Kubrick's Dropped Ball

Rating: 3/10 (19 December 2004)

Kubrick was famous for disappointing the author's whoose books he adapted to the screen. In many cases it didn't matter because he often improved upon the source novel. Not so in this case. His Morison of The Shining pales in comparison to the novel. While most films aren't as good as the novels that inspired them (some are better - see 'Jaws')this goes beyond failing to live up to. There is little character in the film. I didn't care for these people the way I did when I read the book. Their history was striped to the bare essentials losing all of the richness that could have been there. In all of this Kubrick manages to lose the one thing many film adaptations struggle not to which his the novel's central theme. On the page it is ones dealing with loving the parent that also beats you. On the screen I don't know what it is. Kubrick was a great director (see just about any other film he did to see this) but here is the dropped ball of his career.