Fantastic Mr. Fox trailer!!
posted by DZ at
1:14 PM
7.30.2009
Contributors
- Ethanasius
- SZ
- Mockingbird
- Ben
- Joshua Corrigan
- Matt Johnson
- Kate Norris
- StampDawg
- JMG
- Davis
- Emily
- Charles E. Jenkins
- Kris
- John Zahl
- LGF
- Nick Lannon
- Colton
- DRP
- dpotter
- Bonnie
- JDK
- DZ
- David Browder
- camcole
- Keith Pozzuto
- Alex and Emily
- Todd Brewer
- ETHAN
- Tom
- Bryan J.
- Jeff Hual
- Mr. T
- R-J Heijmen
- Ron
- Aaron M. G. Zimmerman
- L.R.E. Larkin
- Jacob
Previous Posts
- Mockingbird: Bringing You the Gospel (pt. 8)
- Carolina Liar Tells the Truth
- Tony Hale Controls The World! A Mockingbird Interv...
- Subcontrario (In Stereo)
- Mockingbird Interview on The Internet Monk
- Judgment and the Ethic of Womanhood
- A Malleable Feast?: Perception, Reality and the Cross
- Would you buy a hot dog from an ex-con?
- Another Week Begins: Basil Wolverton, Otaku Pillow...
- "God Does His Part, and I Do Mine." The Falsehood...
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
7 Comments:
oh man oh man oh man oh man oh man
"If what I think is going on is going on, it better not be."
I'm a little sad that they had to say "based on a book by the author of Charlie and the Chocolate factory" instead of naming the author. So few people read now that no one knows who Roald Dahl is. Bummer. But the movie looks awesome.
"Because... I'm little."
there's also no mention of Wes in the trailer. Curious!
fyi, i hear he's using a bunch of beach boys songs this time around!
I share Aaron's sadness, especially as it regards children and children being read to.
My eyes were opened to this 10 years ago when I realized that most children are indeed familiar with the same titles that shaped me so deeply 40 years ago -- but as dreadful movie adaptations. NOT as books.
Every movie adaptation I have seen of one of these great books has been complete crap. REALLY bad. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Watership Down, The Hobbit, Winnie The Pooh, Charlotte's Web -- no exceptions.
I feel REALLY strongly about this. I really feel like it's a form of child abuse (obviously unintentional and obviously not as bad as battery or sex abuse). Kids are robbed of the opportunity to fall under the SPELL of beautiful words. "Charlotte's Web" for example was written by one of the great prose stylists of the 20th century. If English profs weren't allergic to "children's books" it would be considered one of the great American novels. But these kids have had this opportunity stolen from them!
Anyway, I'm ambivalent about the FMF movie. Every other Roald Dahl movie I have seen I have disliked immensely. So I am not holding my breath about this one. And the trailer gives me an uneasy feeling that it will involve cool movie stars voiceing animals saying a lot of hip 21st century lines -- which is a way of distancing the audience from the story, rather than making them forget themselves and forget Hollywood and forget this world by losing them completely in another.
John-
Hmmm... If it's really true that children these days are more familiar with the film adaptations of these books than the books themselves, that's definitely sad. I remember reading something along those lines about the Shrek films - that children these days are more familiar with the parodies of fairy tales than the fairy tales themselves. Must be confusing!
That said, I disagree with you about the quality of the adaptations. I love Henry Selick's James And The Giant Peach and thought it was extraordinarily faithful to the book. And Nicolas Roeg's version of The Witches was really creepy!
No doubt Fantastic Mr Fox will be as much a Wes Anderson film as a Roald Dahl story (same goes for Wild Things), but that is a potentially amazing mix in my opinion. And i have to confess that great, hip (i hate that word) dialogue has never been a stumbling for me when it comes to losing myself in a movie...
As for movie star voices, i'm with you there - it's been an unfortunate development in animated filmmaking (though also relatively recent? the first time i remember such a thing was when robin williams voiced the genie in Aladdin), one that i would like to see disappear. though i suppose it depends somewhat on whose voices...
Of course, there's no accounting for taste! I wonder if there are any adaptations you've liked or would recommend?
DZ
For children's books, I'll have to think about it. I seem to remember that the animated version of "The Lorax" (Dr. Seuss) was good. But its possible that there aren't hardly any I'd like. I hated the movie version of WATERSHIP DOWN, and I've felt that way about every movie version that's been attempted of PETER PAN and WINNIE THE POOH.
I've heard that the movie version of THE GOLDEN COMPASS came off badly as well.
There was a Czech riff on Lewis Carrol's Alice books that I liked -- it was called ALICE (1988). It was surreal and disturbing (but then again so are the Alice books).
And there are a number of movies that are adaptations of books that I think are great. Kubrick does this a lot -- takes a book and creates a stunning film out of it, typically with his unique vision of the story. "2001" is probably the greatest science fiction movie ever made. And "The Shining" is one of the greatest horror movies.
And as you know, despite its problems, I love Spielberg's A.I (which is an adaptation of Pinnochio); and I love "The Innocents" which is an adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw." CORALINE I liked as a movie though I wager I'd like the novel better.
The movie HOUSEKEEPING is one of my favorite movies ever and it too is an adaptation of a novel. "The Company of Wolves" is a loose adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood and I like that.
Seeing the movie version of "Charlotte's Web" is something I barely recovered from. In the words of Ignatius Reilly it was "reels and reels of perversion and blasphemy, which stunned my disbelieving eyes."
=============
As you say, however, there's no accounting for taste. I should go on record as saying that I hated all three of Peter Jackson's LOTR movies as well, which probably is enough for any reader here to conclude that I am completely crazy. (In Jackson's defense, I will say that he did direct some beautiful deeply original films -- back when he was still Down Under and before he consumated his Faustean bargain with Hollywood.)
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home