I must agree. Reepicheep's longing wasn't built up as much as it could have been, but I think the point was vaguely gotten across. However, of all the characters, it was obvious that Reepicheep had the deepest desire to find Aslan's Country.

However, of all the characters, it was obvious that Reepicheep had the deepest desire to find Aslan's Country.

That's something. I agree. But only because none of the other characters (except perhaps Lucy, because of that one brief line) conveys any sense of longing at all.

I would be very reluctant to use the word "deepest" because that implies Reep's desire in the film actually had some depth.

Example: I could make the observation that Reep has more fur than any other character, but that is hardly remarkable because none of the other characters have any fur.

What about Reepicheep sitting on the prow of the boat? There were quite a few shots of that in the movie, more-so than I thought. He even sat there throughout that incredibly fierce storm, getting completely drenched, but hanging on. That's gotta say something, right?

That's gotta say something, right?

To me, that does mean something. In the book, Reep's desire was able to be better communicated because Lewis could go into greater detail. I'm not surprised they couldn't go into detail as much in the movie, both because of the amount of time they had, and also because of all the other plot elements they had going on. I think that while they could have built it up more (in fact, I wish they had), the way they did it was actually very tastefully done for what they had to work with.

There was also the challenge in translating the elements of the book to a visual medium. It wasn't as easy to communicate Reep's desire as deeply as it was in the book because it's a lot harder to put deep feeling and description into a visual form as opposed to description. I think the scenes of Reepicheep in the prow were how they translated Lewis' descriptiveness into a visual form that worked with the movie. Those scenes really communicated his desire to me, and I was especially touched in the end when he did get to go where he'd longed for all his life. Now, that's probably because I've read the books and had a deeper understanding, so I can't say that the average moviegoer will feel the same way, but if anything, it will motivate them to read the books and find out more.

I thought the longing was very much there. I agree with others who said that it's harder to convey these things on film. In a book it's much easier to explore detail and emotion. In a movie if such a thing is done people complain and say, "You don't have to beat us over the head! We get the message."

There are some elements in VDT which people say are forced upon us or dumbed down and made all too obvious, and then people say this or that wasn't shoved down our throats enough.

I think Reepicheep's longing came across as it sould on film. I think VDT is a story with many different elements in it and the different elements speak to different people at different volumes. To me, Reep's longing wasn't what drove the story. To me, it was redemption that spoke the loudest.

I think with the making of VDT, because it's a film and can't be several, several hours long, they had to just pick one theme that spoke the loudest to them and run with it. They couldn't give every theme equal depth and screen time because that would've made the movie way too long. Either that or you end up with all these underdeveloped and disconnected plots.

VDT is a very odd story. It's really a bunch of different stories built around the plot of finding the seven lost lords. It's really not much about the lords at all, but rather all the different stories which occur while they're searching for the lords, which is absolutely wonderful in a book where you have time and pages and pages and pages to deal with all of those stories and many plots. In the film however, you don't have time to really explore all the plots. You cannot do them all justice. You can't give them that life and that richness that they had in the book because you don't have the time to do so.

I think the issue that most anyone who has a promblem with VDT feels the same way you do, glumPuddle. What I think happened with the movie was just that they didn't have the time to do eveything justice without making a movie that would keep you in the theatre for 7 hours, one for every island. Every theme seems to have its own mini story. But they couldn't really do that in the movie. So what they did was pick one theme, temptation, to be the major theme and turn the rest into subplots. This is the reason the movie felt somewhat rushed to some, because they took these sort of individual stories and turned them into subplots, when in the book they could really stand on their own.

The longing is there, it just wasn't the main theme like it was to you in the book. There was no main theme in the book. They were all equal. (I hope I'm making sense.) It's just that Reepicheep's desire wasn't the main theme picked for the movie. Instead it was turned into a subplot, as were other themes in the story to make way for one main theme which was also from the book.

Again, I'm really sorry the movie let you down

I felt that the longing was there but only because I knew the story and wanted the longing to be there. Actually most of the movie was like that for me. Example: I wanted the undragoning to be powerful, and I knew it should be, so I made myself feel it was powerful. I don't think I would have understood the great significance of Eustace's undragoning or the longing (at least the great longing that is portrayed in the book) if I had not read the book.

I don't think that it was like him wanting to "go to Disneyworld", but it could have been more fully developped for sure. It was there, but it wasn't as important or as developped as it was in the book.

