01-27-2003, 12:51 PM | #1 |
Sapling
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Shadowfax
this may have been discussed already. if so, apologies...
but, here's my issue. overall, i thought TTT was great. one thing that really disappointed me, however, was shadowfax. maybe it's just me, but from the way the horse was shown in the film, i really didn't get the impression that it was the king of horses. it wasn't particularly beautiful or fast, it was just... a horse. i always loved reading about shadowfax when i was a kid, and was more than a little let down by the film. i'm not sure how PJ could have made it better, but still... what did anyone else think? did i just not "get it?" |
01-27-2003, 01:36 PM | #2 |
Elven Warrior
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I thought the horse itself looked magnificent. It was the Walt Disney portrayal that ruined the scene for me. Slow-motion takes away from the majesty and power of a horse, it does not enhance it. The rearing up on the hill before the charge was, in my opinion, the worst moment of the film. A cheesy cinematic cliche.
Last edited by squinteyedsoutherner : 01-27-2003 at 02:10 PM. |
01-27-2003, 01:39 PM | #3 |
Sapling
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the slow-mo definitely did not work. i had forgotten about that until your post. perhaps that's why i am so displeased...
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01-27-2003, 01:59 PM | #4 |
Mootis per forum
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it seems that PJ tends to overuse slow motion all over the trilogy, and almost every time he uses it, the result is horrible: Frodo's little accident at the Prancing Pony, the meeting of the hobbits at Rivendell, Sam's drowning in the Anduin... Shadowfax...
however i admitt that sometimes the result is touching as in the company flying after Gandalf's fall in Moria.
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01-27-2003, 02:03 PM | #5 |
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Actually, I think that the only bad use of slow mo was the horse rearing up. And that gave me goosebumps the second time I saw it, so...
I just think Gandalf would've fallen off.
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01-27-2003, 03:52 PM | #6 | |
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Quote:
I didn't have a problem with the slomo, except for the part where Frodo gets skewered by the troll in FotR - that was just over done. Shadowfax was alright, though I pictured him as larger and with more mane and well, smarter and wilder looking. But then, where are you going to find a horse like that on Earth?
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01-27-2003, 03:56 PM | #7 | |
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Quote:
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01-27-2003, 04:28 PM | #8 |
The Fleet-Footed
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I just didn't like the cliché slow motion junk.
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01-27-2003, 06:58 PM | #9 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Shadowfax was originally grey, I think but I'm not complaining.
*Loves white horses *
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01-27-2003, 07:19 PM | #10 |
Doughy Elf
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I thought the Shadowfax in the movie was beautiful (but then again I think that all horses are beautiful!). But I thought that they would tell more about him and make it more important that he was the King of Horses. And I thought that they would show more about how much Gandalf loved Shadowfax, because in the book were they not always talking about Gandalf and Shadowfax's special bond?
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01-27-2003, 09:36 PM | #11 |
Elven Warrior
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anyone seen george of the jungle? think of the scene where he was chasing the horses with all the ladies giggling about how sexy he looked (yadayadayada.... he isnt that hot) yeah well anyway...... now that i think about it, one of those horses looked like shadowfax. he doesnt seem as magestic as he was portrayed in the book. and wasnt he supposed to be kinda silverish???
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01-27-2003, 09:47 PM | #12 |
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I liked Shadowfax. I think that if we saw him running off and leaving everyone in the dust it would just look weird, especially for the people who know nothing about Shadowfax, they'd just be like "wtf!"
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01-27-2003, 10:16 PM | #13 |
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Did anyone else notice they used several different horses for shadowfax? I think that was my main problem. Really distracting for a horse freak like myself. I was just excited to see him. I was personally dissapointed with the Stables. I thought that the Rohirrim would have more magnificent stables for horses, since they really love them. I mean they had a wonderful grave for Snowmane! lol
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01-27-2003, 10:37 PM | #14 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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If they took two minutes to explain a bit about Shadowfax (probably less than that), it wouldn't seem wierd.
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01-28-2003, 01:29 AM | #15 |
Elven Warrior
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Yeah, in fact, in the book the lines explaining Shadowfax's majestic nature aren't just pure exposition; they fit into the action of the story. For example, Grima's condemnation of Gandalf's "daring" to "presume" to "claim" Shadowfax. A bit of that could get across to an audience who this horse is. In the movie, I hate to say, with only that one line it sounds kind of cheesy: "The lord of all horses." You can't say that to a movie audience without backing it up (same with the "walking trees", whose entire profundity is neglected in the movie: just add two lines and some of it would be there!). The philologist in me is also bothered that the line about Shadowfax being "one of the mearas, unless some spell etc." goes to Legolas. I don't think he would use the word mearas to describe him, as that is an Old English (Rohirrim in Tolkien) word (origin of our modern "mare"), not an Elvish one. I'm sure the elves have their own word to distinguish the mearas. And finally, Gandalf and Shadowfax rearing up in the sunlight at the movie's climax is indeed VERY cliched.
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01-28-2003, 04:59 AM | #16 | |
The Quite Querulous Quendi
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Yes, I thought that was a bit Bakshi-esque. Also agree with the comment about Ents; in general, he tried to cram in too much detail and didn't spend long enough developing the characters and plot lines which really matter.
Given that Shadowfax really ought to have been in the first film, there was always going to be an issue around how they introduced him. I reckon we'll see a bit more in ROTK, especially when G.
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01-28-2003, 10:31 AM | #17 |
Dread Mothy Lord and Halfwitted Apprentice Loremaster
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Hmm? I didn't remember him in the first book; where was he there?
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01-28-2003, 02:09 PM | #18 |
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yeah.
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01-28-2003, 02:49 PM | #19 |
Elven Warrior
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Shadowfax is not in the first book.
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01-28-2003, 04:18 PM | #20 |
Long lost mooter
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Yeah, I thought that instead of doing slo-mo, it would have made more sense to SPEED UP the film for Shadowfax's entrance -- no way would it take him that long to get from where he was to Gandalf! And it was a beautiful horse, but I think people who hadn't read the book didn't really understand what the deal was, I mean why was all this time (relatively) spent introing this horse (they thought), of course not understanding the significance. But it wasn't that bad to me.
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