I was let down by
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but I adore the books and my expectations were probably a bit too high. At the same time, however, it wasn't that I wanted every event in the book chronicled (no pun intended), or that I wanted the dialogue to perfectly match its source. I felt the basic tone of the film was wrong. It morphed into
The Lord of the Rings-lite.
Primarily, the problem was that it made the battle its climax and centerpiece, rather than...
WARNING: "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" spoilers below
...Aslan's resurrection.
...Aslan's resurrection.
I was quite pleased with all the actors who played the children, which is surprising, given that there was four of them. I could have done without Tilda Swinton, though. She's an outrageously talented actress, and she had her moments, but I'm still not convinced she was the right choice. As odd as this may sound, The White Witch is supposed to be other-worldly gorgeous. That's one of the reasons people are taken in by her. Granted, that doesn't leave us with many options, but I would have liked to have seen Nicole Kidman in the role. I realize that Kidman would seem like a commerically-motivated choice, but in this case the movie-star good looks are a part of the character.
But, I'm getting off-topic a bit...
To get back to the point: I'm not terribly enthusiastic about
Prince Caspian. I'll see it, and surely enjoy it at some points, but most of the same people are working on it, I believe, and there are rumors about some fairly significant character alterations.
That said, I am still
tremendously excited about the series in general. As anyone who's read the books knows, they become especially exciting in the third and fourth installments;
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and
The Silver Chair, respectively. They're far and away the most cinematic of the series, and it appears that Adamson will be taking a break after
Caspian, so we should have a new director on board.
Those are the ones I really want them to nail. They're just marvelous stories with great narratives, characters, adventures, and even boiled-down (but fairly high-minded) theology interwoven at a few points. If they adapt these two correctly, it'll be a sight to behold.
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