I cannot sleep and my food has no savour and my eyes are darkened!!!!

In PC, it was almost like Reep stepped out of the book. I really feel like if you disliked Reep in the PC movie, you were probably never going to be happy with any interpretation of Reep.

This is the most devastating news since the kiss!!

Eddie Izzard was the perfect voice for Reep. He had the perfect balance of everything. The one thing that was almost guaranteed to be great about VDT is gone.

We always knew Reep was going to be a very difficult character to get right on screen. The trick was balance. He had to be cute, but still a credible threat. He had to be fierce and a bit quick-tempered, but also noble. His voice had to be credibly mouse-like, but not so high as to be comical. He had to be funny, but not so funny that he didn't have an emotional reality. Really hard character to get right.

And they found a near perfect balance everywhere!

This is heartbreaking. My expectations for the film just dropped.

After getting over the initial shock, here's one person who's not too unhappy. I never cared for Eddie Izzard's interpretation of Reepicheep in PC...it lacked all of the charm and dignity that Reep of the book had, and instead turned a very noble, very stout-hearted hero into a bloodthirsty comedic relief. I wasn't happy at all.

I completely disagree Gymfan, with all due respect. Izzard had a great deal of charm, charisma, humour and dignity that he added to the role. Furthermore, I the Reepicheep in the book was not as dissimilar as you think. Remember his line about the pirate ship in VOTDT?

And we ought to have given her chase and boarded her and hanged every mother's son of them.

My only comment at the moment is at least they went with a guy who has a deep voice when they recast him.

I'm wondering if it had to do with contract issues or if it had more to do with scheduling conflicts.

Well... now that I'm a bit past the stunned stage and have had time to think about this...

Reepicheep did very little for me in the PC movie. I liked the changed character of Trumpkin more than the (imho) rather underwhelming interpretation of Reep in the movie.

But the one thing I did like about Reep was Eddie Izzard's voice for the character and as much as I like Nighy, I don't understand why the change. Nighy sounds nothing like Izzard.

Apart from the potential behind-the-scenes issues that this movie is having, the ONLY thing that crosses my mind is (like already mentioned) is they've decided to significantly age Reepicheep as mice have a much shorter life-span than humans.

So we shall see.... Nighy is an amazing voice actor... we shall see.

I'm firmly pitching my tent with the majority here. It seems that most of us were surprised but aren't too concerned about it. Bill Nighy is an excellent actor.

I was content with Eddie Izzard, but never captivated and I'm more than willing to give Nighy a chance.

I'm still not totally satisfied with the fact that they had a comedian playing Reep in the first place, so maybe this is a good thing.

I sincerely doubt they're trying to age him and I don't think this will really mess things up continuity-wise. I'd love to know what the rational behind the switch was though.

I just listened to the interview without watching it so I could listen to his voice. I think perhaps his voice is almost too deep. But I'm still pretty happy.

On another note, I love how Nighy describes the film as "beautiful." He doesn't say exciting, magical, adventurous, touching, romantic, epic, or anything else. He says beautiful. And that makes me very happy. That is how VDT should be.

Being myself not a huge Reepicheep fan in general, I'm not too disappointed in the change. I did very much like Eddie Izzard, as he's one of my favorite comedians, but I *know* his voice too much, and that was something of a distraction in PC. So we'll see how it works.

And I agree with Kate, I like how Nighy said the film was beautiful. And he seems to have a good sense of humor about his role (and a sense of how Reepicheep has a high opinion of himself, perhaps more than others have of him).

I personally love Eddie Izzard as Repicheep...he added a certain charm to his character. Will change be good in this case...only time will tell

Well, it was a surprise for me as well to read this news this morning. I was one who did like Eddie Izzard's voice performance as Reepicheep.

However, changes like this can happen in movies when sequels are involved. We don't know why this decision was made but one can only hope that Mr. Nighy does a good job and conveys the essence of this most important character in a way that fans and moviegoers will appreciate.

I wish him the best and trust that this change will work out and VDT will be a big success. (And then they will be able to make The Silver Chair and we can speculate about Puddleglum and Jill and LOTG and Rilian and...)

I hope for and agree with everything you said GlimGlum! It's nice to hear some positives!

Eddie Izzard's interpretation of Reepicheep in PC....lacked all of the charm and dignity that Reep of the book had, and instead turned a very noble, very stout-hearted hero into a bloodthirsty comedic relief. I wasn't happy at all.

... Furthermore, I the Reepicheep in the book was not as dissimilar as you think...

I think Reepicheep does have the qualities Izzard portrayed-- he is certainly comedic relief and he is a little bloodthirsty at times-- but it's just that he has a lot more than that. Maybe that's why some people loved the interpretation and some people hated it-- it depends on which of Reep's qualities stand out most to you. I feel like Izzard got half of Reep's character right on, but then the other half was a little fuzzy.

