The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian Review
There is a heavy responsibility you accept when trying to adapt a beloved series of novels to the big screen. You bring along a heavy set of expectations from pre-existing fans to not only produce an excellent movie, but also one that remains true (at least in spirit) to the original novel. This is insanely difficult considering the average novel can be anywhere from 300-700 pages… and the average screenplay is anywhere from 90-120 pages. Adapting novels is no small feat.
Some, like Lord of the Rings, go far beyond what anyone could have hoped for. Some disapoint, like The Da Vinci Code. Then you have some that just truly do a good solid job like the Harry Potter films…. and The Chronicles of Narnia.
The first Chronicles of Narnia film was a very pleasant surprise to me. I could never fathom how they were going to capture that book on the screen in a practical and entertaining way. Yet they did it beautifully. No, it wasn’t on Lord of the Rings scale, but it was excellent nonetheless. Could that same feat be accomplished with Prince Caspian? Yes, I believe they did.
THE GENERAL IDEA
The basic synopsis of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian looks something like this: “One year after the incredible events of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.
The four children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.”
THE GOOD
The action / adventure quota went WAY up for Prince Caspian. One of the criticisms the first Chronicles of Narnia film had against it was that it felt a little lacking in the action / adventure department (the ending battle not withstanding). Seems that the producers of the film were paying close attention. In Prince Caspian, the battles are more numerous, much grander in scale, the effects much better employed. The was also an increased sense of maturity to the action. The four main character from the first film aren’t just cute kids caught up in a battle… they are indeed warrior. The action was so much better and more mature this time around that I have to really question the rating the film received. If anything this should have been a PG-13 instead of a PG. I lost count of how many people were killed and cut down y swords and arrows… it’s pretty violent.
One of the mistakes some franchises make is that they continue on with their characters as if they didn’t learn anything or haven’t grown at all from their experiences in the previous installment. Not so with Prince Caspian. The four brothers and sisters are no longer just the wide eyed children from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe…. they are true kings and queens. Peter is the greatest warrior in Narnia as High King. Edmond isn’t the annoying little snot he was in the first film. They have grown, matured… after all they are technically in their 30’s (they spent half a lifetime in Narnia before returning to the real world and their former ages.
The supporting cast of characters this time around are a little more engaging than the last. The dwarves (two in particular) had some very nice character development and personalities. The mice where hilarious and quite fun to watch. Seeing all the creatures we saw in the first film again was also quite a nice touch.
Prince Caspian does an excellent job of alluding to the first film… showing the lessons learned, the events that occurred without going overboard with silly flashback sequences, repeating verbatim lines or stories from the original. There is an excellent scene (not really a spoiler since this is in one of the trailers) with the White Queen back again which was one of my favorite of the entire movie.
THE BAD
In as much as there was more action and adventure in this film than the last… the price of that was a loss of some of the sense of awe and wonder… the sense of magic. With the first Narnia film, I found myself spellbound by the world they were in, feeling like a little kid sitting around a campfire as a skilled storyteller told the tale. There was still some sense of that in Prince Caspian for certain, but not nearly as much as in the first film.
The beginning of the film is a bit slow and took a little while for it to find its pace. Once it did it was wonderful… but it did take a good 20 minutes to do so.
There is a terrible lack of Aslan (The Lion) in the film. Yes I understand the need to maintain the basic arch of the books… but I (and I think most people) was really looking forward to seeing Aslan, the great cat do battle. Seeing him ferociously kicking ass and taking names. Hell, even just seeing him roar sends chills up my spine. Sadly however, Aslan doesn’t appear until well into the third act of the film, and even once he’s there, he doesn’t actually do much at all. There are other things that make up for this… but it was still a disappointment for me.
