I went into the movie expecting it to be more conventional so as to have that mass market appeal, and I found it delightful.
I don't love the book, though. I like it quite a lot, but I re-read it shortly before seeing the movie precisely because I couldn't remember much of it.
I do wish that the movie had kept the bit where
Tristan unleashes Yvanne while he goes to find food, instead of tying her to a tree. It's such a lovely little character moment.
-t,
I think that is the pivitol moment for Tristan in the book. I'm not sure he can really be a hero without it. Didn't someone say they wouldn't have helped him if he hadn't untied her? I can't remember who. Tristan is so trusting in the book; he would never be suspicious enough to tie her to the tree.
sj,
the person who wouldn't have trusted Tristan was the tree spirit. (Tori the Tree, as I think of her, because Neil has admitted that he based that character off of Tori.)
I expected the movie to be Not The book. I just didn't expect it to be so ... mainstream Hollywood fantasy, or that
so much of the charm and character development would be sacrificed on the altar of action sequences.
I don't think the ending of the book is
unhappy. Wistful, yes. But unhappy, no. Remember, I'm a huge sap for happy endings. But I found the ending of the movie to be kind of trite.
Oh, and because I'm still in rantycakes mode about this,
"Babylon candle"
wtf? The fact that the movie didn't have the
odd little peddler character who helps Tristan when he first goes beyond the Wall was a huge disappointment for me.
And I was extremely disappointed with how they dealt with the Market. I love the way the Market was presented in the book; the Charles Vess original painting for that scene is something I've coveted for years. In the movie,
you barely got to see anything, and it felt like it was one of the sections the screenplay writers just didn't understand.
Jilli,
thanks for the reminder about the tree spirit. I didn't mean to say earlier that the book ending was unhappy, although I may have made it sound that way. I thought the book ending was happy but not perfectly all wrapped up in a bow happy, which is how the movie ended. It was very trite, as you said.
I also
really missed the pedlar. He was my favorite character of the whole book.
I think my favorite part of the movie was
Peter O'Toole as the dying king. Love him, and I didn't know he was in the film ahead of time. The rest of it just didn't live up to the magic of the book.
Oh, my. I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. The Joker looks as if he'll be very interesting indeed.
Interesting different take on The Joker, and on the Batmobile.
Alan Tudyk's getting good reviews for his work in
Death at a Funeral.
Death at a Funeral
looks like alot of fun.
Alan Tudyk's getting good reviews for his work in Death at a Funeral.
Yes, and for those who might be interested he
apparently gets naked too.