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This is a movie which i really want to love, and there is an awful lot about this movie to love - however, overall i can't help but feel somewhat disappointed and frustrated by it, as the movie ultimately fails on the very basic problem of being far too short.
It is somewhat ironic given that I have often been critical of many recent blockbusters for being overly long - far too often will you go see a movie which has some delusions of grandeur at being some vast epic and so stretches a 2 hour plot over a 3 hour run time, padding itself out with pointless filler material or irreleveant action scenes - so i'm always appreciative of movies which keep a tight narrative and a strong focus. However in the case of VDT, it goes too far in the opposite direction -the movie is so short that it leaves almost no time for many of the fundamental elements of storytelling.
Take the Gael/Rhince subplot for example - after all the controversy, the problem with it was not that it had been added in the first place but rather that it was so underdeveloped as to make its inclusion almost pointless. Rhince is given so little screen time you wonder why they even bothered. Clearly the logic behind the addition was to provide more of an emotional connection with the slavery subplot by adding in some characters with whom we could relate to. Yet the entire Lone Islands sequence is so rushed that neither character is sufficiently set-up and so it becomes almost impossible to become emotionally invested in their story, or ultimately to care about the outcome of their journey. Likewise for the whole Green Mist/Seven Swords plotline. Because they race through the Lone Islands and Magician's Island sequences so fast, there is never really any time to fully establish the threat posed with any great weight or significance.
In fact, the same is true of the voyage as a whole - at various stages of the movie you hear the characters talk about how long and arduous their voyage has been, and yet it is near impossible to sympathise with the words they are saying as to us sitting in the audience they seem to have blitzed through their voyage in no time at all. A few extra scenes here and there depicting the passage of time to a greater affect really would of helped in this regard. For example when they got to Ramandu's Island and were celebrating at finally making it there i was honestly looking at my watch trying to work out whether the movie had even reach the half way point at this stage.
And although it is probably the Lone Islands and The Magician's Island which suffer the most from being impossibly brief, i found that the ending then seemed out of place within the rest of the movie as a result. In itself, the farewell scene is perfectly fine and more or less plays out exactly as you would of expected and hoped. The problem however is that the length and significance given to this farewell scene feels disproportionately large in relation to the shortness of the quest that preceded it. Essentially the scene is supposed to serve as the emotional pay-off resulting from the journey, however at no point did I feel the film had earned the moment it was expecting us to feel emotional for.
I really really hope that Fox has an extended cut up its sleeve for the DVD release, as this movie could be vastly improved simply by adding an extra 10-15 minutes onto it. It wouldn't even have to be the addition of major or significant new scenes, even just a few more minutes here and there to just give the movie a bit more room to breathe and allow things to develop a bit more slowly and allow the audience a little longer to connect with the events, would help immeasurably.
Topic starter
Posted : December 1, 2010 7:57 am
I did not have a problem with the pacing. I did not wear my watch during the movie and had to give up my cell phone, but wasn't the run time close to 2 hours? The pacing was fast, and I give the editing team credit, for making a near 2 hour movie seem really fast. They had to put a lot of material into the movie, without bogging it down, and still give it a feel of a fast paced adventure.
All in all, I thought it worked well. Are there things I would have changed? Sure. But, they were clearly gunning for fast paced adventure and succeeded, while leaving intact the spiritual journeys for the main characters.
An extended cut would be interesting.
Posted : December 1, 2010 8:47 am
Yeah, an extended edition would be great!
That's one thing about Fox...they tend to like making their films quite short. I don't really know why...
Check out "The Magician's Nephew" and "The Last Battle" trailers I created!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwWtuk3Qafg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrPxboeZqrA
Posted : December 1, 2010 8:50 am
I had a HUGE problem with the pacing. It's what nearly killed the movie.
When writing my thoughts of the film to Walden Media (who had us take surveys to say what we liked and didnt in order to make final adjustments) I told them they needed to give the film a bit more screentime.
Because I felt I could never immerse myself in the movie. The pace was so fast that before characters could even grow on me, they were hopping from one island to the next.
And the Island's themselves...we never really got a good feel of what the islands were like because the pacing was so quick. In the end it felt like the islands were brief pitstops as oppossed to huge portions of the story.
The Lone Islands is of course the worst example, as they basically arive, get caputred, get into a huge fight, and leave within 10 minutes. And there was also no suspenseful build up to Lucy walking through the magician's house (despite having seen concept art of it).
Even the leaked script developed the islands better than this movie!
And I agree about Gael. She wasnt actually annoying, she was just quiet and sad. I think they should have either cut out her character or have developed her more. I think a scene or two where we get to know her more as a person would have helped...as with her bond with Lucy.
