Anfinwen wrote:My guess about the changing and rearranging is that it refers to scenes with LotGK. We've already discussed in other threads the best time to show flash-backs, how much to reveal, and when.
Yeah, there's a very good chance that that's at least part of what they're talking about. Flashbacks are a bit difficult to incorporate to begin with, so I wouldn't be surprised if they might move those scenes to the beginning of the film before taking us to our world to meet Jill and Eustace. (Sort of like the beginning of
Prince Caspian.)
Anfinwen wrote:Another possibility is that the scene with Giants throwing rocks could be moved to a different place, perhaps as they're crossing the bridge, or escaping from Harfang.
Ooh, interesting! The idea of combining the belligerent giants with the bridge-crossing is especially intriguing... I can imagine the questers being chased and then the rickety stone bridge collapsing after they cross over it, preventing them from being followed.
daughter of the King wrote:Although I'm definitely not fond of the idea, I would be surprised if the escape from Underland isn't made more intense/actiony/anything other than them just walking to the hole near the surface in Narnia. Other than the brief encounter with the gnomes near the crack that leads to Bism, their escape is mostly a long walk in the dark. And as much as I love the gnomes there was already a long walk in the dark to get into Underland (although that might be shortened quite a bit too).
Ah, I'm afraid you're probably right.

I imagine most scriptwriters would say there's a pacing issue to be had there, but frankly, I really love that part of the story. The eeriness and despair of the lights going out one by one, quite unlike the sudden shock and horror of being plunged into pitch darkness when the questers first fall down into Underland. I really hope they manage to keep that feeling in the film, especially because that atmosphere is largely why the following scene of the Great Snow Dance (which of course must
not be cut

) is so joyful. The contrast there is important.
One way I can conceive of them changing this scene is to have them get on one of the boats at the harbor and then be quickly washed down a series of caverns like it's a water ride at Disneyland. (Of course, there are some obvious hydrological problems with this: unless the Dark Castle is located inside a ridge or mountaintop, they need to go
up, not down.) I can also imagine that they might change the linear walk to more of a climb, so that the gnomes have been drilling upwards towards Narnia rather than at an angle. In that case, they could get in one of the boats and ascend upwards with the rising floodwaters like they're in an elevator.
Perhaps the option that would be nearest to canon (and the one that I like the best), however, is to just have the horses hustle along at a good clip, perhaps dodging falling rocks and cascades of water. In the book, they
do urge the horses at a canter and then even a gallop, though they eventually have to slow down because the animals tire. Racing against dying light, thundering through quaking caverns and rising rivers... that could actually be a
really cool scene.
daughter of the King wrote:I would also expect a little more background on Jill. Perhaps showing a lot of her being bullied around the school before that particular dull autumn day.
I wouldn't be surprised by that either. Bullying is a popular topic these days and they'll probably expand on those scenes because of that. I actually kind of like the idea of them starting the film by showing her arriving at the school, and then having a sort of montage that quickly encompasses everything that's wrong with the school (the mad Head, some of the bullying incidents Eustace referenced, et cetera), because otherwise we may not be able to get a strong sense of what the school is really like. In the book, the reader gets a pretty good impression of just how unpleasant life is at Experiment House based on what the narrator and Jill and Eustace say about it, but in a movie, you usually need to show rather than tell.