Turkish Delight
I have a new baby... His name is Skandar Keynes, and he's completely adorable in an I-want-to-crush-your-cute-little-head way... He plays Edmund in the new movie version of the C.S. Lewis classic, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Edmund is supposed to be the hard-headed little kid who wreaks havoc, not only in the Pevensie household (although they're not really staying in their house), but also in the magical land of Narnia as he teams up with the White Witch. Of course, he's not the only reason I love the film...
The movie starts off with a London air-raid. The first time I saw this on an extended trailer over the net, I thought I had clicked the wrong button and ended up in trailer of another movie. But then, Edmund's cute little head stuck out from behind a curtained window. The air-raid, of course, was added to make the book a little more cinematic, and along with some other scenes, serves to make the movie a much better adaptation of the book than other books-turned-movies (yes, even Harry Potter...).
Some of my favorite sequences (and by favorite, I mean the ones I keep playing and replaying on my pirated DVD copy - but I intend to get the original of course, when it comes out) include Edmund being seduced by Jadis, the Battle of Beruna, and the coronation of the 4 Kings and Queens.
Tilda Swinton (who also played Gabrielle on Keannu's Constantin), did an okay job as the White Witch, Queen Jadis. In the scene where she first meets baby Skandar, I mean baby Edmund, she turns from wicked witch to failed-temptress. She offers him a hot drink and a box of Turkish Delights - soft candies rolled in powedered sugar. Oddly, the name Skandar is a Turkish dimension of the name Alexander. Playing with baby Edmund's hair and pressing her cheeks to his after tucking him in her coat was a good touch, but she could have played with his hair a little more. I could have played a better temptress... Jadis, in this scene, is supposed to be enticing and flirty. But Swinton struggles in her costume, and her eyes are as dead as the winter in Narnia. I suppose for others it would do, but I had an image of Jadis in my mind - temptress, seductress (in a non-pedophillic way), serpent, Delilah... The would have been how I played Jadis - but only in this scene. In the other scenes, Swinton was fabulous. I especially loved her fight stances and how she battled with Peter. I hate how she stuck baby Edmund with a sword though - her eyes could have shown a bit more fire, and delight at killing annoying baby Edmund.
In the Battle of Beruna, William Moseley rises to the demands of role of the young king Peter whom he played. Peter looked magnificently fierce in his armour, but when he asked his centaur general ''Are you with me?" and he answers "To the death." there was something distinctly gay about the scene. Of course, it could only be me. I surfed the internet for more pics of William (because he pogi) and some his poses are a bit soft. I downloaded a clip of his appearance on Conan O'Brian's show, and he half-heartedly blew a kiss to the audience... HE BLEW A KISS and then waved at the audience... Then again, he could be just British.
The battle was absolutely terrific. I actually felt shivers running down me when I first saw the movie. I thought it would be a disorganized guerilla-ish war, as was sorta described in the book, but no. The Battle of Beruna could rival the Battles for Middle-Earth in The Lord of the Rings. Peter's unicorn was absolutely beautiful, with white-blond hair, just like Peter. Edmund was on a cliff with Mr. Beaver and Centaur archers at his command. He looked sort of weird wearing his armour though...
Peter's army was composed of Cheetahs, Centaurs, Rhinos. Fauns, and Eagles/Griphons, while Jadis had giants, minotaurs, dwarves, and tigers on her side. I liked how the animals fought - the tigers against the cheetahs, and the rhino unleashing his rage onto oncomiong dwarves. One of baby Edmund's archers conjured up a fire bird which released a fire wall to protect Peter's troops as they were falling back. Of course, the fire wall was nothing against the Ice Queen's powers.
Before the battle, Jadis had sacrificed Aslan at the Stone Table, and during the battle she wears with thick frock of blond hair over her shoulders and chest - it looks like she had Aslan shaved then wore his fur as a mark of her victory. Peter had a shield on one hand in a sword in the other while Jadis had a sword in one hand and her wand in the other - which is what makes her fight stance so cool. In one scene she was attacked by 2 flying Eagles - she struck an attacking Eagle/Griphon with her sword, and then the other with her wand and it turned into stone and crashed into some rocks. When Edmund saw her approaching Peter, he ran after her and destroyed her wand, so he plunged what was left of her wand into baby Edmund's stomach, leaving baby Edmund to die and going after Peter, this time with two swords.
As Jadis and Peter were duelling, Aslan appears and distracts both. Jadis manages to get Peter to the ground and pins his chainmail to the ground with one of her swords. Just as she's about to strike, Aslan appears and makes lapa the White Witch. That is the end of the Queen Jadis - it was almost as anti-climactic as the book.
But cinematically speaking, the scenes were absolutely beautiful - the music dying down just before Peter's army clashes with Jadis' minions, and everything going slow-mo as Jadis was being killed by Aslan; the coronation of the four thrones of Cair Paravel - Queen Lucy the Valiant, King Edmund the Just, Queen Susan the Gentle, and King Peter the Fabulous - I mean the Magnificent.
As for being a book adaptation, for once, I am impressed and I think that the movie is so much better than the book. One thing though: Aslan in the movie... He's as beautiful as he's described in the book, but the movie fails to establish Aslan's godhood and greatness. When he appeared out of the tent, it almost looked anti-climactic. He was cute and cuddly, and also fierce and surly - but he did not look like he was a god. He just looked like he was a captain or a general of the Narnian army.
