POLL number two: Pirates of the Caribbean or The Princess Bride?

[Inquartata]

Originally posted by Iwant2bafencer
I was kind of disapointed in the book....I like the movie better.

I suspect that if you had read the book before you saw the movie, your opinion would be reversed. For some reason we seem to get attached to the first version of a story we encounter.

For instance, as good as the first two LOTR movies are I haven't seen anyone who read the books first claim that the movies were actually better...

[achilleus]

Originally posted by lfortier
Honestly, I really dont see how Princess Bride could be better than Pirates in any way. So,.... Enlighten me. What was better about it?

A Yahoo search listed a number of reviews for each movie.

The Princess Bride

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id...critic&intl=us

It's reviews average an A-.

The Pirates of the Caribbean

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id...critic&intl=us

Averaged a B-.

So, if you want enlightment on as to how it can be better, read some of the reviews. Personally, I thought Pirates was great and paid homage (or perhaps ripped off) The Princess Bride. But then again, The Princess Bride borrows a lot from the older swashbuckler movies.

[Peach]

Originally posted by Inquartata
I suspect that if you had read the book before you saw the movie, your opinion would be reversed. For some reason we seem to get attached to the first version of a story we encounter.

For instance, as good as the first two LOTR movies are I haven't seen anyone who read the books first claim that the movies were actually better...

Now you have. I've read the LOTR over and over and over again since I was a teenager, but IMHO the movies are better. I'll still re-read the LOTR trilogy, but despite the depth and sweep of the story the books are slow, boring, and all-too-Nordic, the poetry is dreadful, and the "high fantasy" language at times excruciating.

And I deny that it has anything to do with the attractiveness of Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, or New Zealand.

I read "Princess Bride" long before I saw the movie, and it's a nasty piece of work, very negative and sad, but then it's Goldman. I babysat for him once, oddly enough.

[Inquartata]

Originally posted by Peach
Now you have. I've read the LOTR over and over and over again since I was a teenager, but IMHO the movies are better.

There you go, spoiling a perfectly good theory...

And I deny that it has anything to do with the attractiveness of Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen,

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much"...

[Maeve_Mari]

He said, "Don't you know I love you oh, so much,
And lay my heart at the foot of your dress?"
She said, "Don't you know that storybook loves
Always have a happy ending?"

One more vote for Princess Bride!

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally posted by achilleus
Um....there is no S. Morgenstern. Goldman's father never read the book to him when he was a kid.

The history stuff that he 'abridges' is part of the joke.

see, that's what i've always assumed. but i couldn't prove that one way or another by reading stuff online, so... i... ignored it.

the people who wrote the yahoo review seem to think it's real.... or so it seems.....

i don't know.

i've always assumed that it was part of the joke, but, i don't think it really matters... it's funny as hell one way or the other.... truth or fiction? doesn't matter quite so much.

but the fact that i've never heard of "Florin" as a country kinda points to fiction, don't ya think ; )

[MyrddinsPrecint]

Originally posted by Inquartata
I suspect that if you had read the book before you saw the movie, your opinion would be reversed. For some reason we seem to get attached to the first version of a story we encounter.

For instance, as good as the first two LOTR movies are I haven't seen anyone who read the books first claim that the movies were actually better...

i read PB after watching the movie a few million times, and i loved the book so much my parents had to buy me a new copy after i mutilated the first by reading it so much.

JRRT wasn't a writer, he was a linguisist (linguist? language expert? *shrug*). All he really wanted to do (all many fantasy/scifi writers want to do) is make up languages and names of places and people. the fact that there's a plot at all, nevermind a good one, is amazing.

i love the books, i love the movies, but for different reasons. i read the books keeping in mind that this is a literary creation based on language, not plot or characters. i watch the movies to have fun. they're both great and worthwhile, but for different reaons.

for the casual observer, the movies are much easier to watch and understand, and enjoy....

[Peach]

Originally posted by MyrddinsPrecint
*snip*
JRRT wasn't a writer, he was a linguisist (linguist? language expert? *shrug*).

philologist

[HilandDoug]

Holey Moley! We could start an entire post and fill it with favorite quotes from Princess Bride! I must admit, though, that although I loved Pirates of the Caribbean, I cannot seem to recall any specific lines from that movie that are as quotable as the many I hear lifted from Princess Bride. Achilleus went with the "scientific" method of using data from film reviewers, and I must agree that his post makes it hard to argue that Pirates is better than Princess.

Come to think of it, all the memorable stuff from Pirates, to me at least, seems to be visual stuff. Stepping off the sinking ship onto the dock, Barbossa's face changing in the moonlight, the pirate crew marching underwater, the melee at the end of the film....but no dialogue really makes itself want to be remembered. Is it just me, or does anyone else feel this way about these films? Cast my vote for Princess Bride.

Have fun storming the castle,

Doug

[bjacobs]

There's no doubt that the Morgenstern bit of the Princess Bride is a joke. Goldman brings Morgenstern back in the preface of another book he wrote, "The Silent Gondoliers", in which Morgenstern corrects two mistakes in the Princess Bride. The first is some trivial detail concerning chronology, the second the fact that he, err, isn't actually dead yet.

[Soldier]

Originally posted by HilandDoug
Holey Moley! We could start an entire post and fill it with favorite quotes from Princess Bride!

You could just save us the time and effort and post a copy of the script...

(You can find one at http://pb.combatwombat.com if you want.)

[Soldier]

Originally posted by Peach
Now you have. I've read the LOTR over and over and over again since I was a teenager, but IMHO the movies are better. I'll still re-read the LOTR trilogy, but despite the depth and sweep of the story the books are slow, boring, and all-too-Nordic, the poetry is dreadful, and the "high fantasy" language at times excruciating.

And I deny that it has anything to do with the attractiveness of Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen, or New Zealand.

I agree with you, and as a male, especially with the last part. I'll also add that it has nothing to do with Liv Tyler (whom I find actually very annoying as Arwen). New Zealand rules, but even that aside, yes, the movies are better.

[Inquartata]

Originally posted by Peach
Goldman. I babysat for him once, oddly enough.

I trust you mean for his kids, not for him personally. 'Cause he's what, in his seventies now? ( I mean, unless you have a supernatural portrait of yourself in your attic or something, Peach... )

[Peach]

No attic portrait (and no broken mold on it either) ) - I babysat for his kids. I also almost baby-sat for Robert Redford, but Mrs. Redford (Lola, then) cancelled. The dubious distinction of being a poverty-stricken college student in New York City in the late 60s was that I have an extremely passing acquaintance with an odd collection of persons.

Goldman arrived home early from his evening out, found me reading some of the science fiction in his library, and quizzed me intensely for about half an hour about science fiction, of which I happened at that point to be a serious aficionado. It was unnerving and apparently not unusual behavior from him - (Interview with Goldman )