It's hard for me to evaluate this movie without comparing it to the book which I found mesmerizing as an 8-year old. I'm not trying to say that the movie has to be an exact replica of the book -- in fact I liked some of the liberties taken in the movie like the scene with the boy and his dog. However, there was an essence to the book that I didn't think the movie captured - the passage of time and the hardships that paddle faced along the way. Yes, the narrator talks about this, but it doesn't really come across in the movie - perhaps because it's only 28 minutes. Still, I think that if directed differently, this feeling could have been stronger. Finally, the ending of the book that reconnects Paddle with his creator was more fulfilling than the ending of the movie.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Paddle to the Sea
(1966)
Good, but fails to capture the magic of the book
12 June 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The Secret of NIMH
(1982)
Opportunity Wasted
26 November 2007
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH is wonderful story about how a few rats and mice have "evolved", thanks to an experimental injection, to a human level of cognition. The essence of the book then centers on how they have learn to embrace the best parts of humanity - selfless nobility. The driving tension in the book comes from a race to survive, both for the rats and the mice.
In this movie "adaptation", the entire essence of that plot is dropped and replaced with common and much less interesting themes. Most of the rats are hesitant to help Mrs. Brisby, and one rat becomes an outright villain. The efficiency and skill of the rats is replaced with arbitrary magical powers. The race against time is replaced with bickering and swordplay. The subtle character development of all the main characters is completely whitewashed. But the coup de grace is that the ending of the book is both sad and uplifting, whereas the ending of the movie is like a complete afterthought, adding no emotion to the story at all.
Perhaps if you haven't read the book, you might find some of the plot contrivances acceptable. But if you have read the book, then you'll realize the lost opportunity and no doubt pine for a remake that at least captures the book's essence of humanity, if not all of its specific details.
In this movie "adaptation", the entire essence of that plot is dropped and replaced with common and much less interesting themes. Most of the rats are hesitant to help Mrs. Brisby, and one rat becomes an outright villain. The efficiency and skill of the rats is replaced with arbitrary magical powers. The race against time is replaced with bickering and swordplay. The subtle character development of all the main characters is completely whitewashed. But the coup de grace is that the ending of the book is both sad and uplifting, whereas the ending of the movie is like a complete afterthought, adding no emotion to the story at all.
Perhaps if you haven't read the book, you might find some of the plot contrivances acceptable. But if you have read the book, then you'll realize the lost opportunity and no doubt pine for a remake that at least captures the book's essence of humanity, if not all of its specific details.
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