Tag: Narnia

Movie Round-Up: December 10th, 2010

Reviews

The Narnian Tourist: The Voyage of the Dawn TreaderThe Tourist: (official site)

It might be just me, but I’ve been kinda over Angelina Jolie for quite some time.  I have seen movies of hers that I enjoy and even that I find her work perfectly fine, but she just isn’t a draw.  I won’t go see a movie just because she’s in it.  Johnny Depp, on the other hand, I’ll watch in just about anything.  Even so, something about this movie isn’t pulling me in.  The trailer just doesn’t excite me and make me want to go spend $10 to see it.  As such, I’ll probably wait for Netflix.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: (official site)

Like many people, the Narnia stories were part of my growing up.  Not a huge part, mind you, because I only started reading the books a few times and never finished, but I do distinctly remember seeing some version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on TV, either broadcast, HBO or VHS.  I digress… the point is, I was very excited to see the first film, and I loved it.  The second film, however, was lackluster at best.  It was… boring.  The trailer for this third installment looks a bit more exciting, but we’ll have to see if they have managed to avoid the pitfalls of the last film.  Then again, this book is more popular than the last, so there are probably more people wanting to see it.  If I do go to the theater, I’ll likely pass on seeing it in 3D.  To date, none of the films where the 3D is done in post production have impressed me.  The ones filmed with 3D cameras have been quite good, and of course animated films that are rendered in 3D work also.  However, post production 3D just looks like a cleaner version of the old 3D, where depth doesn’t feel like true depth, but instead like there are different layers of flatness, as if everything is moving cardboard cutouts positioned differing distances from the camera.  It ends up feeling like a gimmick rather than that the filmmakers felt that 3D was the best way to tell the story.  It distracts from the film instead of adding to it.  So, yeah… probably worth going to see, but in 2D to save the extra $3.

Prince Caspian

Reviews

9 out of 13 nots.
for being good and fun, but not spectacular

I actually saw The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on Monday at a screening, but since it opened yesterday, I figured I’d go ahead and put up a review.  Keeping in mind that on my ratings scale a 7 means “average, not bad but also not good”, I’m giving this movie a 9.  It was better than average, but…

Okay, so, I’ve never read the Narnia books.  Even so, from the opening scene all the way to the end, this movie did not surprise me.  Not once.  Every turn of the story was, to me, telegraphed.  I saw everything coming.  It was… formulaic.  Now, while nothing surprised me in a plot sense, the special effects were fantastic, the fight scenes were great, but without a plot that really drew me in it felt like any other summer special effects laden blockbuster.

I enjoyed the film… really, I did… it just didn’t knock my socks off.  See it, but I would definitely say to catch this one at a matinée or early morning price.