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Warp wrote:
> I'm not really sure what I expected when I rented this movie, but I really
> didn't expect it to be boring.
I've always found movies far more exciting in a reasonably-full movie
theater than at home. Jaws was downright tedious on video. :-)
> It felt like you could perhaps enjoy the movie more if you had read the
> book (although I wouldn't bet on that, as we all know about movie adaptations
> of books), but without knowing anything at all about the story it was a bit
> confusing and boring.
It was fairly confusing an boring as a book, too. It was, however, a
fairly good adaptation, methinks.
I read all three books, out of curiousity and boredom. I'd say it was an
attempt at an epic story whose intention was to teach you that epic
stories aren't important. So it kind of got wrapped around its own axle.
It's a book about how not to believe in religion, full of evil people
who see the light, magic vague conciousnesses talking to prophesied
children, beings made from pure thought, inexplicable evil leaking into
the world when science goes awry, and heaven forbid don't believe in
religion.
> It's not like movie adaptations of fantasy books couldn't be enjoyable.
> I liked the Harry Potter movies even though I haven't read even a single
> line of the books.
FWIW, the first movie was pretty spot on with the book - if you saw the
movie, you'll be bored with the book. I think the later ones probably
had books too complex to really do complete justice to in a movie. And
of course the story was pretty puerile too, so it got pretty old after
the first book.
> Is it just me, or is Hollywood trying lately to cash on the success of
> the LotR movies by making tons of similarly-themed fantasy movies based
> on random fantasy books?
Well, the Golden Compass was written for exactly the opposite reason as
Narnia was written, so maybe they figured the success of Narnia would
make for a good Golden Compass. And of course, they're all kid's stories
(well, not LotR, but...) so it's easier to put on the screen than some
adult-oriented fantasies.
I think the ones with a specific catch to them (like the Forbidden
Kingdom being a Kung Fu movie) was an example of that.
I'm finding the same sentiment with lots of the animated films. Take a
completely normal story, put animated characters in it, and instant
blockbuster. Toy Story did this and it was excellent. So then you get
Bugs Life, Cars, whatever that one with the Sharks was, etc ad
infinitum, without any real story you couldn't have told without the
animation.
This one just cracked me up, tho:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=YBM3j7x4Lcw
--
Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
Helpful housekeeping hints:
Check your feather pillows for holes
before putting them in the washing machine.
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