Anyways, the whole film could have benefitted from being longer and fully developping the major (if not minor) plot lines/characters/themes.

I think this part was very well done! Reepicheep was awesome!

Reepicheep was amazing! I loved him, and I do think the longing was done very nicely. I don't agree much with glumPuddle but on one thing I agree. The song, I wish it had been done differently, I like that it made it on to the movie, but maybe he shouldn't have just sung it the way he did. It's a very solemn line that deserves a bit more respect and just a quick whispered song- but I also don't see how else they could've done it, we don't want a sermon in the movie either. Still, I loved him leaving for Aslan's Country- nicely done and I was moved by it.

Well seeing as just about every part in the book had to be condensed in order to fit into a 2 hour period I think they did Reep's longing as well as can be expected. I definitely got it.

After reading some comments, and thinking about it, maybe I only noticed Reepicheep's longing, because I was looking for it. Maybe to non-fans of the book, to general audience members, it wasn't as obvious as it was to me.

What about Reepicheep sitting on the prow of the boat? There were quite a few shots of that in the movie, more-so than I thought. He even sat there throughout that incredibly fierce storm, getting completely drenched, but hanging on. That's gotta say something, right?

8SilverSky, I completely agree. I think Reepicheep's presence on the prow showed that he wanted to be the first to spot Aslan's Country when they would get there. Also, when Eustace becomes a dragon, Reepicheep can almost always be seen riding on his back; whether this be because they are such good friends, or, as I think, because this makes Reepicheep all that much more closer to being able to see Aslan's Country first! Whatever the case, Reepicheep is clearly dedicated in his longing to find his true home.

I thought Reepicheep's longing came through, if quietly, in the film.

Reep's yearning for Aslan's country is something very powerful and beautiful in the book, and so I do wish that they had gone deeper into that storyline. But I felt that his longing was given a semi-decent amount of screen time, especially compared to other themes in the book. (For example, the thrill of the unknown, which was such an integral part of book VDT and was hardly addressed in the movie.)

They did take a rather back-door approach to Reep's longing, I think. They built up that he had lived a life of adventure, but as Lewis writes in LB, it was only "the cover and the title page" of the real Story. His adventures paled next to the true adventure in Aslan's country that he had longed for all of his life. And so the film's ending still retained much of the bittersweet emotion of the book.

Then again, perhaps I only picked up on this because I've read the book...

Oh, I just noticed another awesome thing related to this topic! Reepicheep got his own music-theme in the movie. Something Harry-Gregson Williams also had, but not as strongly and noticeable as David Arnold, in my opinion. (No worries, I'm still a very big fan of Harry's work!)

Now, the greatest thing (I've been listening to the soundtrack pretty much all day) is that we're introduced to Reepicheep's theme when he sings his song and talks with Lucy about Aslan's country near the beginning of the movie, shortly before she sees the water-nymphs. For those of you that own the soundtrack already, it's Track #4: "Reepicheep". It's quite delicate, but very... good

When Reepicheep finally speaks to Aslan about wanting to go into his country, the theme returns. Soft and slowly, until suddenly it builds up to a magnificent magical piece of music as we see Reepicheep go over the wave with a lovely smile on his face. That moment on the soundtrack is really beautiful! Again, for the soundtrack owners: Reepicheep's part starts about halfway through track #29: "Ship To Shore". The really beautiful part, I mentioned early is at the very end of this track. I can listen to it over and over again; one of those "chills-down-your-spine moments. Very pretty.

Anyway, I just picked that up while listening today. I'm pretty sure together Eustace and Reepicheep have a somewhat similar, but different theme also. I'm actually really impressed by David Arnold's score! It's awesome!

I saw Repicheep's longing come through in the film, as other above me have said. I think, when it comes to movie storytelling, feelings like a longing are subjective; some people see and feel them, others may not. In a movie, you can't spell it out on a page an explain it like you can in a movie. Consider that, for example, Eustace's character change happens entirely on one or two pages immediately after his dragon transformation. He goes through so many feelings all at once, and we know about all of them because Lewis can explain them to us on the page. But obviously, the makers of the movie had to find other ways to convey his feelings and needed to draw his character evolution out over more scenes so they could be understood by the audience. It's a good example of how movies can't necessarily relate the emotions of a character to the audience in the way that books can.

That said, where the movie could show his longing, it did, and there were lines of dialog to hint at his longing and other things that clue us in to it. How strongly it comes through, I think, simply varies from person to person.

I nearly cried when he left but i am happy they left that part in the movie.