I've been too damned busy these recent weeks, so yestiddy I finally saw the new Harry Potter movie. I believe book 4 was the longest in the series, and there was just too much vital detail left out. When the series is re-made (in about 20 years), things will be as they should be. The Beauxbatons girls will have a pearly-sparkly aura like Glinda the Good Witch™ and Hagred's brüder will make an appearance and there will be more character development and it will be about 4 hours long. I was disappointed, and I have been very very understanding will all the other films. Actually, I suppose it's less disappointing if you see the film first, and then get the fleshed-out detail from the book. Maybe I was destined to be crestfallen.
On that score - I love love love Tim Burton's Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. It's much more menacing and off-kilter than the original film, and in my opinion is so much more in the spirit of Roald Dahl's immaculate writing. I can't recommend his adult fiction enough. His work is limned with a dark atmosphere barely on the safe side of terror, and you may slip over the edge at any moment. One short story starts with a little boy picking a scab from his knee and flicking it onto the carpet, where it is camouflaged in a sea of black/red/gold tones, and he has to traverse the hallway and not step in the lava pools... Divine.
1 comment:
Understandable, Becky - it IS more enjoyable if you can turn off your frame of reference and watch with an uncritical eye. What is disappointing is knowing that the pins set up in book 4 will not be knocked down in later films, since the strictly film audience won't know about them anyhoo. It was, in fact, a splendid spectacle, even if it was not as I had preferred. I would recommend people see it. Good point, though, it would have been better spooled out into 2 feature-length films. Hell, I'll still buy the DVD.
Post a Comment