James wrote:
>As for the movie, I taped it for the kids, but we haven't had a chance to
>watch it. The film was made almost 1 1/2 to 2 years ago. Previews of it
>were on
>a few Disney videos that were released back then, but for some reason
>Disney
>and ABC delayed it's airing. Anyone with more insiteful info please chime
>in.
I think I read that there was a changeover in some of the management
positions at Disney, and the new folks shelved some of the projects of the
predecessors, which is not uncommon in Hollywood.
It was originally set to be a two-part miniseries, which would mean that
probably an hour of broadcast time had to be cut.
I found it to be better than I was afraid it might be, but not as good as I
hoped. I was surprised that the Christian content of the book was downlayed
so much, as this was the contract stopper between L'Engle and previous
producers. Perhaps this was part of what was trimmed to get it down to 3
hours.
I thought the acting was pretty solid, especially good by the three kids and
Kyle Secor as IT's representative. They flattened out the character of Mrs.
Murray, and the family relationships.
My greatest frustration was in the way they handled the three women. I got
nothing of the great sense of age that's in the book. They had the actresses
to do it, but the choices made veered away from the book. Especially with
Mrs. Which. Kate Nelligan certainly has the stuff to have pulled it off, but
it's like they didn't really want her to grab hold and wrestle with the
character. Certainly with CGI they have the ability to have had her shimmer
in and out of view the way described in the book.
I haven't had a chance check back in the book (my copy in hidden in a pile
somewhere in my bedroom), but does L'Engle really misquote The Tempest the
way the film did? Saying "dreams are made of" instead of "dreams are made
on"?
And my biggest disappointment was that Charles Wallace just kind of slid
into his confrontation with IT, rather than making a specific, courageous
choice.
For those who haven't read the book, I think this version probably works
very well. And despite the generally negative tone of what I've written, I
liked more than I disliked. And it's good enough to excite people who
haven't read the book to do so.
Mixed review on the film. A+ on the book.
John
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