Despite this one major flaw, the movie was amazing. I've seen it a couple of times, but I don't intend to see it again, not for a couple of weeks, at least. It's not like Harry Potter, which you can see 5 times in a row. Narnia, after seeing it two or three times, starts to lose its luster. See it more than 5 times, and I bet you'll be bored and you'll never want to see it again. But that doesn't stop me from saying that I loved the movie, and I hate to say this, but I think it was MUCH better then Goblet of Fire... Sorry baby Dan! ^_^
The movie starts off with a London air-raid. The first time I saw this on an extended trailer over the net, I thought I had clicked the wrong button and ended up in trailer of another movie. But then, Edmund's cute little head stuck out from behind a curtained window. The air-raid, of course, was added to make the book a little more cinematic, and along with some other scenes, serves to make the movie a much better adaptation of the book than other books-turned-movies (yes, even Harry Potter...).
Some of my favorite sequences (and by favorite, I mean the ones I keep playing and replaying on my pirated DVD copy - but I intend to get the original of course, when it comes out) include Edmund being seduced by Jadis, the Battle of Beruna, and the coronation of the 4 Kings and Queens.
Tilda Swinton (who also played Gabrielle on Keannu's Constantin), did an okay job as the White Witch, Queen Jadis. In the scene where she first meets baby Skandar, I mean baby Edmund, she turns from wicked witch to failed-temptress. She offers him a hot drink and a box of Turkish Delights - soft candies rolled in powedered sugar. Oddly, the name Skandar is a Turkish dimension of the name Alexander. Playing with baby Edmund's hair and pressing her cheeks to his after tucking him in her coat was a good touch, but she could have played with his hair a little more. I could have played a better temptress... Jadis, in this scene, is supposed to be enticing and flirty. But Swinton struggles in her costume, and her eyes are as dead as the winter in Narnia. I suppose for others it would do, but I had an image of Jadis in my mind - temptress, seductress (in a non-pedophillic way), serpent, Delilah... The would have been how I played Jadis - but only in this scene. In the other scenes, Swinton was fabulous. I especially loved her fight stances and how she battled with Peter. I hate how she stuck baby Edmund with a sword though - her eyes could have shown a bit more fire, and delight at killing annoying baby Edmund.
In the Battle of Beruna, William Moseley rises to the demands of role of the young king Peter whom he played. Peter looked magnificently fierce in his armour, but when he asked his centaur general ''Are you with me?" and he answers "To the death." there was something distinctly gay about the scene. Of course, it could only be me. I surfed the internet for more pics of William (because he pogi) and some his poses are a bit soft. I downloaded a clip of his appearance on Conan O'Brian's show, and he half-heartedly blew a kiss to the audience... HE BLEW A KISS and then waved at the audience... Then again, he could be just British.
The battle was absolutely terrific. I actually felt shivers running down me when I first saw the movie. I thought it would be a disorganized guerilla-ish war, as was sorta described in the book, but no. The Battle of Beruna could rival the Battles for Middle-Earth in The Lord of the Rings. Peter's unicorn was absolutely beautiful, with white-blond hair, just like Peter. Edmund was on a cliff with Mr. Beaver and Centaur archers at his command. He looked sort of weird wearing his armour though...
Peter's army was composed of Cheetahs, Centaurs, Rhinos. Fauns, and Eagles/Griphons, while Jadis had giants, minotaurs, dwarves, and tigers on her side. I liked how the animals fought - the tigers against the cheetahs, and the rhino unleashing his rage onto oncomiong dwarves. One of baby Edmund's archers conjured up a fire bird which released a fire wall to protect Peter's troops as they were falling back. Of course, the fire wall was nothing against the Ice Queen's powers.
Before the battle, Jadis had sacrificed Aslan at the Stone Table, and during the battle she wears with thick frock of blond hair over her shoulders and chest - it looks like she had Aslan shaved then wore his fur as a mark of her victory. Peter had a shield on one hand in a sword in the other while Jadis had a sword in one hand and her wand in the other - which is what makes her fight stance so cool. In one scene she was attacked by 2 flying Eagles - she struck an attacking Eagle/Griphon with her sword, and then the other with her wand and it turned into stone and crashed into some rocks. When Edmund saw her approaching Peter, he ran after her and destroyed her wand, so he plunged what was left of her wand into baby Edmund's stomach, leaving baby Edmund to die and going after Peter, this time with two swords.
As Jadis and Peter were duelling, Aslan appears and distracts both. Jadis manages to get Peter to the ground and pins his chainmail to the ground with one of her swords. Just as she's about to strike, Aslan appears and makes lapa the White Witch. That is the end of the Queen Jadis - it was almost as anti-climactic as the book.
But cinematically speaking, the scenes were absolutely beautiful - the music dying down just before Peter's army clashes with Jadis' minions, and everything going slow-mo as Jadis was being killed by Aslan; the coronation of the four thrones of Cair Paravel - Queen Lucy the Valiant, King Edmund the Just, Queen Susan the Gentle, and King Peter the Fabulous - I mean the Magnificent.
As for being a book adaptation, for once, I am impressed and I think that the movie is so much better than the book. One thing though: Aslan in the movie... He's as beautiful as he's described in the book, but the movie fails to establish Aslan's godhood and greatness. When he appeared out of the tent, it almost looked anti-climactic. He was cute and cuddly, and also fierce and surly - but he did not look like he was a god. He just looked like he was a captain or a general of the Narnian army.
Despite this one major flaw, the movie was amazing. I've seen it a couple of times, but I don't intend to see it again, not for a couple of weeks, at least. It's not like Harry Potter, which you can see 5 times in a row. Narnia, after seeing it two or three times, starts to lose its luster. See it more than 5 times, and I bet you'll be bored and you'll never want to see it again. But that doesn't stop me from saying that I loved the movie, and I hate to say this, but I think it was MUCH better then Goblet of Fire... Sorry baby Dan! ^_^
posted by Mikee @ 11:03 AM
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