[Chazz_S]

Actually, one of the big misconceptions is that Weta is doing the effects- the workshop did some concept design and worked on the armoury/weapons, that's it.


Weta DIGITAL is not working on Narnia, the bulk of that is being done by K.N.B. and Rhythm and Hues.

[Chris Tedesco]

Just saw the trailer, pretty impressive stuff, of course it's only a trailer.

These books have almost the same feel to it as Tolkiens and I hope they pull it off with as much success.

[Michael Martin]

Quote:

I didn't see it as Aslan playing Jesus

Lewis wrote the books as "supposals" (like Tolkein, Lewis was not a great lover of straight allegory). He wrote Narnia "supposing" what would the Incarnation look or be like in a land of intelligent, talking animals? Lewis never tried to write Aslan as being "like" or imitating Jesus; Lewis tried to write Aslan as if he were Christ.

Thus the details of the sacrifical death differ, since it takes place in a different world with some different "rules," but the basics remain the same: the divine, perfect son takes the place of the mortal, traitorous person, and accepts the penalty for the mortal's deeds. But death cannot hold the divine son as it would a mortal, and death itself is conquered as a result.

For me, LWW is the least "doctrinally" heavy of the books, and I hope they keep the movie the same way.

Quote:

These books have almost the same feel to it as Tolkiens

I disagree here. I think Middle-earth and Narnia feel extremely different from each other, and not just because of the difference in writing styles. M-e was a meticulously thought-out, deeply historical place, steeped in legends, stories and language. Narnia was much more "fairy-tale" like, with some recent stories and legends, but much more "immediate" feeling. Don't take that as criticism; I love the Narnia books, but Lewis did not start out with much of the "backstory" to the Narnian world done or sketched out. Far more than Tolkien, he essentially made it up as he went along.

My fear is that the movie will try and force the story into being very like the LotR movies, rather than having its own tone and character.

[DaveF]

Aslan roaring!

The preview was exciting, hopeful. My immediate thought was that this movie must be done well. Some properties demand excellence. Produce a bad Pooh movie, fine. But don't screw up Tolkien. And don't screw up Lewis.

Like another childhood favorite, which the trailer proceeded, I fear a great story brought low by mediocre direction.

[Ted Lee]

i'm just excited that this got my boys interested in the story. i've read this series many times in my youth ... so it'll be nice to see how the boys react.

i'm not even going to bring up the subject of religion with them ... and i'll bet dave's paycheck they don't see it that way. it'll take an adult to do that.

[hanson mat]

I think this will get a lot of people unfamiliar with the story interested. Anyone hear any new news? Seems like we've had a dry spell since the awesome trailer.

[clayton b]

http://www.narniaweb.com/news.asp?id=516&dl=5513460

Brand new trailer just posted today.

[RobertR]

I've never read Lewis, so I can't comment on how the movie compares to the book (and now I'm a bit sorry I read this thread, which has spoiled me somewhat). I saw the trailer before Serenity, and it looks promising.

[Adam_S]

I'm shaking in excitement.

How many minutes after the opening weekend numbers for this are announced will a bidding war start on the Redwall series. Because it's clear now they can do those films justice by shooting in live action and animating in the characters.

oh man oh man this is just utterly incredible.

I feel much more confident about my prediction from January that this would be a 100 million opener and so long as the film's under about 150 min, I think it'll do it easily.

[Adam Lenhardt]

FUCKIN' A! They totally got Aslan wrong. Well, look-wise he's spot on. But he shouldn't be a lion with Liam Neeson's voice coming out of it. Same friggin' accent as Ras A'Ghul. I was hoping he'd switch it up, go deeper for Aslan.

[Adam_S]

One of my first comments to a friend as we watched the trailer was, "I bet the sound editor drops Neeson's voice a couple octaves for the final mix" certainly that was my only annoyance, but I think I can live with the voice. I think they could have gone for less of a name and no one would mind, we don't go to see this for celebrity voices, Aslan is not Donkey.

Personally after hearing Karl Malden speak very briefly this summer I can't imagine any other voice to be as rich, aged, kind, sonorous, arresting and utterly captivating--in my mind there is no better voice for Aslan, so that'll always be a sad point for me.