MB

How do you feel about the recent trend for 'fantasy' movies which seem to be as popular with some adults as they are with children?

Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Narnia stories etc...

I feel this is relevant here, because I imagine that the British film industry is being credited with a good deal of this - mainly because the books were written by British authors and feature a lot of actors from the UK... although the reality is that they are an 'international' affair.. (Adam Adamson, the director behind the Narnia movies is from New Zealand, filmed in eastern Europe and New Zealand, I believe...Peter Jackson director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is a New Zealander, filmed mainly there. The Harry Potter movies are, of course, Warner bros, owned.)

My take on this:

Film is an excellent medium to explore these ideas and I find some of them reasonably enjoyable, nothing can take art direction to greater heights..explore ideas further...

I think all of the above are bloody awful.

The acting is always cringingly over the top from the established actors and they seem to pick, without exception, the least charismatic, most amateurish youngsters to take part. I taught Drama in community theatre groups for years (so obviously, I know more about this than Peter Jackson...that was a joke...) and saw youngsters during that time with the personality and drive that could truly light up a screen - where are they getting these kids from? Middle class Brit children R US?

Plus, the violence! Relentless - I ill-advisedly took my daughter to see Prince Caspian yesterday after being reassurred by the ticket seller that it was 'appropriate' and because I had read the books in my late childhood - but I don't remember page after page of gory sword fighting. At one point - a young girl brandishes a bloody knife! Clearly, they are pandering to the kind of teenage boys that play violent console games..not the market the books were intended for...

And I think that is my major complaint, really...I think these books and their films have been hijacked by adults.

I know that an awful lot of people don't agree with me..but..

DB7

Stardust is another you can add to the list, but again it's lacking that certain magic ingredient; perhaps because their all cynical attempts to cash in on the Potter franchise.

I can understand the current trend for fantasy films, I suppose when the reality of rising prices and global conflict gets too depressing many of us yearn for a bit of escapism. Next time you're in the cinema it'll probably be Gordon Brown sitting next to you...

amina

I think the makers of the films have lost sight of what a fantasy film is about, and thats to stimulate your imagination. As a child I love the film Labyrinth and still do today.

Alot of the fantasy video games on the market do contain violence but not all do, however with peoples need to cash in on a games success they forget how the violent content translates onto the big screen.

I think real life movies don't really work for the fantasy theme, the Japanese have produced some wonderful fantasy animated movies, in particular Studio Ghibli who have managed to maintain the magic of what a fantasy film is all about.

batman

I think all these fantasy films are geared to make money and nothing else .... just as super-hero films are. However, kids do actually seem to like most of them. My boy loved Narnia and the first Harry Potter film and is really looking forward to seeing The Water Horse, which actually does look good. I thought the two he has watched were both really dull, and I can't stand the LOTR films which I feel are grossly over-rated. The trouble is that these kind of fast-edited, SFX heavy 'epics' are what the kids are deemed by adults to want and so they get little choice in the type of films available to them. That isn't actually true ... using my boy as an example he likes to watch older films and some of the kids films made for both US and UK TV. They do not have this 'in your face' attitude that the modern big screen films have and are more story orientated, which can only be good. Re Japanese animation ... Princess Mononoke is superb and my five year old loved it!

I wish I had claws.

amina

A studio Ghibli classic!

MB

I agree with the sentiments that these are, probably, viewed as money making exercises and that they are often lacking in imagination. The very quality you would vital. There are usually a few perfunctory 'sweeping ariel' shots..and the same computer generated effects we have seen before...

I've always thought that the Harry Potter films are strangely edited too - EDIT - I asked my ex and he says it is simply tight editing - which I imagine is due to them having to cram a lot in..but it does detract from the natural flow and quality quite a bit..I just would have expected better - perhaps there is a complacency at work? 'Oh, they're all going to come and see it anyway..'

I hopefully won't sound like a pretentious git when I say that I watched 'Koyaanisqatsi ' with my son the other day (huge Phillip Glass fan) - the only 'special effect' was an occasional speeding up..but the film kept us captivated purely with the thoughtful, ever changing camerawork and even the most mundane of objects seemed 'fantastic'. What I mean, in mentioning this - is that you don't need to resort to hobgoblins to create something that takes you above and beyond the everyday.