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December 21, 2005
New Fantasy vs. Old Fantasy
This is a review of the movie versions of new fantasy book Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire and the old fantasy book The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe. What did you think it was going to be? Pervert!
Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire
This is a pretty good movie, but I still can't help thinking if everyone wasn't already all caught up in the whole Potter saga, this movie wouldn't rise above any other fantasy film. The writers & director did an excellent job of cutting a 700-page book down to a 2-hour movie. All of their cuts made sense, though I think I would have been awfully confused if I hadn't just read the book. The filmmakers even added some things that really helped the movie. The action was more detailed and longer than in the book (which is light on action and heavy on exposition. Sigh.) And the dragon scene was pretty cool, I have to admit. But the real success of the movie for me (though probably not for the majority of this movie's audience) was the Wizards-Hit-Adolescence subplot involving the ball. The director hit all the right notes, and the actors actually played it very well (especially Emma Watson, who's still the most charismatic of the three leads.) Personally, I find the future Ron Weasley - Hermione Granger relationship possibilities much more interesting than the rise of Voldemort.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
As a Lord of the Rings guy, I always considered Narnia (unfairly, yes) a total ripoff. And I've carried those biases to today, and really didn't expect to like this movie. And I really wasn't impressed with the story, at all. It's all too easy. (Even when one brother gets imprisoned by the White Witch, one word from Aslan and the kid is freed in the easiest guerilla raid of all time.)
But the special effects are so effective and charming that you just go along for the ride and enjoy the scenery. There's a lot of talk about King Kong, but that lion looks as real as any talking animal I've ever seen. (Even if he does sound like Qui-Gon Jinn.) Tilda Swinton is truly chilling as the Witch, and as child actors go, these three are about as good as you can hope for, and very believable.
The Christ references are not only extremely obvious, they're downright distracting. Thankfully, the filmmakers had the sense to leave out the "scourging of Aslan" scene.
Posted by JoshHornik at December 21, 2005 07:23 PM