CRITIQUE: (No major spoilers here)
It is well known that Stephen King was never really happy with Stanley Kubrick's take on his book, The Shining.

Imagine, then, his continued horror, when the movie becomes so financially successful.

The original movie of The Shining is a very frightening movie, and very effective as a horror movie. What it lacks, however, is one of the central themes that the book clearly outlines.

And that is, Alcoholism, is as much of a monster, as ghosts and goblins.

In Kubrick's tale, we never really see the loving caring man that Jack Torrence REALLY is. In this adaptation, we see that Jack's disease and his past ally with the Hotel to bring down a person, who in his heart, is genuinely a caring and loving father.

While Jack Nicholson's Jack Torrence will remain forever engrained in our heads with his "Here's Johnny" line, it is not the Jack Torrence that Steven King had in mind.

After much legal wrangling, King was able to write a TV miniseries, based more closely to his book. Using the ACTUAL hotel he modeled The Overlook from(He actually wrote most of his novel in Room 217 of the Stanley Hotel, the Hotel featured in this miniseries), he set out to create the definitive adaptation of his novel.

And for the most part, it works brilliantly. We see a loving family slowly, yet inexorably torn apart by the forces aligned against them.

We see Jack, who while at once concerned about the immediate welfare of his family, also is trying to grip with the consequences of simply "abandoning his post".

Here is a man, who is clinging to what he feels is his last chance to prove he is not a failure, unaware until too late, that it is this very thing that is bringing about his destruction.

For anyone who wants to see what Stephen King REALLY wanted to say, I recommend this title VERY highly. It is a very faithful adaptation to the book and in some ways superior to it. (I actually preferred the miniseries ending...It's a lot less graphic, that's for sure).

PERFORMANCE:
Stephen Webber is amazingly effective as the tormented Jack Torrance. His performance as a man with Anger issues, hits uncomfortably close to home. While I have never physically abused my kids, Webber's performance shows us, through Danny's eyes, just how absolutely terrifying a raging adult can be. And while my occasional loss of temper does not come with the smell of alcohol, or the beating of flesh, it must no doubt be just as terrifying to my children, as Jack's rages are to Danny.

Cortland Mead is very good as Danny, but is just too innocent. We just find it hard to believe that Mead is capable of misbehaving. Yet all 7 year olds do. Mead's Danny is almost Christ-like in that he never does anything wrong. In one point of the story, Jack destroys the CB radio in a hallucenigenic rage, and then comes to, and immediately thinks Danny did it. Yet we as the audience find that impossible to even consider. If Courtland had been allowed to play his character with just a tad more mischief, it might of been easier to accept Jack's assumption that Danny may have broken the radio, or sabotaged the Snowmobile.

Rebecca DeMorey, is remarkable as Wendy. Gone is Shelly Duvall's blubbering, co-dependent, mouse of a wife. Ms. DeMorey's Wendy is very self assured and strong. She has become Danny's protector out of necessity and it shows. While she want's to believe Jack has "recovered" from "the bad thing", we see that her trust is not quite there. From her sniffing Jack's iced-tea to make sure it's not spiked, to her immediate cringing whenever Jack gets too close to Danny, we see a powerful protective mother, who's greatest fear, is not her husband, or the hotel, but her inability to protect her son during this time of crisis.

QUIBBLES:
As a Made for TV miniseries, the production values are pretty top notch, but the moving topiary scenes just didn't work. While the book clearly depicts them moving, the mini series initially, was able to effectively show this by showing the animals always frozen when you looked at them. Like some macabre game of Red Light-Green Light, we know that the Topiary animals are surrounding Danny, but like Danny, we aren't quite aware of their movement. Yet later on in the mini-series, we are "treated" to seing the actual topiaries "coming to life and moving" and all suspension of disbelief is shattered by the cheesy CGI special effects.

Also, the movie lacks a certain bit of editing that should have been done. Each chapter has a distinct beginning and end with the show of credits. These credits should have been excised to provide better continuity. Also, at the "beginning" of each of the episodes, we see the last scene from the previous episode "reshot" to bring us up to speed with where we left off. This may have been required when broadcasting the mini-series over a week, but when released as a whole work, these scenes should have been removed. Kings other TV adaptations suffer the same fate, but whereas in IT and THE STAND, the credits roll during actual plot development, they must remain. Yet in The Shining, the credits are simply shot against a black screen and merely contain some background sound. It would have been very easy to remove them and not impact the story in any way.

Finally, we have King's annoying little tendencies to place himself in his own movies (ala. Hitchcock). In The Shining, he plays a band leader and thankfully doesn't have to deliver any lines. This is good, because, if one saw The Stand, or Creepshow, one would see that Mr. King should really stick to writing.

Overall, however, this is perhaps the most faithful adaptations of one of Kings books ever to be filmed. (With the exception of the dreadful Langoliers, which was, painfully nearly line for line from the short story). And while faithfulness to the source material does not equal success, in this case, it is clear that King took the same loving care crafting this tale as he did when adapting The Stand.

Overall I give this 5 stars, and holds a place of honor right next to IT and THE STAND

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older