A few days ago, Ron Howard -- the director of "Angels and Demons" the second film adaptation of a Dan Brown book (the first was the "Da Vinci Code," which made a reported $750 million in sales)-- claimed that the Vatican had exerted "influence" in preventing his film production crew from obtaining permits to film in Rome. Howard's implication: the Vatican was trying to censure the film.
Asked to comment on Howard's comments, the Vatican the sniffed that the film producer was simply drumming up publicity. And if Howard hoped that a full-blown controversy might pump up the sales of his new film, as it did for the Da Vinci Code, he will be disppointed by the Vatican's review, and it wasn't a thumbs down. Reported AP:
"L'Osservatore Romano ran a review and an editorial in Wednesday's edition, critiquing the movie based on the Dan Brown best-selling novel of the same name.
"The newspaper wrote that the movie was "a gigantic and smart commercial operation" filled with "stereotyped characters." The paper suggested moviegoers could make a game out of finding the many historical inaccuracies in the plot.
"However, L'Osservatore praised Howard's "dynamic direction" and the "magnificent" reconstruction of locations like St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Much of the film was shot on sets that painstakingly recreated church landmarks.
"The film offers "more than two hours of harmless entertainment, which hardly affects the genius and mystery of Christianity," L'Osservatore's reviewer wrote. It's "a videogame that first of all sparks curiosity and is also, maybe, a bit of fun."
Must be a bummer for Ron Howard. Maybe he can do a sequel: The Da Vinci Code Meets Angels and Demons and get back some of the magic.
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