I felt individually enough time was spent on the characters, but in terms of their relationships with each other...they were underdeveloped. Part of the reason the last scene isnt too emotional is because we never felt a bond.
For instance Caspian says Edmund is like a brother to him, yet we don't see a whole lot of scenes with them bonding. And Lucy's parting with Aslan wasnt as powerful as it should have been because Aslan got very little screentime. They could have drawn out his undragoning of Eustace a bit more, but they were so quick to edit back to the battle.
Winter Is Coming
Posted : December 1, 2010 9:38 am
I thought it moved along at a good clip, but I could see it benefiting from the occasional setting shot. Maybe a wide shot of the outside of Coriakin's home, an indoor shot. Something to give a slightly wider feel to the film. There wasn't any dead space in there and that was nice. Better that it moved quickly, then moving too slowly.
Posted : December 1, 2010 1:29 pm
I appreciated the "fast" pace of VDT, but agree with Josh - an extra ten minutes wouldn't hurt. But don't hold your breath for an extended cut unless VDT makes a LOT of money at the box office.
Posted : December 1, 2010 1:35 pm
looks like it faces the same problem the Harry Potter franchise face. The filmmakers either butcher the characters/story (PC anyone?) or dump everything in and gloss it over briefly. Gonna watch it next week...hopefully I won't find it too disappointing.
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Posted : December 1, 2010 1:56 pm
I for one am looking forward to seeing a Narnia movie that, from what I'm hearing from y'all, actually moves! LWW and particularly PC were very draggy in places, I thought. Maybe this one will finally work for me. 
Posted : December 1, 2010 2:24 pm
I for one am looking forward to seeing a Narnia movie that, from what I'm hearing from y'all, actually moves! LWW and particularly PC were very draggy in places, I thought. Maybe this one will finally work for me.
If PC dragged, as you say, then VDT practically moves at the speed of light.
Posted : December 1, 2010 5:36 pm
yes I completely agree,t he pacing was a huge...problem, for me. it felt like the first half of the movie was frantic and rushed almost, whilst the 2nd half had more time to breath, making me finally able to form connections to the story and characters and get a better sense of what was happening. I was actually quite open to the whole Gael subplot, I mean, I think it was unnecessary, but I was willing to give it a ago, and the only reason that I still don't like it is that it was just so under-developed! gael hardly got 10min screen time, rhince way less. I had trouble recognizing her mother at the end of the movie, since all we got was a brief glimpse. I think they should've just realsed a little more and given each of these wonderful islands, stories and character arcs a few more minutes. adding just 15min onto the film would've made such a huge difference, as others have said. and, just to note, it's very unusual for me to even notice the pacing of a film :/
Grief for the movies made me abandon narniaweb...but I'm so glad to be back!
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Posted : December 3, 2010 1:44 am
looks like it faces the same problem the Harry Potter franchise face. The filmmakers either butcher the characters/story (PC anyone?) or dump everything in and gloss it over briefly. Gonna watch it next week...hopefully I won't find it too disappointing.
I'm not really a HP franchise fan, but noticed the runtime of one of the HP films was about 153 minutes compared to VDT's. Is VDT's runtime really only 115 minutes? That is short! 
I have not seen it yet.... 
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Posted : December 3, 2010 8:44 pm
Yes, stateofgreen, but I think you should also take the sizes of the books into consideration. Narnia books are quite thin with 200-300 pages, while some of the HP one look like Bibles! 
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He still believes in you.
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Posted : December 4, 2010 4:07 am
It is interesting to note that the shortest Narnia movie yet is an adaptation of the longest book in the series, what a shame
Posted : December 4, 2010 4:21 am
That is interesting aragorn2. I hope there is an extended cut somewhere to be released. I have this feeling a lot of my favourite dialogue and particular scenes from the book may have been cut....I have not yet seen the film.
If they had full character and plot development, even if the books were short the runtime could have been extended to allow for richer character development-types of scenes. The whole Eustace-Dragon storyline of VDT should be milked for all it's worth....If the pacing is off...ugh... 
Ah, I guess I'll just have to wait. 
Edited to add:
Looked up running times on IMDB:
LWW 143 min
PC 150 min
VDT 115 min
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Member of the Will Poulter is Eustace club
Great Transformations-Eustace Scrubb
Posted : December 4, 2010 8:32 am
ahhhhh stateofgreen, your mentioning of an extended cut just warmed my heart! movie-makers, PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE consider this!! 
it will make a lot of narnia fans rather happy methinks.
Grief for the movies made me abandon narniaweb...but I'm so glad to be back!
Many thanks to the wonderful Lady Eowyn for making my sig/av.
Posted : December 4, 2010 6:30 pm
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