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The whole premise for this movie is and was a great triumph in fantasy film. The characters where lovable and innocent, maybe too naive at times, yet were under-reacting to the situation at hand in certain moments. As a movie critic, I sometimes fall asleep in the movie theaters after too much soda and popcorn, however, the slow parts that allowed me to do so were nobody's fault except for the poor editing of the studio. After a few winks, I got jolted back awake with a flurry of excitement and wondered what I had missed. Mostly, I missed the parts where everyone was staring around at each other waiting for GOD knows what. One thing that is worth mentioning is that this film was filmed in many numerous locations including England, Prague-Czech Republic, New Zealand, Poland, and Slavenia. Eight months were spent scouting locations, including Ireland, China and Argentina. Although parts of the film were made in New Zealand like its predecessor, the majority of shooting took place in Prague, Slovenia, and Poland because of the larger sets available. The stone prop was flown from New Zealand to Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czechy. In a remote Slovenian location, everyone had to be checked for ticks on a regular basis, since infestations in the cast and crew's hair were common. Because of tax credits, post-production was based in the UK. to qualify the movie as a British film. What's a crying shame about this film is that Adamson, the director chose action and battle scenes over character development. There were so many characters introduced it almost dumbfounds the viewer. It seems that the actors are generally overwhelmed by the atmosphere, much like the hamsters in G-force film. In a pathetically feeble attempt to keep fans of the book happy, Adamson plugs in a few scenes or references from the book that don't interfere with his plot. Initially, it's interesting to see what his screenwriter makes up to tie in the other events that are made up with the events from the book. We miss this later in the movie, though, as he soon completely abandons the events from the book until very end. All this happens because he really wants the Pevensies to meet up with Caspian earlier in the film. I have absolutely no idea why this was so important to him to go against the book. It doesn't add anything to the film and it wreaks havoc with the storyline. In his determination to be as faithful as possible to the spirit of the book, Adamson hacks out all the events in Narnia that lead up to the blowing of the horn and almost all of the Pevensie's journey to Aslan's How. Shockingly, cutting out the first half of Lewis' story and replacing it with his own leaves the scenes taken from Lewis' story, both those later in the movie, and the few scenes randomly inserted in the beginning, seeming somewhat incongruous and forced. You can pretty much usually tell what scenes or dialogue are from the book even if you haven't read it, simply by noticing the discontinuity. Whenever, a character seems to be acting out of a character or a scene seems to have little to do with the plot, it's probably from the book. The only recommendation I have is to continue with the other 5 books and petition Disney to make the films based upon the books rather than just throw something together next time. I hope to spend more time in the future learning the subtle nuances of the film. The kids loved it, but am not sure if a younger audience could follow all of this.Read full review
The Narnia books are notoriously difficult to adapt to film. The sparse writing style of C.S. Lewis leaves much to the imagination — a big problem for the screenwriter charged with adapting the books. The filmmakers of "Prince Caspian," though, have succeeded admirably, crafting a movie that improves upon both the source material and the first Narnia film. "Caspian" follows the titular prince as he flees home in fear of his scheming uncle and takes refuge among the Narnians, a previously proud race forced into exile and hiding. Meanwhile, Caspian and his new army call the kings and queens of old — Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy — to help win the land back from the usurping Telmarines. Whereas the book focuses mostly on Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy's quest to reach Caspian, the film develops the novel's backstory in an epic — and in my opinion — superior fashion. Events that occurred only in flashback now take center stage, making for a narrative that is more cohesive. If you enjoyed "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," you owe it to yourself so see this sequel — a rare sophomore effort that improves upon the original. Thanks for reading. If you found this review helpful, please vote "yes" at the bottom of this entry. Happy viewing!Read full review
This is a good movie, Has a lot of action and adventure in it. I was disapointed because I was looking forward to seeing the characters more in detail. It seemed to be focused on Peter and Caspian most of the time. And the battle scenes seemed to be dragged out a bit to long, But It is a good film overall. I really enjoyed the river god scene, the white witch in the ice, the fight between Peter and Miraz, and the end is very emoitional, they time the muisc and clips just perfectly, It will make you teary eyed. I really enjoyed seeing the children in a more adult adventure, It really shows how they have all grown and matured, Especially for Edmund, Since he was the black sheep of the family in the first film (The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe) This film is like a second chance for him to do things right. It really portrays a good side that you didn't really see in the first film. But Edmund doesn't get the credit he deserves, He really deserved more screen time and lines in the movie. I was also really disapointed that Lucy didn't get more time on the screen. You can really see how much she has changed since the LWW. She seemed to be a character that didn't come into play often enough. You can still see that she is the same faithful Lucy as she was. She still has the faith she portrayed in the first film, Which is really what I love about