The White Queen in the first film was a fantastic villain. How fricking cool was it seeing her ride into combat on that chariot pulled by two polar bears and then wielding the two swords like a freaking hot ass ninja?!?! Unfortunately, the villain in Prince Caspian isn’t nearly as interesting or fun antagonist as the White Queen
OVERALL
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ends up being a very fun and often exciting follow up to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The characters have a wonderful sense of continuation to them, the battles are bigger, the effects better which all ends up being quite a fun ride. The film could have had “classic” status if it weren’t for the lack of a compelling villain, a woeful lack of Aslan and a substantial loss of that sense of awe and wonder delivered by the first film. Still a very enjoyable movie and one I’m happy to recommend. Overall I give The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian a solid 7.5 out of 10
23 Comments, Comment or Ping
HAZMAT
hey- isnt there going to be 6 of these? im watching it- it looks really good.
thanks for the review john
May 16th, 2008
Dragonslayer
Hazmat, there’s supposed to be seven, but not in the order the books were made. This goes in publishing order.
I am pleased that this movie has more action, but I wonder if I’ll get the same feeling of awe and wondered as I did with the first film. I’m seeing it Sunday with my church.
May 16th, 2008
melbye
Great, only one and a half month wait left…Stupid Europe
May 16th, 2008
Steven Carroll
Looking forward to seeing this.
May 16th, 2008
mixmastajb
I actually liked this more than the first one.
And john, I disagree about the villain. I thought he was a lot more slimy and evil than the White Witch
May 16th, 2008
mixmastajb
oh john, where’s the video review for this?
May 16th, 2008
nbakid2000
The reason I didn’t like the first one *that* much was because of the lack of violence.
I feel they pussed out in the final battle and could’ve made it LOTR style to make it so much better. I also hated the fact they used the classic “screen flash” technique to soften the violence when Aslan jumps at the White Witch to kill her. Sucks.
Anyway, I am looking forward to this movie a lot and hope I enjoy it when I see it.
May 16th, 2008
HAZMAT
DRAGONSLAYER
thanx for clearing that up- just hope they dont get lazy and make the 6th one into 2 movies like they might in harry potter
and did you say they will be released in order that it was published instead of the order they were made? does that mean that the in some point they made a book and the next one was published before that one?
shouldnt they be published in order theyre made?
May 16th, 2008
melbye
They were published in the order they were written, but then some idiot at Harper Collins decided to re-order the books chronologicaly storywise and now everyone who doesn’t know any better thinks the Magician’s Nephew was the first book even though it was the 5 or 6 book written.
I’m sorry if that sounded a little harsh
May 16th, 2008
HAZMAT
lol what? thats so arbitrary^^
hhmmm…..maybe they were doing what starwars did with the movies only that with the books?? of course this makes no sense whatsoever but its the only thing i can relate this to…
well still its a great story of course and thats what matters
May 16th, 2008
emilyk
can’t wait for this movie! I’m seeing it tonight :)
Why less video reviews lately? I miss them.
May 17th, 2008
Jon H
@ melbye:
I’m kinda with you on that one. I read the books in the order they were published, so of course I feel like that’s the way they were meant to be read. The difference between me and those who read them “the wrong way” is I actually know the difference between publishing order and chronological canon order.
Anyway, I just got back from the movie, and thought it was brilliant. I didn’t feel like the lack of Aslan was a downer and the action suited me well enough. There’s also a lot of nice humor in the movie.
However, John’s right, the sequel does lose a lot of the originals’ charm. In particular, the CGI animals aren’t quite as memorizing and surprisingly entertaining this time around, mainly because we’ve already seen them. That and the fact that Susan is a snob and Peter is a dick made the movie more of an 8 instead of a 9.
