The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep

I had high hopes for this. Thinking back on the damage they've done to The Witcher IP, this was naive. I re-read the short story that gives the movie its inspiration, and found myself, again, in awe of Sapokski's writing and characterization. In my opinion, it's one of Sapkowski's best short stories. Now, I don't want to be one of those people who harps on about an adaptation not being faithful to the original, but Netflix had so much to work with here. Sapkowski's writing is full of nuance and depth and pathos - everything this adaptation is lacking. The movie goes for cheap, surface-level fantasy action and vandalizes the unique creative depth and character-work that makes Sapkowski's writing, at its best, exceptional. At its best, Netflix has been able to capture some of this - I think back to Renfri from the first episode of The Witcher. But in large part, Netflix has failed to capture what makes the IP special. This is just the latest example.

As books and games fan I have to say. Netflix still doesn't understand what Witcher is even about. They made it another Hollywood movie with lot's of fights and very little amount of dialogue. Everything that made the short story so emotional and beautiful in the book is gone here. Also, for the most part I was just bored and that's because Geralt is so overpowered here. He literally has all human-sized monsters on one hit. He killed at least 30 of the vodniks. We simply aren't worried for the main characters. As its own thing this is just another generic animated movie with a generic plot. As a Witcher adaptation, it's just poor.

To be honest, I feel disappointed... I was waiting for this movie for months, hoping for something that would truly capture the essence of The Witcher, but it turned out to be mediocre at best.

The Japanese anime style, -excessive backflips and triple flips especially- just doesn't feel like our Geralt.

Another issue for me was the blonde girl's voice acting. She spoke way too fast and mumbled at times.

That said, the return of Doug Cockle as Geralt's voice was a highlight. Hearing the iconic voice from the games brought some nostalgia and familiarity, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save the movie.

I admit, I am biased. Spoiled by the excellent writing and story of the books, I expect more and more from the series. Not everything has to be perfect, or even royal. But it HAS TO captivate the same soul.

It has to....

This show does not.

I am furious, how they decapitated the story. It had love, determination, conflict, understanding, regret.. This is the story I recommend to my friends if I want them to get into the Witcher universe or even fantasy fiction. I don't remember how many times I've read that story from the books, and cried.

I love crying, when it is over beauty. Yes, drama can be art.

This one isn't.

It is silly, unprofessional, absurd, shallow, ugly and most importantly, soulless.

I can understand what you did to the show.

I can understand why you did a silly spin-off.

But this animation is like drawing a mustache to Mona Lisa.

I haven't read the books, but I've watched anything Witcher related out there and I'm a big fan of the games. Although the fighting scenes with Geralt are perfect and entertaining, I feel like the entire thing lacked the emotion I'm used to with the games. The music in the background was barely audible, which took away a lot of the tension and feeling it usually creates. What you can hear the most is the sword slashing and voice acting (including breathing and whatnot), or other times just complete silence (which is usually used to create a certain atmosphere) that seems out of place. The story is pretty predictable and too much Little Mermaid like. The reasoning behind the characters' actions is too simple, in a way that makes you think "that's all there is to it?".

I think it had potential to be something good, even with the story being written as it was, if the rest of it managed to pull your heart into it by creating that Witcher feel. As it stands, it felt a bit disconnected or lacking at times. It was kinda boring because it completely missed the mark to be honest...