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My wife and I needed to get out of the house so we saw a matinee of this today and it was pretty good. It was a little bit of Harry Potter, some Hellboy and some old European folklore. The best part for me was the little toad-like goblins!
The books are better (when aren't they though) - go to your local library and borrow the 5 cd set of all 5 books (narrated by Mark Hamil) and listen to it in the car... it is rather enjoyable for young adult books, each CD is one book and lasts about 90 minutes.
I really liked it. I thought the boy who plays the main character was really good. It was also interesting to see how they made the twins be played by one person.
I agree, the little toad goblins were pretty cool too.....
I'm with everyone on the toad goblins. Lots of fun there.
For me, the movie didn't really hit its stride until Joan Plowright showed up, and then I really enjoyed the remainder. I have difficulties with movies where I don't like any of the characters, and I felt the family members were just way too harsh for it to be enjoyable. I know they were going through a rough time, but from my perspective, it came across as a little too mean-spirited.
I also preferred Nick Nolte as a creepy old wizard rather than a giant building-bashing ogre.
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I have difficulties with movies where I don't like any of the characters, and I felt the family members were just way too harsh for it to be enjoyable. I know they were going through a rough time, but from my perspective, it came across as a little too mean-spirited.
This is one of the changes in the movie vs the books - in the books simon and the sister are more upbeat about starting over, and they all knew the father wasn't coming back. I think the story really suffered by trying to fit all 5 books into one movie. Some of the best parts had to be cut, because they included more scenery I think ( scenes at the school and with the dwarfs) and Changing the elves into Slife wasn't the best in my opinion either.
This is one of the changes in the movie vs the books - in the books simon and the sister are more upbeat about starting over, and they all knew the father wasn't coming back. I think the story really suffered by trying to fit all 5 books into one movie. Some of the best parts had to be cut, because they included more scenery I think ( scenes at the school and with the dwarfs) and Changing the elves into Slife wasn't the best in my opinion either.
Thanks for the information. I was sort of curious about the books before and will take the time to check them out. I think having a big VHS and DVD collection of movies we like enough to watch over and over again has made me too spoiled when it comes to new movies. They have to be pretty close to perfect (meaning my odd personal standard of perfect--not really relating much at all to the actual quality of the movie) for me to get excited.
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Thanks for the information. I was sort of curious about the books before and will take the time to check them out. I think having a big VHS and DVD collection of movies we like enough to watch over and over again has made me too spoiled when it comes to new movies. They have to be pretty close to perfect (meaning my odd personal standard of perfect--not really relating much at all to the actual quality of the movie) for me to get excited.
no problem... the small, character building encounters were the ones thrown out, so they could twist the story-line ones the way they saw the story. truthfully - it felt to me like a convention D&D session run by a DM who is scared that you are going to run out of time, so pushes you from one fight to another with the minimum roleplay, where the books really let you into the characters (it's all told for Jared's perspective)
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This is one of the changes in the movie vs the books - in the books simon and the sister are more upbeat about starting over, and they all knew the father wasn't coming back. I think the story really suffered by trying to fit all 5 books into one movie. Some of the best parts had to be cut, because they included more scenery I think ( scenes at the school and with the dwarfs) and Changing the elves into Slife wasn't the best in my opinion either.
Yeah, I was a little hesitant to see the movie as someone I know who saw it said it good but he didn't like the characters, especially any faerie types.