Movie Info
Movie Name: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Studio: Walden Media
Genre(s): Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Family
Release Date(s): May 16, 2008
MPAA Rating: PG
Oh no! My kingdom is collapsing! If only I had some help from some kids & a talking lion!
Prince Caspian’s uncle King Miraz (Sergio Castellito) has turned against him and forced him to flee into the forests where Caspian (Ben Barnes) finds the fairytales of his youth are real. When he blows a sacred horn, the Pevensie children are pulled back to the land they once ruled. Now facing the army of the Telmarines, Prince Caspian and Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Susan (Anna Popplewell), and Peter (William Moseley) must help liberate the land and restore Prince Caspian to the throne.
Directed by Andrew Adamson, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian adapted the 1951 novel by C.S. Lewis. A sequel to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe released in 2005, the movie was released to average reviews and a less than expected box office return.
Prince Caspian was up against the 8-Ball before it was even released. The movie face a lot of opposition at in the theaters being sandwiched between Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, and the less than stellar response to the first movie did not help either…which is too bad because it honestly is a better film.
Dude, stop with the roaring…this isn’t an MGM film
I didn’t love the book The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (it was probably one of my least favorite in the series), but I found the movie made what I considered a dull book in the series into a better film than the first Narnia movie. Wisely, they added some rivalry between Prince Caspian and Peter and deal a lot with the fact that all the children have already lived full lives their first time in Narnia. Susan also suffers from this problem and this sparks a love interest between her and Caspian. the “lost years” of the Pevensie children gives the characters more depth and in general all the characters are much more rounded.
Unlike the books, there are more ties between the first movie and the second movie by bringing back Tilda Swinton in a cameo role. This is a good carryover in that she was the best part of the first movie. The scene itself isn’t the best scene but it was nice to see the temptress return and to see how Edmund’s character played by Skandar Keynes has grown from the first movie. The rest of the cast also seems to fill in to their roles which makes for better performances.
I am so screwed
The movie also looks great. The special effects in Prince Caspian are equal or maybe even a bit better to the first movie and the first movie’s special effects were quite good. There still is an issue with accepting talking animals seriously, but it can’t be avoided in the tale. Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard) is a nice edition and is presented well enough to help bridge that barrier a bit more than in the previous film.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a good adventure film and a nice film that can be watched by a family. There are a few intense moments, but kids can handle it, and it is always a good thing to be a little afraid. It is unfortunate that the movie wasn’t a box office smash because it hindered the possibilities of sequels. Despite the so-so response, the third film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was released in 2010 but unfortunately had a similar fate.
Related Links:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
