys?? i mean, the movie takes about 75 minutes to really start and up to that point not a single time there's a scene exposing how exactly the wardrobe is magic, why, how it ended up in that house and what exactly does the professor have to do with it. aside from that, the dialogues were some times pitifully hideous, with some of the most bland and nonsensical lines i've ever had to hear in my life.
unsympathetic characters: Yup, not even the White Witch could get away with this one. even though Tilda is a superb actress who did her job really really really well (I wouldn't be surprised if she nabbed a supporting actress nomination for the Oscars), her character was written in such an over-the-top way that it was easy for it to fall on clichéd and cartoonish. i guess that's why Tolkien prefered to leave LOTR's greatest evil incognito, represented by a bodiless eye and an inanimated ring. The White Witch is supposed to be the personification of evil in this film; to me, she just came off as being bad for the sake of it, like a tale written to scare little kids. no depth, no purpose. likewise, a kid like Edmund who seems to sell out the goodies every time he turns around was a character that got tired rather quickly. A pessimist like there's no tomorrow, Susannah was terribly irritating; poor Lucy is too young to know better and that Peter chap was just a mess. worst character/performance of the entire film, which is a sin when the plot is centered around him.
absolutely poor special effects. most of the scenes in this film are done without the aid of special effects - which in its own right is something i must admire, since it's pretty hard to pull it off these days; big battle scenes, forests, make up, the props department of the film was awesome - but where they were around they didn't fulfil its purpose at all. at this day and age, with the technological advances there are out there, watching a wideshot of the main characters on top of a mountain and having the clear sensation they're acting in front of a green screen is absolutely sinful. that happened in Narnia at least three times. the textures of Aslan made him look like a character right out of a videogame, and in the wide shot of the White Witch leaving her castle in her charriot, the reindeers pulling it looked like they were rejects from PC game Age Of Mythology. more like special deffects. were these people on a tight budget or something?
plot relied too much on clichés: now, maybe this is a problem of the books themselves, but like i mentioned earlier, Narnia is full of clichés. there's the great big evil who's just evil for the sake of it; the selfless hero; the confused, insecure soon-to-be-king who needs to find his inner strength to overcome great evil; the good-hearted fellow tricked into selling his allies out in exchange of greatness until he's shown the bleak bad truth; good animal characters are cute and fluffy with silly gimmicks and nice grandpa-like animated voices; bad animal characters are big ugly scary sharp-edged mephisto-like creatures dubbed by big mean bullies; anyway, the list goes on and on.
so all in all, i'd rule out any major LOTR-like repercussion for this film. it's below average in terms of visual awe and the story runs pretty thin too. the performances are subpar and poor Tilda Swinton isn't allowed a co-star good enough to make her superb performance really shine as it could have.
the film does have its few saving graces; two of which i already mentioned: Tilda's acting (which, due to the limitations of her role in the story, didn't allow her to carry the entire film, unfortunately) and the fact most of the film's props aren't computer generated. also, the climatic battle scene, though not as visually grandious as LOTR was, was, in fact, very climatic. all the characters were well-written into the scene, the choreography of it was great, and once again, Tilda... Tilda was unbelievable. you actually believe the pure evil you see in her eyes. she looked fabulous and played the part as well as she dressed it. the costume designer for her character should be shot if you only take the first part of the movie into consideration (really, those stacks of ice coming out of her hair in her first few scenes... WTF was that???), but once things get "warmer" and she loses the ice queen vibe a little, everything fell into place in relation to the White Witch.
my grade: out of love for Tilda's performance and the few technical achievements of the film, 4 out of 10.
Hmm, better stock up on some water then!
