Lewis, Tolkien and me
Filed under Reviews on December 28, 2005
Tagged: Christmas, Narnia, SimCity
Christmas is definitely more work now that I’m older, and I don’t mean putting together all my kid’s toys. With family in the area, we do a multi-day tour every year. I actually get tired of Christmas by the end of it.
Friday’s stop was my wife’s side of the family. I got SimCity 4, and have been playing it ever since. Being able to control an entire region of cities is a feature I’ve been waiting for since SimCity2000. I was disappointed with SimCity3000, as it never ran well on my computer, even though my system was well above the requirements. During the course of my mayoral binging over the weekend, I learned how easy it is to get your city’s budget turned upside down, and how hard it is to get back in the black. The huge starting balance is deceiving and can lull unsuspecting mayors into a false sense of security.
We went to see Narnia that night after the festivities. The series holds a special place in my heart, and my excitement for a modern movie adaption was high. While the plot stayed very true to the book (as much as I remember), both the wife and I were more conscious of how long we had been sitting than concerned with the outcome of the story.
There were moments that resonated with us. Aslan’s sacrifice and resurrection really stirred up emotional memories of when my wife first read the story as a child. I enjoyed the movie up until the children join the army. I really liked the scene at the end, between the initial credits and the roll, where Lucy tries to go back and the professor reveals his knowledge of Narnia. The transition to leaders and warriors, especially Peter, wasn’t believable for me, and I’m interested in going back to the book to see how it was handled, and if I have similar issues with it now as an adult. My wife thinks it was more the acting than a weakness in the plot. Nevertheless, we both left the theater unimpressed.
Christmas Eve is traditionally spent with some close family friends. We spent Christmas afternoon with my parents and sister. It was on this day that I made the big score: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Collector’s Extended Edition DVDs. I’m going to wait to watch them until after we sell the house–and I buy a new TV.
With five days off, you’d think I would gave gotten some writing in. SimCity was a big distraction, and with all the visiting the days just flew by. New Year’s resolution #1 will be to finish “Scroll.”
Related Posts
January 5th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
I was really impressed with Narnia. I thought the actor that was cast as Tomnas was great. The acting in general was pretty solid, and the visuals were great. The only thing that bothered me was the battle, which seemed like a watered-down Jackson LotR battle. Of course, they had to tone it down because of the PG rating, but I was still kind of bothered by it.