Narnia, extended
iaian7 » blog John Einselen, 29.12.06Ah, more of a good thing! Late this year Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was released in an extended cut, with countless hours of extras.
Extended scenes are spread fairly well throughout the film, with tidbits of dialogue and character reactions added liberally. One of the first noticible additions is to the train scene, where we follow some of the other children a little more closely. It gives a better sense of the drastic measures so many people had to make in an effort to protect their families.
Though there are other additions as well, most of the longer scenes are added to the battle. Instead of just a few griffins dropping stones, we have flocks of griffins… and they are in turn attacked by hideous bat-like creatures. The phoenix is almost taken out by one of the flying creatures as well, but is saved by a judiciously thrown spear. There is added sword play, various animalistic entanglements, and the fight between Jadis (the White Witch) and Areous (lead centaur) is longer. The battle sequence was always, in my opinion, fantastically directed, and fleshing out the action just makes it that much better.
The extras are… extensive, to say the least! I will never make it through all of them (an interactive history of Narnia seems rather unwieldy to handle through DVD menus, and I’ve read all the books), but the ones I’ve watched have been tremendous. Excellent coverage on the processes behind effects, costuming, sets, locations, acting, and more. Can’t recommend it enough, and I hope, sometime, to get through all the commentaries. It’s a fairly major undertaking.
While this longer cut is great, I was also surprised by how well the original works in comparison. The extended version doesn’t add much to the storyline, so much as depth or detail to the actions taking place. It’s enjoyable, and yes, the battle is superb!
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