Mini Movie Review - The Water Horse

My first impression of the Water Horse, based on the book by Dick King-Smith, was that we were finally going to be treated to a traditional children's movie, full of the joy of discovery and the value of friendship. I took my whole family to this movie, rather than something like Golden Compass or Enchanted, because I thought that it would be a nice movie about a cool little critter that everyone would enjoy. The reviews that I read on the internet seemed to support this, saying it was suitable for the whole family, and I remember the preview looking happy and fun.

So why did no-one tell me that it's actually a world war 2 movie in disguise? The movie has some quite serious undertones about the folly of war, and most of the action of the movie was tension between the various male adult characters, the young male protagonist and his mother. The CG on the water horse itself was spectacular, it was a really cute little dude that it was easy to fall in love with, but it didn't get nearly the screen time it deserved. The last half hour of the movie were particularly tense and upsetting, and although the movie ultimately had a happy ending, I don't expect that kind of mental turmoil in an innocent kids movie.

I'm thoroughly sick of war movies masquerading as fairytales. Pan's Labyrinth is excused because I knew nothing about the movie before I saw it - I didn't even know it was rated MA until I was in the cinema, but if this tread continues, I will be very unimpressed.

Movie Review - Golden Compass

Whenever I hear about yet another childhood favorite being turned into a movie, I'm always at least a little scared, if not outright terrified, about how they are going to butcher whichever beloved book they have just turned their sights upon. Fortunately, I am often good at forgetting about the rumours until I actually see a preview - and in the case of the Northern Lights adaptation this was probably a good thing. The preview alone blew me away by creating exactly the right atmosphere and sense of wonder that I experience while reading His Dark Materials trilogy, and the movie itself doesn't disappoint.

One of the biggest problems with book to movie adaptations, is trying to convey all of the subtle information that comes across in the book in a two hour movie. While I can't comment as to how Golden Compass does this from the point of view of someone who hasn't read the books - I found it really interesting that at the start of the movie they gave you a short summery of what the world was about, nothing to do with the plot of the books, just enough so that anyone new to the series would understand what it was that made this world different to our own.

Not that the beautiful buildings, magic flying ships, horseless carriages and little critters everywhere wouldn't give this away. The CG on the movie is fantastic in it's effortlessness, it creates a fascinating world that at the same time inspires a sense of wonder, and is completely believable - to anyone willing to enter the worlds of fantasy at least. The daemons are dealt with particularly well. For those unfamiliar with the series, daemons are essentially the equivalent of having an imaginery friend that is real. Everyone has a daemon, who can change shape until puberty, and who then settles on a form that is somehow appropriate to your personaity and stataion in life. So pause and think for a moment, about how much effort went into giving every single actor in the movie their own little CG pet. The daemons are seamlessly inserted into every scene, and actually quite clever in how they give you little clues about the roles of all the important characters.

The most important character in the movie is obviously the protagonist, a young girl called Lyra. One of the reasons that I am so fond of the this book/movie, is that Lyra is a phenomenal role model for both boys and girls. Loyal, smart and very brave, Lyra is called to demonstrate these qualities over and over again through the movie, and does so without complaining once. She is able to express her fears to her daemon Pan, but that never shakes her resolution about what she has to do.

The actress playing Lyra was a bit older than I expected, and while this changed the character somewhat, it was an acceptable trade off for having someone capable of playing the character of Lyra with the depth it needed. All of the other actors in the movie were fantastic - as you would expect with the number of big names it attracted. This was in some ways a slight disadvantage, because being able to play 'spot the celebrity' broke the realism of the movie a little, but the actors were all so well cast for the roles that they dragged you right back in again. Sam Elliot as Lee Scorseby deserves an honourable mention, because while I had never ever imaged that character as being such a cowboy as soon as I saw him on screen I realised it was perfect, and I will never ever be able to see him any other way.

The last thing that really impressed me about this movie is how close to the books it actually is. I kept waiting for them to change something, to do something that loyal fans would get upset about - but they really didn't. The only changes came towards the end of the movie, and you could see exactly why they changed things the way they did. They even left in parts of the books I was sure they would skip for 'pacing reasons'.

It still ends up a very long movie, and it may seem to jump around a little for people not familiar with the book, but overall I think that it is a wonderful and engaging story matched with awe-inspiring visuals. It may have recieved mixed reviews in the critical press, but I loved it and hopefully you will too.

Movie Review: Seeker, The Darkness is Rising

Seeker has all of the elements of a good fantasy movie: unsuspecting protagonist, mysterious bad guy, large family of boys, including mischievous twins and a cute younger sister.... does this sound familiar to anyone? While I can't blame the plot, which was written by Susan Cooper well before Harry Potter had even been thought of, I can't help feeling that this movie made not by someone who loved fantasy, but rather by someone who saw a way to cash on in the recent fantasy movie craze. In terms of making money, it's quite likely the movie will succeed, it is quite a pretty movie, with good use of camera effects whenever evil happens, a feel good/sappy ending, and a main character who is well versed in the frodo-baggins-one-facial-expression school of acting.

The basic premise of the story isn't that bad, Will Stanton has to find the six signs before the incredible evil destroys the world. As a book, in which there is enough time and space to explore the characters it could work out ok, but in a movie it feels ridiculous. The main character seems to wander though the movie randomly finding clues and whining about things. Whenever he finds a sign, he is transported through time to the period it was 'hidden' in, which provides the excuse for a brief action scene, but really doesn't add much to the plot. Then, as if condensing the search for the first five signs isn't enough, a sixth sign is introduced, as a way of introducing a feel good subplot that is ridiculous and makes no sense.

As if the plot wasn't annoying enough by itself, the portrayal of Will Stanton makes it worse. I understand a certain amount of reluctance from a hero that has the kind of responsibility involved with saving the world thrust upon him, but Will Stanton is just stupid about it, and what makes it worse is that he occasionally has moments of clarity about the problems of his family members that come out of no-where and are completley out of character! The antagonist is similarly a bit off, in his "evil rider" form he is merely average, the character would have been much scarier if played by someone with a little more presence (say Viggo Mortenson :P), and his 'in disguise' form was just strange, not even a creepy strange like the bug man in buffy for example, just strange.

The other characters are much more enjoyable. Will's five brothers do seem to blend into each other a little, but we do get a surprising amount of understanding of them considering their relative unimportance in the movie. His sister is a cutie, and his mum is lovely as well. The 'Old Ones' who help Will in his search are all wonderful, they are very strong characters with oodles of grace, and I loved watching them whenever they were on screen. If I can be as cool an old lady as Ms Greythorn, I will die happy.

I do think this movie will succeed, it's got a kind of showyness that will appeal to the kind of audience that don't really want to think when they are in a cinema, I can only hope that the success of this movie means more good fantasy will get made. Me? I'm still waiting for Golden Compass.