her, And she has such a depth of woner and adventure in her it's really quiet contagious, She has always been one of my favorite characters because of that, I love her spirit and her belief in the impossible. And I feel she wasn't given enough screen time in this movie. And now as for Peter, His character isn't as nobel and kingly as it was in the first film. He is finding it difficult to accept Caspian and his ideas. He still wants to be in charge and be the only king. And at the begining of the movie in the train station, When he gets into the fight, It shows that Peter in his normal life was dealing with being second man, and being underestimated, And he carries on that attidtude into Narnia, But in the end he becomes humble and the whole experience really helped him out. As for Susan, She really is growing up as well, She is really becoming more of a teenager in this film, Dealing with things that all teenage girls go through, She has a more bold, strong attitude about her. She is more involved with the battle then she was in the first film, She has really grown and she still has her beauty. Really loved her character in this film. And for Caspian, He is really a nice addition to the film, It portrays a boy who has dreamed his whole life of creatures, people and places that had existed, and dreaming of being apart of it one day, And then the chance arose and he becomes entangled in the middle of it all. His character is really inspiring, And he really is a great addition to the characters. I loved all of the creatures especially, Aslan, Reepicheep, Badger, Trumpkin and all the others. Overall the film is really beautiful and has a few kinks like dragged out battle's and not enough character time but it is worth the watch and money, There is some really beautiful scenes and the animation is remarkable and believable. Highly recommended.Read full review
Prince Caspian is the weakest of Lewis' works, so the story itself wasn't quite as good to work with, but I sure do love those four kids. Unfortunately Hollywood just HAD to add unnecessary tension by provoking a struggle between Caspian and Peter that wasn't in the book. This throw-together tension took away from the point of the film somewhat, which the director seemingly never fully understood. Then there were the two Hamletesque sequences where Caspian chooses weakness over justice and therefore can't bring himself to justly execute the malefactor. I hate this sort of politically correct scene, and, sure enough "justice" always occurs, albeit accidentally. These things being said, you will enjoy the movie and hopefully recognize that the film is an analogy depicting the Christian's struggle against evil. Let's hope the Narnia series continues!Read full review
Unfortunately one cannot apply two ratings to one item. If you have never read the book or if you have no author loyalty and love of C.S. Lewis and his Chronicles, then I would have rated this DVD and the fore-running movie of the same title Good to Excellent as an fantasy action/adventure movie. However, having read the book, Disney has not retained the "true-to-the-book" care they took in the first movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Let me outline just a few of the deviations the creators of this movie made that cause injurious harm to the wonder of the book the author penned. 1. In the movie, there is a huge raid on the Telmarine's castle of the humans, resulting in the injury and death of many of the Narnians. In the book there is no castle raid at all. 2. In the movie, Prince Caspian and Peter are arguing like a bunch of school boys trying to impress themselves and those watching. In the book, they are respectful and get along fine. 3. This brings me to Peter in general. In the movie,both before he goes into Narnia this time and after he goes in, he acts like the brawling, ignorant, immature young man mentioned in 2. above. He is driven by pride and can't seem to make thoughtful decisions. In the book, however, he is as he was toward the end of the first movie, mature, thoughtful, decisive and acting like the High King Peter he was. 4. Susan is also changed in the movie from the mature, young lady Queen Susan we were introduced to at the end of the first movie, and that we see continued in the book, to the star-struck, groupie we see her turn into around Prince Caspian in this movie. The book has no hint of any romantic feelings for Caspian in Susan's heart. Now these are only a few of the many, many areas that the creators of the Caspian movie departed wildly from the book. I know full well, that no movie can capture the fullness of any book. It would have to be 10 hours long at least. However, excluding material from a book is expected in any movie; but changing the book adventure as well as the characters as this movie has done is quite another story. It is a shame that they did not retain truthfulness to C.S.Lewis' vision as he wrote this wonderful novel. Hopefully, they will learn their lesson and make the Voyage of the Dawn Treader true to the Book when they create the movie version. Again, tremendous kudos to the creators of this movie for it's Casting Director's choice of actors, the wonderful, awesome special effects and the beautiful land chosen to shoot the movie. If you stay away from the book you will love the movie. As a stand alone, it was a wonderful story with many redeeming values. The child like faith with which the five main defenders of Narnia proceeded without the lust of revenge and the prideful demand to be held up as Kings and Queens allowed them to conquer the vicious Telmarines. One of my favorite characters in Reepicheep the glorious Knight of Narnia, the well-spoken brave little mouse. All in all I really liked the movie and again I wish I could give two ratings, but alas, I cannot. Hopefully in the next movie, the makers will remain true to the book as C.S.Lewis wrote it, not that they include the whole of the story, but that what they do choose to put in reflects the writings of the author. I hope that this was just a one-time deviation and as Aslan says, "Things never happen the same twice." I recommend the book, and also reluctantly the movie.Read full review
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