TCON: Prince Caspian

Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Year: 2008

Director: Andrew Adamson

Rating by MPAA: PG for epic battle action and violence

Synopsis: The Pevensie siblings return to Narnia, where they are enlisted to once again help ward off an evil king and restore the rightful heir to the land's throne, Prince Caspian.

For extra info go the its IMDb Page.

Official Trailer

ELL SAID

Rating: 

Review:

Okay. I love epic movies but, unfortunately, I found this particular one lacking. See, it starts off alright, but at one particular point in it, it goes down a hill made of ice that's quickly melting. See, for once, Edmund (the second youngest) acted like the king he is, but his brother, Peter, did not. He (Peter) was a complete jerk, to the point of being moronic at a time. His constant struggle to outshine Caspian proved to be horrible leadership and, unfortunately, make the most pointless and stupid thing ever. Considering the wholeness of the movie, the final battle was incredibly epic, which made the previous assault on the Telmarian castle extra-stupid and pointless, which only made the Narnians lose a bunch of excellent warriors. Now, even with that awesome final battle, I have a problem- Several. First! A character that had proven to be a good guy throughout the movie suddenly turned traitor to his king and everything he had done previously. Second! The Narnian army seemed to grow larger and larger, like some kind of multiplying effect- I mean, at one point, there was only a handful good guys left alive and suddenly, they have the strength to match, and even push back, their enemies. Third! Aslan, even though an extremely sexy lion, saved the day, which will, in a future, only make him the go-to solution to all the Narnian problems. Moving on, Susan and Lucy didn't do anything (At all) during the movie. A half-baked attempt at romance between two characters was there, but it was contradictory. Overall, it was an average movie, but, with it's potential, it could have been much more.

STEPH SAID

Review:

As a stand-alone movie (not comparing it to the book):

Rating:

Not thinking about the book, I have to say this is a really good movie. It has drama, action, suspense and a bit of romance.

I didn’t like how they divided the explanation behind Caspian’s escape in pieces. Also Peter’s pride was exasperating. From the beginning of the movie, even before the Pevensie children were in Narnia, Peter was being a huge jerk. He believed he is still king of Narnia and everybody must bow down to him. He kept getting worse, even having a power play with Caspian, the actual king of Narnia. I know that once you’re a King or Queen of Narnia you will always be one. But as a king he would have to be just and wise not proud enough to almost start a civil war. Ok, I know I’m exaggerating here, but his pride was definitely troublesome. If you want to be treated as the king, you have to act like one, not act like a bratty toddler because you’re not being treated like an adult. By the end, and I mean literally the end, Peter sucked it up, a bit, and said: “We’re not really needed here anymore” and gave his sword to Caspian. He was trying to sound like he gave his blessing as well, to Caspian. But trying is the key word here; he never said, he just hinted it.

Beside this, the movie was really good, and enjoyable.

That said, I want to compare the movie to the book.

Rating: 

This movie is loosely based on the book Prince Caspian. Many things were different; some for the better, some for the worse.

For the better: (Besides the obvious being able to see the story)

The Pevensie children arriving earlier to Narnia. This sped things up because both parts of the story, Caspian’s and the Pevensies’, were happening at the same time. In the book we have to listen to the Caspian’s part of the story and then to the Pevensies’ part. As I read the Pevensies’ part I was getting exasperated because Caspian had been at war for a couple of days. Afterwards, the horn was blown and the Pevensie arrived at Narnia. In the book it took the Pevensie about three days to reach Caspian. During those three days the war was raging, people were dying, and the Pevensie children were just enjoying the scenery.

The romance. Many may disagree on this one, but to me it was a plus. Susan is a pretty teenage girl and Caspian is a pretty young prince, it is only obvious that they will like each other. I think C.S. Lewis didn’t write any love story because his audience was going to be kids from the sixties. Maybe if he knew teenagers and adults were going to love his story, he would’ve written a bit of romance. Also, times have changed, at that time kids just wanted to play. Now I hear seven and eight years old talking about their girlfriends.

Aslan’s portrayal. While reading the book I didn’t felt Aslan as the caring god Lewis wanted him to be. I didn’t like how he reprimanded Lucy for not going to him and following her siblings. I was like: “Dude, you need her! Why do you make her feel so bad about herself?”. Aslan himself said that the rulers of Narnia needed to be sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. So, Aslan needed the kids, why treat them badly? He could’ve said “You did wrong, but this is what we’re going to do to make it better.” And in the movie he did!

The White Witch’s appearance. In the book Caspian is tempted to bring back the White Witch. The movie takes it a step further, having the White Witch doing the tempting. Caspian and Peter were enthralled by her beauty and magic, almost giving in to her wishes. Edmund had to become the grown up and save them all. Of course, he had been under the witches spell before and came out of it, which made him stronger. Peter’s ego received a blow by being saved by his little brother and because he, even with his years of experience (the ones he was boasting about) fell for the witch’s spell just like Caspian.

For the worse (the ones presented in the movie as a stand-alone apply here but I’m not going to write them twice):

The attack on Miraz’s castle. This only prolonged the story. Nothing good came out of these scenes. Many died and it helped in Peter and Caspian’s annoyance for each other.

Caspian and Peter’s power play. They were supposed to work together for Narnia’s good. Blaming the other didn’t help anyone.

Bottom line: the transition from book to movie was not great, the attack on Miraz’s castle being the major reason behind it, but it was still an enjoyable and entertaining movie.