A Darker Narnia Awaits in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"


Title: 
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Director: Andrew Adamson
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Genre(s): Fantasy
Rated: PG (For epic battle action and violence)
Please note this review was originally written in 2008.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is the sort of movie that has one group of people it caters to and one it does not. The group the movie does not cater to is the book lovers. These people are the sort of people who read books and complain about the movie over insignificant changes. These are the sort of people who say they would have no problem with the movie if it was under a different title, a logic I've never completely understood, seeing as how book huggers still complain about "The Secret of NIMH (original title: "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH"). The second type of person is the kind that likes well-made movies, with good characterization and story development, and changes don't bother them as long as it doesn't affect the movie. If you are in the latter category then this movie is more likely to be your style. Set two years after the previous film, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” revolves around the title character blowing Queen Susan’s old horn, thus summoning the Pevensie children back to Narnia for another big-budget adventure.

Narnia is not the same place it used to be though. While it has been only two years since the Pevensie children have been to Narnia, in Narnian time it’s been 1,300 years. This means there are no beavers, no Mr. Tumnus, and Aslan seems to be missing in action as well. Most fantasy series slowly kill off old characters while introducing new ones. This one simply finishes with one cast and starts fresh with a new one. It’s to C.S. Lewis’s credit as a storyteller that this stunt isn’t as fatal as it sounds. There’s also a new ruler in Narnia, though he is a false God...er, I mean king. See, Prince Caspian is supposed to be the real ruler of Narnia, but his selfish uncle used his political power to steal the throne and attempted to kill Caspian.

Now Caspian has summoned the Pevensie children to help him reclaim his throne. Looking at these last two paragraphs I wrote I’m sure this must sound terribly dull. Theoretically, wouldn’t someone rather watch (and in some cases read) “Hamlet” instead? It’s the same basic story, and Shakespeare’s story is certainly more sophisticated than Lewis’s writing. Well, that may be, but Shakespeare never wrote stories with centaurs, eagles, and sword-wielding mice either. “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” may be a run-of-the-mill “evil uncle wants power” story, but very few times does this story provide as much visual fun as this movie does. Even “The Lion King” feels subdued compared to this movie.

That said, Prince Caspian himself isn’t all that interesting of a character, and the battle scenes are starting to feel a little tired by this point. A scene where Narnians must sneak into a castle is filmed with grace, style, and suspense. Less so is a later scene where hoards of soldiers and animals run into each other, killing left and right until you can’t even tell who are the good or bad guys anymore. One of these days a fantasy movie is going to have to address this problem and have the hero accidentally kill one of his comrades in the confusion. The villain is also less interesting than the witch from the previous film. The pointy beard and the snare show that he is indeed evil, but that doesn't make him an interesting character that you can sink your teeth into.


Arrogant men like this also fail in the end. Likewise, the Christian themes are still present, but amidst all the violence and killing, they may be harder to find. This is also the most violent PG-rated film in years and borders on PG-13, so parents might want to keep that in mind before taking young children. Disney’s adaptation of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe” was a competent film, though fans of the franchise were quick to note that it was basically a remake of the BBC mini-series (only good this time around). On the other hand “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” feels very different from the BBC mini-series. The story has been torn down and rebuilt from the ground up and is now something fans can sink their teeth into. There is now no question as to which is the better version. Finally, though I do believe that books and movies should be separated and not compared, I’m going to make one note to the book huggers out there: Prince Caspian was made older because the producers wanted him to fight in the battles. If you have issues with that you can always read the book again.

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