Depth of Vision in Film - Narnia, Eragon, and HP

[Steve]

Here is a quote regarding the Narnia-Prince Capsian movie, yet
I think it can be reasonably applied to the Harry Potter series
as well as many other movie adaptations.


"Narnia film long on action, short on faith"
http://www.anglicanjournal.com/culture/film/042/article/narnia-film-long-on-action-short-on-faith/

"...an over-emphasis on battles. It's precisely the same trap to
which the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings fell prey. 
What's lost in the process is the strong sense of character and 
place and emotion that's present in the books. It's a shame that
filmmakers don't trust their craft enough to indulge in leisurely
scenes of quiet discovery and conversation. Without them, a film 
cannot hope to fully engage us in the fate of its characters or 
to immerse us in a world it only sketches."

In a very real sense, movies can't drag, they have to move 
quickly to where they are going, but at the same time, I feel 
the story is lost if they don't take the time to give me a sense
of place and people. 

I care about Harry and friends because I have read the books, 
but I don't know if the movie sufficiently establish either the
place, the stories, or the characters enough that I can or would
care about them.

Roger Ebert the film critic said something to the effect that
no good movie is ever too long, and no bad movie is ever short
enough. If you (meaning the movie makers) want us to sit for
a long movie then simply make it a good movie; make us care. 

As far as I'm concerned all the HP movies were too short. In
some cases simply leaving in the deleted scenes would have
given more substance to the stories. In more cases, simply 
telling a longer and better story would have done the job.

In all cases, it seems the the movie makes did the absolute 
minimum they could get away with, and while the movie are
enjoyable to me, a big Potter Fan, they are not any where
near as enjoyable if they had taken the time to develop
the plot and given some depth to the characters. 

For a movie adapted from a book to work, it needs to tell the
story faithfully, not just to the general plot, but to the
place, they characters, and the nature of the plot. The
Harry Potter movie do that, but just barely. The Narnia 
movies also do that, just barely. And note that these are
successful movies.

But look at the movie 'Eragon', they failed miserably because
they neither showed me the character nor developed the story.
I love those books, and can't wait for the next one to come
out, so if they had even done the most minimum amount to do
justice to the story, I would have been happy, or at least,
satisfied. But they didn't. They had brilliant actors that
they didn't really use. The had a great story, that they just
barely touched on. Where is the drama, where is the emotion,
where are the characters I care about struggling against
impossible odds? Gone...apparently.

The sad part is that the writing and directing were so bad
in Eragon, that they have in essence doomed the franchise.
If you hope to start and maintain a lengthy franchise, and
this one would have been at least 4 movies, then you have to
get the first one right. It sets the stage for everything.
Yet, they blew it, they blew 3 or 4 billion dollars because
they couldn't take the time and trouble to get the first
story/movie right. 

I did see the latest Narnia movie, and I did enjoy it, but
it seems a very thin story, and I confess I haven't read the
books. It did do the job, the same way the latest HP movie
did the job, it covered the bare essentials in the most basic
way, but I sensed there was so much more depth there. 

I enjoyed it in the way I enjoyed the HP movies, I liked what
I saw, but sensed that there was so much more to tell. So much
more that could have lent depth and meaning to the characters 
and the circumstances.

I have some comments about Ben Barnes, but I will hold off
until more people have seen it, I don't want to spoil it
for them. Overall, I though all the actors did a good job,
and the special effects were really good. I'm somewhat 
disappointed that HP can't do Centaur that well. 

As an actor in general, I thought Ben Barnes (Prince Caspian)
was very good. The greatest thing lacking in anyone's
performance came not from the quality of the actors, but from
the writing and directing.

Still, I do recommend it to any fans.

steve/bboyminn