And it's that other half that really comes out in VDT. What I'm hoping is that Nighy will be able to portray both sides well. He seems like he could do the emotion and dignity well. Has he done anything comedic?

I'm very happy with Bill Nighey. He is one of my favourite actors, and it's well time he was included in a Narnia film - although I do want him to play Uncle Andrew in MN. He does a nice line in effete faded middle aged men.

I was shocked when Eddie Isbey was announced as the PC Reep voice. Although I got used to how he was presented, it was not Reepicheep as I ever saw him in the book -the voice was far too indistinct (people thought he sounded American, yet Eddie has a very English voice) and very soft which isn't what a military hero should be.

My idea of Reep has a similarity with the character Sir Didymus in "Labyrinth" - terribly English upper class chappie sort.

EDIT:
Talking Rat, you asked "Has he done anything comedic?"

- yes, a lot of his long list of films are quite comedic - he mentions in the interview with David Frost that he prefers contemporary films that are funny. Some of that humour is a bit dry or even black humour, or rather British in a way that some Americans don't quite get, but I like him!

Surpising change, and I am wondering why. I am certain Mr Nighy will do a fine job of Reepicheep. I do like Eddie Izzard, but things can and do change.

There is still time to get Mr T.

In PC, it was almost like Reep stepped out of the book. I really feel like if you disliked Reep in the PC movie, you were probably never going to be happy with any interpretation of Reep.

I think this is a very unfair assumption. I agree with everything you said about balancing Reep's character but I do not agree that they did that in the movie. He didn't gain the audiences respect as he did in the book; both my brothers, upon seeing the movie, declared that they found Reep to be cheesy and somewhat stupid, and that's about the only thing they really disliked about the movie. If they had nailed the character my brother's certainly wouldn't have thought anything of the sort.

I'll always be a,
NL101

I'd disagree with the idea that it's "only" a voice actor. Actor's voices are very recognisable, especially in a voice-only role. If you watch the featurettes on the DVD of pretty much any animated film, the actors ALWAYS talk about how difficult it was and how they had to express themselves more, through their enunciation and tone, etc. So this is a really big change.

I do like Bill Nighy's voice, though. I just hope that the change doesn't distract me when I watch the film!

Eddie Izzard's interpretation of Reepicheep in PC....lacked all of the charm and dignity that Reep of the book had, and instead turned a very noble, very stout-hearted hero into a bloodthirsty comedic relief. I wasn't happy at all.

... Furthermore, I the Reepicheep in the book was not as dissimilar as you think...

I think Reepicheep does have the qualities Izzard portrayed-- he is certainly comedic relief and he is a little bloodthirsty at times-- but it's just that he has a lot more than that. Maybe that's why some people loved the interpretation and some people hated it-- it depends on which of Reep's qualities stand out most to you. I feel like Izzard got half of Reep's character right on, but then the other half was a little fuzzy.

I'm going to have to agree with most of the above. To me, Reepicheep was never a funny character. He had comedic qualities, for sure, but that wasn't the part about Reep that I love the most. I love his boldness and his chivalry and his dignity and his heroism. So when Reep's comedic qualities were played up in PC and his other noble qualities were played down, it was a very out-of-balance Reep for me; not at all as I took his character to be from the books. Yes, Reepicheep does have aspects of his character that is very much in line with what Eddie Izzard portrayed (Rilian's reminder of the pirate line is a perfect example) but is that all, or largely what Reepicheep is? No!

Now, for everyone who thought that Eddie Izzard was the perfect Reepicheep, why do you think he was replaced? Maybe there was a schedule or monetary conflict. But if it wasn't that, it had to be creative, and why would the filmmakers make a creative decision to make a major change like this? I have to stand by what I said earlier in that the Reepicheep that Eddie Izzard portrayed is likely not in line at ALL with the Reepicheep that needs to be portrayed in VodT, whether it's because of character age, a more emotional center, or a more dignified attitude. There's obviously quite a gap between what Reepicheep was and what he needs to be, and maybe that's why they would make a creative decision to have Reep voiced by someone else.

You have to acknowledge that the Reepicheep from the PC movie is not the Reepicheep that needs to carry a very significant and emotional plot point in VodT. Audiences didn't care about him, and his character was developed in such a way that wouldn't really change that in a new movie. I don't know who's fault it was more; the script writers or Eddie's interpretation of the character. But either way, they went down slightly the wrong path and are now going in a different direction, hoping to find the right combination of the funny Reep and the noble Reep.

Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep was all the humor and bloodthirstiness that you could want. But I think they missed a very important aspect to his character that hopefully Bill Nighy can express, and that is Reepicheep's dignity and nobleness.