Christmas Season Movies

I've read nothing but negative reviews of Jackson's remake of King Kong, but I loved every minute of it. In fact, I haven't enjoyed a movie as much since Lord of the Rings. On the 26th, TCM showed the original King Kong and it was amazing to see how many of the scenes Jackson truly adhered to in the remake...of course he added tons more special effects and more realistic sound effects to Kong and the dinosaurs (so that not everything sounded like a roaring lion or screaming cheetah). Movieland has come a long way since stop-motion animation. I thought all the scenes with Naomi Watts and Kong were amazing. Her version of Ann was far more resilient and capable than Fay Wray's damsel in distress. I really loved the scene with Ann and Kong in Central Park, so memorable. It was a winner, and I'd see it twice more in the theater. . . course that's devoting 6 more hours of my life to escapism!

On the other hand, Narnia didn't quite meet our expectations. Probably because we finished reading Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe the day before we watched the film. Too many details were changed for the story, characters added, scenes non-sequential, or scenes added that weren't in the original story. Sometimes you can change a book and make the movie better, as in the case of The Two Towers, but I think the changes in Narnia just detracted from overall character and plot building. Ultimately, I think it is Peter's character that is the most different from book to film. And so many narrative points are removed leaving a less rich story in the film version. It wasn't terrible, but it just didn't hit the mark of greatness. I probably won't see it again, but I am curious enough to see the other films Disney will produce with the Chronicles.