the book than I had anticipated. As with everything else in media these days, the bottom line is profitability. Marketing via trailers and other advertisement methods aims at a target audience to appeal to and therefore draw them into spending money to be entertained by the anticipation created by the movie preview. I saw the television commercial again this morning and it does indeed emphasize the animation aspect, leading young people with no prior interaction with the book to probably perceive it as yet another fantasy animation creation. I am sure that there are children, who have not read the book but do attend the movie, are surprised at the primarily realistic story line that runs with the escapism fantasy that is created for us to visualize beyond the imaginations of Leslie and Jess courtesy of the magic of film.I loved the children who were cast for Jess and Leslie, and I think they each respectfully captured the spirit of these main characters. The actor who played Jess was believable to me as I had similarly imagined in my mind while reading the book. He had a bit of a flair for the original 1970s setting in his appearance, with slightly shaggy hair and his clothing. I liked how Leslie's resilient, hopeful, and creative nature was portrayed by the actress who played her. I especially liked the little girl who played May Belle, with her spunky facial expressions and the way she craved nothing more than to adore her brother Jess. Even though she was a secondary character, she was an important part to the story because of the way it evicted laughs and pulled on my heartstrings throughout the story, especially with her determination at the end. The movie adaptation took place in modern times, unlike the 1970s setting of the novel. However, I still felt that the film evoked somewhat of a flavor of that time, from the hippie music played by the music teacher, who along with Jess's appearance, both could have harked from that era. The home of Jess had a flair from decades past as well. Leslie was definitely from current times in her fashion selections. I have to say that it has been a long time since I cried at a movie, and even though I knew "what was coming up," I still felt for Jess and the sincerity of his painful loss of a soul mate. I also found myself more connected to the conjured up feelings of luscious escape and the endless possibilities of my imagination that I had in abundance with my best girlfriends as a child in the playhouse my father had built for me.
I enjoyed the movie and I am glad that it wasn't as fanciful with animation as I feared it might fall victim to in its attempt to appeal to slightly younger children then the book attracts. It was a treat!
5 comments:
I also liked the actors who played the kids in the movie. However, the Annasophia Robb (cast as Leslie) did not fit the physical description of Leslie from the book. In the book, while Jess is running in the cow pasture (by the way, where was Bess the cow? - another cost of setting the story in more modern times I guess), he sees Leslie and cannot determine if she is a boy or girl. He cannot even tell after she introduces herself as Leslie (because it is a name "that can go either way"). However, Annasophia Robb definitely looks like a girl. She is a very pretty child. She even dressed like a girl, albeit strangely, but still like a girl. She did a great job in her role, and so I do not even think it was a bad decision. It was just different. And when you adapt a novel to a movie, you're going to loose something.
I agree that the depiction of the girl in the movie was much more "girly" (in a modern day self trend setter kind of way) than the tomboyish version in the book. Guess another element that was tweaked to appeal to the targeted audience for the sake of selling.
The thing that strikes me as tragic regarding the trailers for this movie is the fact that alot of children who go to see this without having read the book are going to miss the point of Terabithia entirely. I think kids are so saturated with high tech fantasy type movies these days that they are going to think that it wasn't enough animation and perhaps not even understand that it was not "real". I hope I am wrong.
I agree with your comment regarding the fact that some children will go to the movies thinking that it is going to be a completely computer animated "adventure" with mythical creatures. There are going to unfortunately be movie going kids that are disappointed because they will not like the "real" story and seeing that a little boy (Jess) has a "hard life" compared to their own. So many kids have become used to the bold, quick action of the endless possibilities of computer animation that kids are all about the "wow" factor and laughing at outlandish things. Tender story lines can be lost on kids who are growing up in a media driven society where "over the top" comes standard. I looked at talking about the movie as an adult viewer, and as one who read the book prior to the viewing. It's sad to say that there will be more than one kid who is mislead by the commercialized movie trailer that was used to draw them in, with their money in hand. I could see some of my more mature 2nd graders liking the commercials for it, but that the story would actually be too heavy for them to handle in order to "get" the real message. There also has to be more than one kid who is pleasantly surprised to find a story that they would not normally have given the time of day.
Post a Comment