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tree_and_leafI may well be the last person on LJ who lists Lewis as an interest to see the film, but I finally got round to it yesterday...
My initial reaction to the introductory sequence of the film was to wonder if I was in the right cinema, but since I couldn't recall any films about the Luftwaffe coming out recently, I stayed where I was! The second was to think how much it reminded me of the wartime Ninth Doctor episode 'The Empty Child'... however, somewhat to my relief, there were no spooky children in gas masks.
I'm afraid, though, that what I was chiefly struck by in the opening sequence was that the Pevensies, as a family, took a most irresponsible attitude to air raid precautions, and that Finchley ARP were not doing their job properly. The house was not blacked out correctly, and they were showing lights in a manner that would really have had the Warden down on them shrieking 'Put that light out!' I also don't believe that Peter, who was later characterised as someone determined to behave in a responsible, grown up manner in the absence of his father, would have sat staring at the bombs: more likely to be following the instructions in the government leaflet to the letter. I would have thought that they would have been eveacuated before the bombs began (there was a long period of 'phoney war' before the fall of France and the start of the Blitz), but I suppose a certain amount of dramatic licence may be permitted.
My other big reservation was the characterisation of Edmund and Peter; they seem to have been trying to make Edmund more sympathetic in the first half of the film, but this has the effect of making Peter (and Susan) look peevish and unlikable. I'm not sure why they dropped Lewis' suggestion that a lot of Edmund's problems were the result of trouble at (boarding) school, which seemed perfectly satisfactory. Peter, on the whole, was a bit too self-doubting - which is fine up to a point, except he showed very little sign of being excited by anything, he was always worried. Susan being perpetually frightened and wanting to go home is fair enough; it occurs to me that most of Susan's problems throughout the series is that she is afraid to believe, either in herself, or in Things-in-General. Even her failure in Last Battle might spring, ultimately, from this - but that's something I want to think about further later...
Other niggles: well, the actor playing Susan is quite clearly too old in the scenes where she is in Narnian dress (lovely green frock, though - I want one!), and Lucy is far too young - in general, the age gap between the older and younger pair struck me as too large: I always got the impression that the Pevensies were 'steps and stairs', but on the other hand, it's difficult with child actors, so that's perfectly excusable.
I do, however, sympathise with the Guardian's Lucy Mangan, who confessed to wanting to shout 'The White Witch had black hair!' every time she saw the trailer... But Tilda Swinton was excellent in the part.
What I liked most, I think, was that I did get some sense of the magic and beauty of Narnia (funny how much it looks like Rohan, isn't it?) The sense of it as an occupied country was really well conveyed, too, and I liked Tumnus' throwaway line to Lucy "My father went away to the war, too." The Witch may be a fairy tale villain, but we are subtly made aware of the fight against dictatorship in Europe. It's a different sort of conflict, and yet there are similarities.
I also thought that Aslan's death scene was really well done - which I had been worried about. But it was genuinely moving; I found the text of the trisagon and the responses going round in my head: "Attend and see if there be any grief like mine..."
But why did we have to have such sappy dialogue from Alsan at the coronation? And what happened to 'bear it well, Sons of Adam! Bear it well, Daughters of Eve!"
Oh, and Peter's wolf-killing tecnique was a bit, er, unconvincing... "Oh look, a wolf has jumped on my sword! However did that happen?" - well, I suppose, whatever works...
My initial reaction to the introductory sequence of the film was to wonder if I was in the right cinema, but since I couldn't recall any films about the Luftwaffe coming out recently, I stayed where I was! The second was to think how much it reminded me of the wartime Ninth Doctor episode 'The Empty Child'... however, somewhat to my relief, there were no spooky children in gas masks.
I'm afraid, though, that what I was chiefly struck by in the opening sequence was that the Pevensies, as a family, took a most irresponsible attitude to air raid precautions, and that Finchley ARP were not doing their job properly. The house was not blacked out correctly, and they were showing lights in a manner that would really have had the Warden down on them shrieking 'Put that light out!' I also don't believe that Peter, who was later characterised as someone determined to behave in a responsible, grown up manner in the absence of his father, would have sat staring at the bombs: more likely to be following the instructions in the government leaflet to the letter. I would have thought that they would have been eveacuated before the bombs began (there was a long period of 'phoney war' before the fall of France and the start of the Blitz), but I suppose a certain amount of dramatic licence may be permitted.
My other big reservation was the characterisation of Edmund and Peter; they seem to have been trying to make Edmund more sympathetic in the first half of the film, but this has the effect of making Peter (and Susan) look peevish and unlikable. I'm not sure why they dropped Lewis' suggestion that a lot of Edmund's problems were the result of trouble at (boarding) school, which seemed perfectly satisfactory. Peter, on the whole, was a bit too self-doubting - which is fine up to a point, except he showed very little sign of being excited by anything, he was always worried. Susan being perpetually frightened and wanting to go home is fair enough; it occurs to me that most of Susan's problems throughout the series is that she is afraid to believe, either in herself, or in Things-in-General. Even her failure in Last Battle might spring, ultimately, from this - but that's something I want to think about further later...
Other niggles: well, the actor playing Susan is quite clearly too old in the scenes where she is in Narnian dress (lovely green frock, though - I want one!), and Lucy is far too young - in general, the age gap between the older and younger pair struck me as too large: I always got the impression that the Pevensies were 'steps and stairs', but on the other hand, it's difficult with child actors, so that's perfectly excusable.
I do, however, sympathise with the Guardian's Lucy Mangan, who confessed to wanting to shout 'The White Witch had black hair!' every time she saw the trailer... But Tilda Swinton was excellent in the part.
What I liked most, I think, was that I did get some sense of the magic and beauty of Narnia (funny how much it looks like Rohan, isn't it?) The sense of it as an occupied country was really well conveyed, too, and I liked Tumnus' throwaway line to Lucy "My father went away to the war, too." The Witch may be a fairy tale villain, but we are subtly made aware of the fight against dictatorship in Europe. It's a different sort of conflict, and yet there are similarities.
I also thought that Aslan's death scene was really well done - which I had been worried about. But it was genuinely moving; I found the text of the trisagon and the responses going round in my head: "Attend and see if there be any grief like mine..."
But why did we have to have such sappy dialogue from Alsan at the coronation? And what happened to 'bear it well, Sons of Adam! Bear it well, Daughters of Eve!"
Oh, and Peter's wolf-killing tecnique was a bit, er, unconvincing... "Oh look, a wolf has jumped on my sword! However did that happen?" - well, I suppose, whatever works...
