Skip to main content

Narnia Platypus


So, I got to see "Prince Caspian" for my birthday. It was as good as I had hoped, and I think that I might (heresy of heresies!) have liked it better than the book. One way or another, it was a thoroughly solid adaptation. The clincher is that the movie feels like Narnia all the way through. Though I greatly appreciate Peter Jackson's adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings," I can't say it did as much. I'm going to put that firmly on Gresham's heavy involvement with the film. If you get a chance, I'd recommend seeing the film and then reading Gresham's biography of Lewis "Jack's Life" just so that you can see the points where Lewis "enters" the film via Gresham.

As a final note, "The Voyage of the Dawntreader" is in pre-pro, and this second strong showing gives me great hope for the series.

Comments

Linds said…
Oh, Jim, Jim, my dear friend! How can we have been writing partners and yet have such completely different opinions on a film remarkably similar to our collaborative effort? :)
James said…
'cause I'm really easy to please when it comes to adaptations and you have refined taste combined with strong technical knowledge and experience in the world of film?
James said…
Just to qualify, I think it turned out to be a good loose (versus strict) adaptation of the book into the genre of the summer blockbuster. I would have made different choices if I were trying to adapt it into a play. I guess the questions are "what do we want out of an adaptation in general?" and "what was the goal/goals of this adaptation in particular?"

Popular posts from this blog

The Platypus Reads Part XXVII

Thoughts after reading the "Iliad" to prepare a Greece unit for my students: -Hector is a jerk until he's dead. He even advocates the exposure of Achaean corpses and then has the cheek to turn around and ask Achilles to spare his. He rudely ignores Polydamas' prophecies and fights outside the gate to save his pride knowing full well what it will cost his family and city. After he's dead, he becomes a martyr for the cause. -Agamemnon has several moments of true leadership to balance out his pettiness. In this way, he's a haunting foil to Achilles: the two men are more alike than they want to acknowledge. -We see that Achilles is the better man at the funeral games of Patroclos. His lordliness, tact, and generosity there give us a window into Achilles before his fight with Agamemnon and the death of Patroclos consumed him. -Nestor is a boring, rambling, old man who's better days are far behind him, and yet every Achaean treats him with the upmo...

SNES as Money Well Spent: Platypus Nostalgia

I got my Super Nintendo Entertainment System when I was eleven years old.  That's a couple years after it first came out.  The occasion was a little dramatic: to celebrate the end of a two-and-a-half year course of treatment for cancer.  I had no idea that it would be waiting for me at home after the final doctors visit.  It was a nice spring day, the trees were waving gently in the breeze outside the bay windows.  With a cup of tea resting on the coffee table, I set down to play.  What was that first game?  It was The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past .  Around twenty years later, my SNES still works as does that Zelda cartridge.  It's been a long way from boyhood in Southern Connecticut to manhood in North Houston, but I'm still playing. Why am I still playing?  There were stretches when I didn't.  Many times, I've just been too busy.  There were also seasons when it felt embarrassing to still be playing video games....

Under the Moon: The Platypus Reads Part LXVI

My wife and I were discussing our favorite books from the Chronicles of Narnia on our way back from lunch.  My wife, true to her sunny personality, is a staunch fan of "The Voyage of the Dawntreader."  I can't argue with that choice but, when push comes to shove, "The Silver Chair" has always been my favorite. I have a bit of a theory.  I think "The Voyage of the Dawntreader" is Lewis' grail legend.  If that's so, then I'd hazard a guess and say that "The Silver Chair" is his "Pilgrim's Progress." -just think about the shape of Puddleglum's hat and the fact that he lives in the Fen Country and you'll see what got me thinking down this line. That brings me to why I like "The Silver Chair" so much.  When I was little, we had a children's version of "Pilgrim's Progress" that my mom used to read to me.  I lived in New England and the Christianity I was raised with had a heavy tin...