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I just heard about the movie to be released next year by a director who worked on Shrek. Has anyone else heard about this? The quick release of this makes me wonder about the quality. Just curious for any news from the omniscient insiders of Hatrack. Posts: 684 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I doubt it will compare to the wonderful Wonderworks (made for TV) movies of the series that PBS showed several years back.
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the site said that they plan to make all seven films. That would be tremendous. My favorite was the magicians nephew. I cant wait to see that one!
Posts: 879 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Well, it could be good and it could be awful. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I guess I'll try checking out the Wonder Works from the Library.
edit: but it smells like they are trying to catch the classic fantasy wave
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The movie has been in the works for a long time. It's been a topic of discussion on the MereLewis mailing list since at *least* 1996. The Estate of C. S. Lewis, led by Douglas Gresham (his stepson) has repeatedly halted the project for being untrue to the original. Hopefully this means that they finally got their way rather than that they finally gave up.
Posts: 2112 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Yeehaw!! That will be so fun! My favorite was #5, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Thanks for all the info!!
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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quote: I just hope and pray they don't make it all cutesy, with modern humor and sensibilities. . .
yeah, that would definately ruin them but with such potential and the amazing success of LotR I would think they would want to do a more LotR-style movie.
I was in a theatre production of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe once, it was awesome! (even though I had to play Peter) The script we used was really good but I don't know if it was a "real" script or if the director wrote it based on the book.
Posts: 3420 | Registered: Jun 2002
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I've seen the television series (or a television series)... I rather liked that version and I can't imagine the characters looking any different.
(Although I would die to see The Horse and His Boy, it's my favourite)
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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The PBS series was good, but if the movie turns out to be only as good as that, I will be disappointed. It was good, but it was obvious that it was a TV show. However, I did like how close to the story they stuck. But acting and special effects is where I hope this upcoming movie will improve.
Are these the same people who were working on it a couple of years back? I remember reading an interview in which the directer asserted that they wished to dispel any illusions that The Chronicles of Narnia contained Christian influences.
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the last battle terrified me, when mom read it to us, I had a horrible nightmare about it. My favorite was either the Voyage of the Dawn Treader or Prince Caspian
Posts: 3493 | Registered: Jul 2001
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perfect timing! they'll do one of these a year...and then wrinkle in time...and then...by then Wheel of Time will be done...and then...and then...mmmm...I could die a happy child... Satyagraha
Posts: 1986 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:I doubt it will compare to the wonderful Wonderworks (made for TV) movies of the series that PBS showed several years back.
Wonderful? maybe I don't remember those movies very well. I thought they were the ones with really bad acting and horrible effects which cut out half the plot of the books.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:I remember reading an interview in which the directer asserted that they wished to dispel any illusions that The Chronicles of Narnia contained Christian influences.
Uh, isn't Aslan Jesus?
Why on earth would anybody deny that those book sare christian? CS lewis has such good metaphors and parellels for chrisitan material. I'm not christian, but still, those books are christian they should be christian.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2003
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A question for all of you Narnia lovers: I have been a long time fan of Lewis. I have been reading his non-fiction since I was in high school and admire him a lot. So the other day I decided to sit down and read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe for the first time. I didn't like it a bit. I thought is was much worse than, say, the first Harry Potter book. I thought the characters were all contrived and the plot was little more than a series of dues ex machinas. All the children had to do was show up and watch Aslan fix everything; I literally cannot think of a single time where any of the children accomplish anything through their own initiative. So this is my question: Are all of the Narnia books like that? Should I bother reading them, or should I stick with Lewis's books for adults?
Posts: 285 | Registered: Jun 1999
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Edmund certainly controls the plot of the first book by his actions. Peter kills the White Witch's Lieutenant, Fenris. Lucy is, of course, the one who gets them there to begin with...
But to answer your question: yes, the characters become much more directly involved as the series goes forward.
Edit to add: How can a story which is an allegory for Christ avoid using Deus Ex Machina? The incarnation is the single greatest Deus Ex Machina of all time... Chesterton would say the whole point of Christianity is that it is, precisely, the God from the Machinery coming in to make everything all right.
Narnia: A Horse and His Boy and Voyage of the Dawn Treader are two of my favorites. Another great beginning there:
quote:There was a boy named Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.
I don't think, however, that anyone has captured "the fear of God" quite like Lewis does at the beginning of The Silver Chair in the scene where Jill wants to get a drink. I get goose bumps everytime I read that passage.
[ October 08, 2003, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: T. Analog Kid ]
Posts: 2112 | Registered: Sep 1999
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Looks like it's not coming out until 2006, but the good news is, it will be live action and filmed in New Zealand. Yipee!!!
