Film adaptations of classic and beloved works of literature are often scrutinized heavily and received with mixed reactions. Short fantasy tales like The Hobbit and C. S. Lewis’ Narnia adventures have been adapted on multiple occasions, with varying success. Typically, material from novels must be heavily trimmed or reworked in order to fit the film format. While some ideas don’t translate well to film, these short stories need little fat removed. In fact, the filmmaker’s often take great artistic license and expand the stories for the big screen. To understand what we’re talking about, look no further than Peter Jackson’s 3-movie version of the Hobbit, which is generally considered heavily bloated. Keep in mind, this is based on a book that can be read in a single afternoon.
Similar issues plagued the recent theatrical adaptations of Lewis’ Narnia books. Faneditor SoboFilms has done his best to bring these films closer in spirit to the beloved books they are based on. His latest offering is a book cut of 2010’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Here is what the editor had to say:
Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia along with their cousin Eustace Scrubb, in a high seas adventure that will bring them to the very edge of the world and Aslan’s country itself. This was achieved by removing bad plot elements, like the Green Mist and subplots like, the seven swords of Narnia, as well as other major changes/additions.
Again, like with Caspian my goal wasn’t to make a purist cut, but a cut of the film that would still be a film but could also retain most (or some) of the elements from the book. As well as make the film’s plot a lot less goofy and cliche and more enjoyable as a whole, even if there was still some inaccuracies to the book.
Check out the trailer:
Curious? Get more details on the edit in the forum discussion and on the IFDb page.