NoHall, I totally agree w/your assessment! Here's my 'added' two cents:
(potential spoilers-read w/caution)
I too was upset about the scene where Lucy confronts the others about seeing Aslan and the group persuades her she didn't etc...it was too reduced. I felt the same way in LWW when Edmond goes through the wardrobe and can't find Lucy...he's trudging through the snow and in the book, he's having this entire internal conflict: 'she'll probably rub it in my face, the others will always take her side, etc.' and then he meets the queen. Well, in the cartoon version, that internal dialogue was disclosed and in the movie, they ignored it completely!!! HUGE mistake in my book!! What a waste!!:angry: That was a crucial scene of disclosing Edmond's heart and him being 'set up' to believe the queen...which is followed-up later by talking to Aslan and it's all part of his transformation. Granted, at least in PC the extra lines they gave Edmond were true to his new character, so I felt somewhat compensated for the lack of his development in the first movie.
Secondly, I felt the scene w/Lucy in the woods when she does go meet Aslan was also diminished from the book. Another crucial scene, IMHO, that wasn't quite 'BIG' enough.
In general, my husband and I were a little uncertain about seeing PC b/c we really felt like LWW was a disappointment. This is coming mostly from being raised by reading the books and watching the cartoon version (which is INCREDIBLE!). My biggest peeve w/the new version was the queen...she wasn't nearly as eccentric as she is portrayed in the books/cartoon. She looked right, but she never commanded the scene. Her voice never shook you, her attempts to hide her internal thirst for power never jarred you, so when her 'true' colors were revealed in the climactic scene of slaying Aslan, you weren't impressed b/c everything about her was too subdued.
In addition to that, Aslan wasn't portrayed 'BIG' enough for my taste either. So, PC was a chance to redeem the stories for me...and it did
I thought they're finally starting to take these stories to the level they should be. PC was a LOT better as far as the effects/and overall seriousness of the story. It felt more like an epic movie, like LOTR. They did leave out some critical things, minimized other things that should have been of import, but overall, they did a much better job. My hope is that Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be even better produced and that Lewis' genius will convey, now that we have the movie technology to attempt it.
As an aside, I think J.K.R's comments were misguided. I always felt that Lewis was trying to say that 'heaven' can only be seen through the eyes of a child--or, as the Bible puts it: 'the pure in heart', of any age. He, IMHO, was saying that when we choose to 'grow up', we lose our child-like imagination, we lose the ability to believe the 'ridiculous' with ease and need to be proved something is real instead of taking it on faith. So we become blind to that other world that exists.
Alright...that's all of my Narnia ramblings!! If you made it to the end of this soap box, congratulate yourself now and get back to whatever it is you were doing!
