Characters Who Were Shortchanged...

[GlimGlum]

One thing for sure about VDT is that some of the rushed parts meant that certain characters from the book got less dialog and screen time.

I felt bad about Tony Nixon as Rynelf because he made himself available for interviews and did great personally to talk about and promote the move. Yet after two viewings he only gets one line that I see and doesn't get to do the great monologue from the book.

Governor Gumpas and Pug: If you hadn't read the book and followed the movie's production, you wouldn't know who they were.

The crew of the Dawn Treader: Even in the old Jason and the Argonauts movie from 1963 you get to know and see and hear more of the ship's crew, even the lesser ones. (IMHO).

So what are your thoughts on these and other characters you thought didn't get their proper time on the big screen? Thanks for your responses.

End Note:
Definition for shortchanged: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictiona ... 292535827k

[Josh]

I feel that Aslan, Lilliandil, Rhince/Gael were all shortchanged. Especially Aslan. He had more screentime in Prince Caspian.

[Trufflehunter]

Lilliandil probably had much more screentime, before the Great Narnia Edit (which i imagine must have taken place to cut down the running time which has given the movie its fast and awkwardly-paced feeling).

[aslanscountry]

All the characters above, plus Caspian. Yeah, yeah, he's one of the main characters and he gets quite a lot of screen time but the script doesn't do justice to his character. Some of his wiseness, wit and humor are lost from the translation from book to screen. So I think he's been definitely shortchanged (to quote the Merriam Webster link: "to deprive of or give less than something due").

[Valiant]

Lilliandil for sure along with the above mentioned characters. The fact that Aslan got shortchanged bothered me the most though. I mean the sea serpant got more screen time!

[sandyentersNarnia]

Aslan was shortchanged because I expected him to have more scenes than what was shown (in VDT) not like in PC, and I agree with Valiant, the Sea Serpent got more screen time.

[stateofgreen]

Actually I think everyone was shortchanged. Eustace definitely was. Reep was. I'd have liked to see more about Gael even though she really wasn't supposed to be in the movie. And Lilliandil needed more development....it would have been nice to see her father! Definitely agree with Aslan being shortchanged, it was almost as if he were a token cameo in this film.

[Skilletdude]

Let's just be honest. For a movie that strove to be more character driven (based upon comments we had heard from the production), it certainly had a whole lot of characters that were devoid of any substance. Drinian, Gumpas, Coriakin, Bern, Ramandu's daughter, etc. all technically played their part in the movie's story but you never got a sense of knowing who they were. They were brief, hollow representations only. And that's unfortunate when you think of the people who are not familiar with the books, how much material they are losing from these characters.

I can understand Aslan not appearing for very long. Gresham admitted in the recent NarniaWeb interview that it was partly due to the lower budget. Besides, Aslan was always more absent in this story.

While the primary characters fared better as far as development goes, the movie still didn't leave very much time for good character moments from the book, save for maybe a few scenes with Eustace and Reepicheep.

Bottom line: I left this movie Friday night with no feelings at all. It looked beautiful but I was almost never emotionally involved with any of the characters this time. That's depressing when this is based off of your favorite book series.

[Eustace]

I wish they had give more time to RD, I thought they would give her as much time as they gave in the book at least. But instead they gave her less time. I was disappointed by that and the amount of time that Aslan got.

[sweeetlilgurlie]

I agree, Skilletdude. I didn't really love any of the characters because I didn't get to know them. The script could have painted them in brisk, even strokes and given them such marvelous personalities. You don't need to have hours of screentime to get a feel for someone's character. Showing it is an art, and the screenwriters really didn't do well there.

[GlimGlum]

Let's just be honest. For a movie that strove to be more character driven (based upon comments we had heard from the production), it certainly had a whole lot of characters that were devoid of any substance. Drinian, Gumpas, Coriakin, Bern, Ramandu's daughter, etc. all technically played their part in the movie's story but you never got a sense of knowing who they were. They were brief, hollow representations only.

I do think that 10-15 minutes more towards getting to know a handful of characters better and their situations would have made a better connection for the audience. And more time in Narrowhaven with Lord Bern and Gael and Rhince and Gumpas and Pug would have added something to the "set free" scene at the end.

To bad we don't have the time, authority, or money to make our own movie versions.

[Lirenel]

Agreed, all the characters were short-changed. Unfortunately, even some new characters that had promise (Rhince and Gael come to mind - I actually liked their addition) but they weren't fleshed out and made me wonder why they were even added - the time could have been used to flesh out other characters.

[stateofgreen]

To bad we don't have the time, authority, or money to make our own movie versions.

Or a time machine to reverse the ages of the actors for a do-over and also where we get to write the script.
I can only dream of what might have been. I'm having a hard time getting over being sad about the disappointments of this film.

[wolfloversk]

Everyone.

The worst were Gael, Gumpas, Pug, Reepicheep, and Edmund. But ultimately every character could use some more development, a lot more.

[ChristProclamer]

*is relieved to hear that there do exist some deleted scenes on a distant cutting room floor somewhere*

That's a shame about Rynelf. I hope to see his deleted scenes on the DVD, then. I felt that the lords, more than anyone, were shortchanged. Poor guys are the central key to the story and...they got so little time, so little exposition! Plus Pug and Gumpas, and Reepicheep a little, too.

I didn't feel Aslan was shortchanged at all, because truthfully, he's not in the book that much.

[hogglestock]

*is relieved to hear that there do exist some deleted scenes on a distant cutting room floor somewhere*

Ok, so I saw the movie tonight for the first time, so I've been avoiding the forums... Do we really know that there were deleted scenes? That would be nice...at least if we got to see them at some point.

I came out of the movie feeling like it was very flat, and I think it must be that we don't really get to know the characters that well. Even Lucy and Edmund are a lot less appealing in this one, I think. I don't really understand their motivations.