That undragoning was a lot like some other movies I've seen. Although the purpose was dampened quite a bit, it was still there and seemed to work okay. I though they could've showed the impact of this event better, and strike some emotional vibes better. Oh well, I can blame the timing and pacing for some of that, but I'm just relieved that I didn't feel like Eustace had earned his undragoning.

I agree DestrierDragon. You hit it on the mark.

BTW after watching it again today I was wondering about what sort of effect they used to get Will up in the air to land down on Ramandu's Island. I was guessing they probably hoisted him with wires and a blue or green screen backdrop for that effect and plopped him down. It's slightly sad that now I'm focusing on the effects because the film plot structure was so blah....

I admit to actually liking this way of undragoning Eustace better than in the book. I just wish Eustace gave more of an effort to take off the dragon skin before Aslan had to do it for him. I know it isn't like this in the book, but that's why I liked Aslan's line in the BBC version where he says "it is not enough, I must do it for you."

Yeah LOL, that one measly scratch at his scales was not enough! I wish I could stop complaining, but I'm just still so disappointed.

I literally could not believe my eyes. I was shocked that they would copy beauty and the beast. Then afterward an "epic" sword fight with green mist. What's there to say about this?

A sword fight with green mist.
A sword fight with green mist.
A sword fight with green mist.

How they not only ruined one of the most powerful scenes in the whole series, or how they made the whole film a joke? Not that it wasn't a joke before but this was just...the straw that broke the buffalo's back.

I saw the movie again and still think the undragoning was well done. It was well placed and the graphics were good.

I saw the movie again and I love it even more! it's well done and it's epic!

My two problems with the undragoning are:

a) it was too fast- they should have had more emphasis on the fact that he couldn't do it himself, I mean he tried whatr once, twice? In the book isn't it like three or four times. Some dialouge would have helped to.
b) it was too cliche- The whole rising into the air thing, imediately made me think of Brother Bear, then someone else mentioned Beauty and the Beast, and it's been used how many times? Part of what I loved about this scene in the book was that it was so unique.

One thing I did like was that when Aslan scratched the sand then cuts appeared in Eustace's skin, that was cool.

While I agree that Eustace could have tried undragoning himself a little more often, I do understand the filmmaker's point of view. If you have Eustace trying to scratch up his own skin even for only 10-15 seconds, audiences might actually get bored. I'm not saying people would get bored of it, but I understand filmmakers not wanting to make it too long and make it more "cinematic" that way. By Eustace re-telling it later, puts a little more emphasis that Eustace couldn't do it himself.

After all, Eustace still tries it himself (3 scratches) and lets out a roar of exhaustion after it doesn't work. When Aslan scratches the sand, the very first scratch on Eustace can be seen on his chest, where he previously tried to scratch himself. Later, when Aslan roars, you can see that by that time the dragon's entire body is covered with scratches.

Wolfloversk^, there's no dialogue during the undragoning in the book. Eustace explains that Aslan came toward him. He heard Aslan say something to him, but Aslan didn't actually speak. I don't know how they pulled it of, but you can discover a lot of that in Aslan's facial expressions as he does the first scratch in the sand. The look on his face, the single blink; I don't know how to describe it, but I think that was done really well. Plus, I think if dialogue was added to the scene in the movie, a lot of the emotion of the scene would feel a little weaker. I think it's nice that people understand the significance without it being explained verbally on the spot

Now, with the whole Beauty and the Beast thing everyone is comparing this to. I don't think it's very much like Beaty and the Beast at all. The only similarity is that Eustace rises in the air. He doesn't rise "magically" in the air though, like in other movies (Beauty and the Beast, Shrek). When Aslan roars, it creates such a powerful "wind" that Eustace struggles to remain his stance and ultimately just rises of the ground. Then there's the sparkles. Beauty and the Beast and Shrek both had sparkles in the transformation scenes. While there does appear to be some shiny stuff flying around Eustace, I think of it more as the dragon-scales that are blown of his body. Remember that the dragon itself has a golden hue and even in other (sunny) scenes the dragon is somewhat shiny. The "sparkles" that everyone is seeing are, I believe, the dragon-scales reflecting sunlight as they're flying through the air. When you look at sparkles, they sort of orbit around the "magical" subject, growing brighter and duller. The "scales" around Eustace are blown away from Eustace and do not remain slowly floating around him.

I honestly don't understand the extreme criticism of the undragoning. I think that it was done very well. My only criticism was that it needed to be longer. They had a lot of good emotion going, and they blew it by rushing the scene. It was still an excellent scene, but could have been amazing if they had just flushed it out more. However, the issue of pacing was one i noticed throughout the film, not just in this case. Overall, though, I was pleased with that scene.

8SilverSky, yours is a great explantation , but I seriously don't see it like that at all. I still found the undragoning to be incredibly disappointing and cheesy. Also, Dragon Eustace scratches at himself like he has a bit of an itch, not like he's trying to tear off his skin - that's a huge difference to the book just there. We didn't need 15 seconds of scratching but we didn't have anywhere near long enough to understand what was going on (I was confused and I've read the book numerous times).

I saw the movie again and still think the undragoning was well done. It was well placed and the graphics were good.

I agree. After seeing it a number of times now I think that it was a good compromise with what takes place in the book. This was an acceptable change to me.

My perception of the scratching/clawing was different as well. Maybe because of knowing the book, it looked to me like there was more to it than just getting at an itch.