Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Chronicles of Narnia Deserve Better

I'm honestly finding myself a little torn on these new Narnia films. It's great to see Lewis' masterpieces (and my childhood favorites) receiving big-name Hollywood treatments, but at the same time, they're just not getting what they deserve. Much like the newer Star Wars movies, there's a part of me that almost would rather them not have been made, if only because the lower quality in turn sullies the original's legacy.

Having finally seen Prince Caspian in it's entirety, I'm let down a little more than I was with The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It's not that either of them have been bad movies; in fact, they've definitely been "superior" movies. They're just not what they could be, nor what the stories are deserving of being. They just stray too far from the original works and suffer because of it.

Those gifted with the honor of bringing Lewis' works to life through motion pictures just don't seem to entirely understand the source material. I've seen numerous quotes from the director, screenwriters and even the actors where they miss the mark Lewis laid out for them, and it's evident in the resulting production. It's terribly frustrating to see a mediocre student given a paint set when there are brilliant artists who could work wonders.

That's all I'll say for now, but I may just have to delve further into this at some point. 20th Century Fox has taken over Disney's role as producer for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and there's talk of revising the script, so with any luck things will steer back on track. It's hard to watch someone's fantastic creation twisted and altered to become something a little less magical.