Proof once again that Stephen King has a tin eye for film and has no idea how to effectively adapt his own work. This version has no mystery, no scares, and explains far, far too much at every twist and turn for fear even one person in the TV audience might be confused. This Danny is butt-faced and far too precocious, in fact making you wonder--given this Wendy(who, unlike the underrated Shelley Duvall version, one cannot see staying with Jack even a moment after he broke their child's arm) believes in Danny's powers--why they ended up going to the Overlook in the first place. The digital effects are laughably cheesy: a fire-hose with fangs that looks like something out of a razor commercial, and the hedge animals; speaking of which, how hard can it be to get the effect of beasts that only move when you're not looking? These look terrible, like blobs of green mercury sliding across the landscape. The ghosts all have blue skin and terrified me about as much as a cloudless sky. And Tony is shown here, and looks like John Denver. OOO, CREEPY! Add to this a diabetes-inducing ending that isn't in the book even, and you have a waste of 6 hrs. you could be doing something more useful, like drinking yourself to death.
It's accurate to the book--except the tunnel scene--but now we see that an accurate adaptation simply doesn't work in this case as a movie. Kubrick's is a masterpiece. This is prosaic, shallow and dumb. Don't see it.
It's accurate to the book--except the tunnel scene--but now we see that an accurate adaptation simply doesn't work in this case as a movie. Kubrick's is a masterpiece. This is prosaic, shallow and dumb. Don't see it.