May 17th, 2008
Orren Jensen
I have post this same review and others similar to it once on my blog site another on a comment to a review by Tom Long at Detroit News on http://www.rottentomatoes.com. It is a combination of what I thing about the film and an argument of the comparing of Lord of the Rings to The Chronicles of Narnia. Forgive me if it sounds a bite negative to other opinion or even a bit hasty but I am a passionate writer. So here is my review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
May 17th, 2008
Orren Jensen
The real question here is dose it hold true to the book and convey the message that C.S.Lewis was trying to say in his writings. I going to say yes, but I also believe that it is more than just a yes. There are add scene from the book, some would say that this is rapping the books material. I would disagree, that’s how C.S.Lewis wanted; he was very vague in his writings leaving the hairy detail to the reader’s imagination. In this the case, the imaginations at stake is Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely. There job it to create an adaption witch closely resembles what the fans remember from the book, in my opinion they achieved this beautifully. I also believe that the add scenes are not only the imagination of the production team, but a symbolic way to show what the characters are going through at that particular time in the film. This is one of the many ways to express what is going on inside of a characters head. The other issue that rises from people when talking about the Narnia films is it comparison to The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The Lord of the Rings trilogy can’t be properly compared to the Narnia films because it is like comparing apples and oranges. They are both fruits likewise both movies are fantasy that take place in far way [make believe] lands. Lord of the Rings is more of a young adult to adult movie with a thick and complex storyline while Narnia is for children and per-teens with a simple shiny storyline that gives hope to the audience. Both films are meant to have Christian undertones because both men who wrote the stories were Christian .I might add that Lewis and Tolkien were great friends and colleagues, so their ideals are on the same page. Lord of the Ring may have its glory with its twelve odd some Academy Awards but Narnia holds deeply in the harts of fans. Personally, Narnia draws me closer to my faith then Lord of the Rings, therefore I would chose Narnia over Lord of the Rings, even thought Lord of the Ring would be place in my top ten movies of all time were as Narnia just miss the mark. So what do you choose a red shiny apple or a dull orange that has pouches of juice in the inside?
May 17th, 2008
narnia girl
I’ve seen the movie and it rocks!!!!! Ben Barnes is cute and i kinda thought it was better than the first one!!! Look forward to the ending!!!!
May 18th, 2008
vargas
I’ve heard that Caspian is better than the first one and I liked the first one. Looking forward to this!
May 18th, 2008
Mark-Salinas-MN
Ok, I have to see this one!
Mark Salinas, MN
May 19th, 2008
Dan
My wife and I saw this movie on Friday night and we both left the movie very pleased. The movie didn’t adhere to the book in length and did leave out a handful of plot and story details that might have made the movie even better, but I know that you can’t make a movie that is 100% like the book. You can’t sustain an audience for 2 hours, especially during the summer, with material taken directly from the page, nor can you fit a novel’s worth of material into a 2 hour movie and expect to cover all of the bases.
One of the most enchanting aspects of the novels is the freedom your imagination has to conjure and create the look of the Narnia world and all its inhabitants, while a movie does away with the imagination and just gives it to you straight, so the awe and charm typically are missed.
Though we thoroughly enjoyed the movie, the one part of the movie we didn’t like was when Susan kissed Caspian. To me that was a cheap nod to the teeny-bopper kids who would no doubt be lining up to oooo and ahhh over Caspian, and the real Susan would not have done that. Otherwise, it was a wonderful film that everyone should see!
May 19th, 2008
Old Man
Good point on the lack of “magic” in this movie. I also noticed a lack in character development. There were also many elements of the movie that were not really from the books…some good, some bad. Overall I would put it a little below even the Potter series.
May 19th, 2008
Dragonslayer
Hamzat,
C.S. Lewis made the books in different ways. He wrote them a certain way, then he published them another, then he wanted the books to be read in a certain way it would make since. The filmmakers are doing the film in publishing order. I don’t completely know why they made the way they did. The way Lewis wanted us to read them had things during different times, like The Horse and his Boy takes place between the beginning of the third act of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and the end of the book. It may not make since. In the end, all the stories are based off of christain stories. For example, Aslan can be considered as God or Jesus, and him dying and coming back in the first movie can be considered like the crucifixion of Jesus and his return. I dunno if yer Christain, but it is what the books are based off of.
May 19th, 2008
Dragonslayer
Here’s my thoughts on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The acting is awesome, especially from Ben Barnes (Caspian). The action sequences were violent, and it needs to be PG-13. In fact, now I give this a real rating: PG-13 for Intense, Epic Battle Sequences and Action, and Some Scary Moments. It is violent, especially the part where Peter cuts off someone’s head. The special effects were very good. The ending was great. Overall, this is a perfect movie (for me), and I give it a 10/10, tying that and Iron Man at best movie of the summer, if not the year.
May 19th, 2008
Dragonslayer
Well,said Orren Jensen. Well said.
May 19th, 2008
Dragonslayer
Man, I am such a movie geek.
May 19th, 2008
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