For some reason this kid drives me nuts - and not just in this movie, but in everything I've seen him in. He always seems to talk way above his years...and for some reason, when I see him, I think of a duck. ARG. He irritates me.
shareYeah I'm with you on that. He can't act (in The Shining) to a standard the role requires, but he is young so I'm blaming whoever handled the casting.
He does however look like a cabbage patch doll, and his lips look like you could stick him on the window in the back of car!
'Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day'
He was annoying, but I wonder what he looks like now?
Clark's Destiny = Superman, Lex Luthor & Lois Lane.
Wow, some of these comments about how they want to bash the kids face in seem a LOT much, but I agree with the general sentiment. He just wasn't good in this. It annoyed me from beginning to end.
Not just his appearance, but the way he spoke, the way he delivered his lines. I'm in shock that anyone prefers this actor to Kubrick's Danny.
People complain about how annoying Shelly Duvall is in the Kubrick version, but she's got nothing on this kid.
LedgerJoker: Tonight you'll break your one rule!
KeatonBatman: What rule? <breaks his neck>
I have never seen this movie because the original is so perfect it never needed to be remade but I had to come here just to see if anyone else found this kids mouth and facial expressions completely annoying.
I'm content in knowing I am not alone.
The original is NOT perfect. At all. With all due respect to Kubrick, who I think was a wonderful filmmaker, the only way his adaptation of The Shining would be perfect would be if King’s novel never actually existed and Kubrick invented the story. As a shocker horror, yeah, I guess it’s perfect. As an adaptation of one of the best horror novels of the 20th Century, it blew. Kubrick completely and utterly missed the entire point of the story.
shareI don’t think Kubrick ‘missed’ the point of the novel, he just wasn’t interested in it. His interest was in where the psychological ends and the supernatural begins, and how traumatic events can leave traces which can affect people subconsciously, and of course the gift/curse of clairvoyance.
He used the novel for its story structure as a framing device for his philosophical obsessions, and threw away anything that didn’t serve his creative mission.
I’m happy for Kubrick’s Shining and King’s Shining to coexist.
Yeah, he really needs to blow his nose. I couldn't stand the kid when I watched this.
shareI have never seen this movie because the original is so perfect it never needed to be remade
Which is an irrelevant statement since it wasn't a remake of the Kubrick version. It was meant to be a faithful adaptation of the novel, which Kubrick's version clearly wasn't. Any author would be more than justified in making a film closer to his source material when its first movie butchered it.
I don't dislike the Kubrick version, but I would hardly call it perfect. It had some visual horror, a well done chilling atmosphere complete with creepy music and all, with a little Friday the 13th like horror mixed in with blood and a crazy guy with an axe. But the characters and storyline were not nearly as compelling nor believable as the mini series.
My GOSH, I cannot believe how MEAN everyone is being. He was just a KID! What did he ever do to you....and do you really feel so insecure that you have to say such mean terrible things?
I'm sorry but I thought he did a darn good job in this movie. He had a LOT of dialogue and a LOT of heavy drama to live up to. I thought he pulled it off well.
Give the poor kid a break...
I agree whole heartedly. A lot of people actually say they were hoping throughout the movie Jack would catch and kill Danny. What the hell is the matter with people anymore? They have become totally twisted, like anything innocent is irritating to people anymore. Meade actually did a very good job of acting, he actually acted like a real little kid, much superior acting job.
Granted, Danny Lloyd was a cute kid and generally was how I pictured the Danny of the novel, but he was like a zombie throughout the movie reading from cue cards. Not convincing at all.
I don't think Courtland Mead acted 'like a real kid' in this at all, he was like a male Shirley Temple - totally stage school, affected and fake, he belonged in a cheesy sitcom. I don't want to be mean but he was really annoying and too old for the role, Danny lloyd was much better, he actually acted like a shy, withdrawn little boy.
shareI don't think Courtland Mead acted 'like a real kid' in this at all, he was like a male Shirley Temple - totally stage school, affected and fake, he belonged in a cheesy sitcom. I don't want to be mean but he was really annoying and too old for the role, Danny lloyd was much better, he actually acted like a shy, withdrawn little boy.
The Danny of the book was neither shy nor withdrawn. And he was smart for his age as well. So someone slightly older playing the role was appropriate.
I've read the book, Danny is supposed to be a five year old , Courtland looks double that age,. Danny also has terrifying visions of death at the Overlook, it would have some sort of effect on him - but Courtland acts like perky Pollyanna throughout this movie, it just doesn't seem genuine at all
shareI've read the book, Danny is supposed to be a five year old , Courtland looks double that age,. Danny also has terrifying visions of death at the Overlook, it would have some sort of effect on him - but Courtland acts like perky Pollyanna throughout this movie, it just doesn't seem genuine at all
Courtland looked ten years old to you? Odd. He didn't to me, most ten year olds I've seen look a lot bigger and older. Eight at the most.
And yeah visions of death would trouble even a lively kid, but I still don't necessarily believe he'd be acting like a zombie reading from cue cards 24/7 like the Danny in the Kubrick version. But then again, the Jack Torrance in the Kubrick version was way different too. If I was a kid and had a dad like him I might be a zombie also.
On the contrary I believe Danny Lloyd did a good job and was convincing. And it's not that I wanted Courtland Mead dead, I just felt that he was annoying and corny.
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Danny in the 1997 mini-series was supposed to be older than the Danny from the book. The Danny in the book was 5 but I think Stephen King bumped it up to 8 in the mini-series which he wrote.
And yes, the kid actor was horrible. So was Steven Weber. The whole thing was an embarrassment. King really should have never made movie deals with ABC where there is so much censorship. I know he wanted to reach a wide audience but he could've done that if he had waited 5 years and sold his stories to HBO or Showtime or another US station where they could show the violence and "coarse language" which was in the book.
Danny in the 1997 mini-series was supposed to be older than the Danny from the book. The Danny in the book was 5 but I think Stephen King bumped it up to 8 in the mini-series which he wrote.
And yes, the kid actor was horrible. So was Steven Weber. The whole thing was an embarrassment. King really should have never made movie deals with ABC where there is so much censorship. I know he wanted to reach a wide audience but he could've done that if he had waited 5 years and sold his stories to HBO or Showtime or another US station where they could show the violence and "coarse language" which was in the book.
So you require profanity to enjoy a movie? That's really sad.
If that's what you got from what I said you aren't particularly bright. There was violence and coarse language in the book. It gets a bit ridiculous when someone is basically killing someone with a bat but is clearly toning down their language.
I said the same thing about The Stand mini-series. The book is quite detailed and gory. It's a KING book and KING books don't really work on network TV. Just look at the garbage which is Under the Dome on CBS. It seems like a cartoon compared to the stuff on cable.
King is a great writer, but he really doesn't have a good feel for how his own stories should be presented as movies. Kubrick's version of The Shining is much, much better than the mini-series, butt he didn't like it because it departed from the book too much, esp. how Jack was portrayed.
So instead of Jack Nicholson giving us a masterpiece, we have Steven Weber doing the role the way King wanted it done. And it's awful.
There you go. You nailed it.
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Please don't feed the trolls.
I couldn't agree with you more. Mind you this came out in 1997 before HBO raised the bar with the Sopranos. I honestly can't remember much about HBO before then.
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"Austerity" is a word said mainly by people with a full stomach.
I can, Tales from the Crypt. Excellent anthology series.
"What we've got here is failure to communicate"
I knoooooow. I watched about 20 minutes and I had to turn it off. The kid is soooo annoying. Cannot close his mouth cuz his upper lip is stuffed in his nostrils. Simply unwatchable...
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