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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I hated the Wonderworks production with the chubby Lucy. Hated it. I really liked the cartoon version, though. I think I must have seen the cartoon when I was just the right age or something, it really caught my imagination. I can still play some of the music from the cartoon version in my head and I haven't even watched it in at least a decade.
This new version sounds exciting. It will be interesting to see how Aslan comes out looking onscreen, since they plan to use a real lion.
Posts: 1990 | Registered: Feb 2001
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I also hated the Wonderworks version. I didn't care that she was chubby, but Lewis refers to her as golden-haired in the books! Also, her overbite and bad acting really bothered me.
I feel much better knowing that Richard Taylor and Weta are involved. I'm glad they're using a real lion.
Gosh, I hope these are good. I don't think that I can take another horrible movie version of a book I love.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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I have always hoped for a modern movie of the Chronicles. It was just about getting time to read them again, anyway. If it's not coming out until 2006, though, that means I've got time to finish the LotR books and get through Harry Potter. YAY!!!
Posts: 1090 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Best news yet: WETA workshop will be heading up the production team for these movies. Sounds good to me. Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
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Hang on a second. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is number 5 now? When did that happen?? The collection I have from years ago has LWW then Prince Caspian, then VotDT, Silver Chair, and I forget how it goes after that. The first one chronologically is either number 5 or 6.
I got confused when I saw the collection in a different order recently, but I hadn't realized that it was that out of order. So how would they make the movies (I haven't read the whole thread yet, so I appologize if it's been answered)? Chronologically or in the order that I have them (I assume that's the order they were written/published)?
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God in the Machine. In Greek and Roman drama it was a god lowered by stage machinery to resolve a plot or extricate the protagonist from a difficult situation. Now it's used to refer to any unexpected, artificial, or improbable character, device, or event introduced suddenly in a work of fiction or drama to resolve a situation or untangle a plot. Usually hokey and unsatisfying to the reader/viewer, although "Raider of the Lost Ark" used a good one.
Posts: 7790 | Registered: Aug 2000
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As long it's not animation I'm fine. I heard they're making one of my favorite elementary books (The Polar Express) into an animated movie and it's not the same now. They have Tom Hanks telling the story, but it wouldn't be the same.
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Actually, with the Polar Express, they filmed it in live action, and then adapted the live action performances to CG in order to get the look of the original illustrations in the book. It looks fantabulous.
--
And yes, is the last few years, they 'renumbered' the Narnia books in Chronological order. The current order is:
1. Magician's Nephew 2. Lion, the Witch the Wardrobe 3. The Horse and His Boy 4. Prince Caspian 5. Voyage of the Dawn Treader 6. The Silver Chair 7. The Last Battle
I, too, have the set with the original order (LW&W is 1, PC 2, VDT 3, SC 4, H&HB 5, MN 6, LB 7)
The first film, at least, is LW&W - which is where it should begin. It was the first bok written. the origially published order followed the story better, IMO. 1-4 were a bit of a continous story with recurring characters - 5 was a bit of a Side Story taking plac in the middle of LW&W, 6 was a flashback to the Creation of Narnia, and the creation of the Wardrobe, and then 7 was The End. I think this was a perfect order.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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I have a poster map of Narnia, in full color illustrated by Pauline Baynes (I think that was her name) the original illustrator. Unfortunately it fell off the wall and got damaged in the Northridge earthquake, and has faded, but it is still there and pretty darn cool, if I do say so myself.
My birthday present from Steve a couple of years ago was the full color edition of the Narnia books, though in paperback not hardback. I can't remember which numbering system was used on those.
I definitely subscribe to the original numbering system.
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Oooo. I'm excited.. (missed this thread) I liked A Horse and His Boy best... And I liked the Wonderworks version. And I'm excited now. ^_^
Posts: 4816 | Registered: Apr 2003
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i saw the wardrobe that was in Lewis' house and supposedly inspired the series, and the desk that TOlkien wrote The Hobbit on at a small museum in Wheaton College (in Illinois)
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Oh, and Rudolph, sorry, I didn't see that you'd posted... I've been in the pub where Tolkien and C.S. Lewis sat together, and wrote... and some of their original illustrations and stuff are on the wall of their "usual table."
I've also been to the place where Lewis Carroll sat and created "Alice and Wonderland," and I've been to the house of the girl that Alice was based on.
I have been too, um... I have... ok, I got nothing to say there, but if I am ever a famouse writer then I will have been to almost everywhere that the famouse author, who is me, has been.
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I want to see 'The Horse and His Boy', but I also fondly remember the/a TV series, and I'm worried that they will be too... how can I put this... fluffy. (?)
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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