The Aardvark's PLUMBLINE: Why?

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Why?

Sorry, guys, but here is a Cautionary Tale...a warning against Artistic Hubris in Adaptations, and Thinking More Highly of One's Own Vision Than The Author's, and perhaps even Why Didn't You Just Read The Story?

Comments are welcome.
A Word: Gene Deitch was behind this, though his name Does Not Appear.

OH! As a reward, go HERE.

6 comments:

Michael W said...: To quote the late Walt Kelly: "What the tarblinkin' bazfaz is goin' on here?"; 14 January, 2012 14:37
The Aardvark said...: You're going to have to do better than that.

WATCH IT AGAIN!!!!; 14 January, 2012 14:49
Michael W said...: Well, my original comment still sort of stands (as well as adding a similar sentiment from Frank Zappa: "Welcome to another episode of 'What The F**k's Gwine On Here?'").

As a condensation of Tolkien's work this film doesn't even rate as a halfway decent try (then again, neither do most attempts at filmed versions of Shelley's "Frankenstein", but that's an entirely different bag of body parts altogether). To provide contrast. we've seen how Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" could be excellently condensed and adapted. But this barely scraped the basic elements of the story. This sort of thing is pointless unless the intention is to try and bring the original story to the screen.

For that matter, The Harvard Lampoon's BORED OF THE RINGS was far closer to Tolkien's vision than this.; 15 January, 2012 16:04
The Aardvark said...: Now thass what I'm talkin' 'bout....
Do you know anything much at all about I guess what we could call the '50s minimalist school of animation? (Well you like "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol", to buttress your rock-solid point, so you are familiar with UPA.) I have a real fondness for the fount whence flowed clever commercial animation. Well, Terrytoons is the red-headed stepchild, and Deitch worked there as Creative Director.

Here is the HuffPo article, which explains a lot about the effort.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/11/gene-deitch-the-hobbit_n_1198864.html

"I came out of Hollywood at a time when it was normal to rewrite any book that was made into a movie."

It is funny; when I inflic...er...shared this little gem with my youngest, I told him after that "Bored of the Rings" was more faithful. Great minds.; 15 January, 2012 18:18
Michael W said...: For years I knew more about Kim Deitch than Gene, but then I made the connection between Gene and classic animation (personally believing "Tom Terrific" to be his high water mark). I keep hoping one of the "kids" channels will pick up "Tom Terrific", but so far . . .; 15 January, 2012 20:57
The Aardvark said...: Tom Terrific's voice, Lionel Wilson, went on to be the first voice of Eustace Bagge, Muriel's hubby in "Courage the Cowardly Dog".; 15 January, 2012 22:07