Prince Caspian

[jbbnbsmith]

I just got back from viewing the new Chronicles of Narnia film, Prince Caspian. I'm still sort of processing it in my mind. It has been years since I've read that particular book, so I had forgotten most of the plot, and thus cannot comment as to how faithfully the movie followed the book. (I'll probably read it again this week)

A few observations:

1. The film is pretty fast paced, yet is almost 2.5 hours long
2. Plenty of battle scenes and fighting.
3. Susan, in particular, kicks some serious butt. She reminded me of Legolas in the Lord of the Rings films with her extreme archery abilities.
4. The religious metaphors, while certainly present, are much more subtle than in The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe
5. The ice queen makes a brief, yet powerful appearance. Great scene!

While I definitely enjoyed it, I wasn't as impressed as with the first film. But that may be due to the same reason why of the three Lord of the Rings films, my favorite is The Fellowship of the Ring.

I'll probably be seeing it again tomorrow with my family (tonight was a young adult outing which they courteously allow me to attend since I'm their pastor.) I'll let you know how my opinion changes after after viewing.

[HSisforcoolkids]

I'm really looking forward to seeing this film. I loved the first movie, and I remember Prince Caspian being my favorite book in the series, though I can't really remember the plot either. I'm the opposite of you jb---the Two Towers was my favorite movie in the LOTR trilogy, so I'm hoping to like the sequel in this series more as well.

[spidysox]

I saw Caspian today and really liked it. It was definately a little darker than the first one, which is ok. Good effects, better acting than the first, a good movie overall.

[ParaGoomba Slayer]

I remeber reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I didn't like it. It just seemed like they took a bunch of random animals and made them talk.

[Onacara]

I remeber reading the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I didn't like it. It just seemed like they took a bunch of random animals and made them talk.

Then you really need to read it again.

[stumpy_man]

I thought it was a decent movie. Although there are some differences from the book (the part where they attacked the castle). I don't mind too much though if a movie is different from the book it is based on. I don't really want to see a movie where I know exactly what is going to happen at a the climax of the movie. Although you know the good guys win you still wonder what will happen because there are different circumstances.

I think this movie was better than the first in terms of acting, special effects, and total movie quality. I liked the battle scenes more too. In tLtWatW the armor, and battle seemed a little too goody goody and in Prince Caspian I think it captured the chaos of battle a little more effectively and the duel between Peter and Miraz is awesome. I think the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe had a better story line to it and better depicts what Narnia is.

[Sweetcurse]

Quick review, very quick. As a movie, this is better than the first. It does change a lot of things, but mostly deftly. Very fast paced. This is a good thing except during the emotional powerful parts where it needed to slow down they glossed over some poignant moments. Peter. Jeez. Ok, I like them making him and Caspian Alpha males and butting heads, but please don't make Peter useless. He is such a moron in the movie. Not a high king at all, more like High brawler. I could have forgiven all his idiocies though if at least it had been his idea to do the single combat, as a way to repay his error in the castle, but no, it was Caspian's idea, unlike the book. He doesn't even dictate the letter, which in the book is a great moment that shows him as the high king. All in all, Peter was a liability to Caspian rather than a help...sad.

[Matthias Maccabeus]

I'm taking my teens (I'm a youth Pastor) to this movie on the last day of school in a few weeks. I'm pretty excited to see it as well.

[stumpy_man]

Quick review, very quick. As a movie, this is better than the first. It does change a lot of things, but mostly deftly. Very fast paced. This is a good thing except during the emotional powerful parts where it needed to slow down they glossed over some poignant moments. Peter. Jeez. Ok, I like them making him and Caspian Alpha males and butting heads, but please don't make Peter useless. He is such a moron in the movie. Not a high king at all, more like High brawler. I could have forgiven all his idiocies though if at least it had been his idea to do the single combat, as a way to repay his error in the castle, but no, it was Caspian's idea, unlike the book. He doesn't even dictate the letter, which in the book is a great moment that shows him as the high king. All in all, Peter was a liability to Caspian rather than a help...sad.

Yea that was weird. I didn't imagine Peter at all getting into a bunch of fights. He seemed a little big-headed.

[Tiberius]

I just got back from the movie and it was annoying they were butting heads but predictable, though the movie didnt make a big a weenie of Peter as I thought it would from your description Sweetcurse.

It was a fast paced movie and didnt feel like 2 and a half hours at all. I really enjoyed it. My wife hid her face through most of it and then called it a chick flick at the end. That made me laugh alot.

[Shades fan]

I haven't seen Caspian yet, but I am dreading watching it.
I have always loved the books, even the very first one, which they didn't make a movie about!:roll:
But I really don't want to see this, because the first one was so bad. The first one had horrible acting, and I hated seeing my favorite book turned into it!

[killercactus]

This is a somewhat invalid opinion, since I haven't read the books or seen Caspian, but....

I saw the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, and thought it would've been really good if they'd taken another half an hour and developed the four kids characters a bit more. I understand it's fate, and I understand the kids didn't have a lot of time to prepare for the battle, but it seemed to me that one minute, Peter was walking through a closet and the next minute he was leading an army into battle. It needed some more time to convince me that Peter (and the others) had accepted their destiny and were ready for it.

However, I will see Caspian - I'm a sucker for a good fantasy story.

[Pumpkin_King]

I saw it just a few days ago. Maybe it' just because I haven't read the books in ages, but the small differences that I did notice between the movies and books didn't bother me. The movie, in and of itself, was great. I didn't, however, like how they relied on Repicheep for comedic relief every ten minutes since the point he comes onscreen. I know he's an unwitting comedic character, but you shouldn't pause a battle scene so that a mouse can say something funny.

But that's just my opinion. The group I saw it with had opinions ranging from "Teh L333t HaXXOR" to "epic phail". Some also said the score distracted from the movie. Musicians...:p

[Sweetcurse]

I didn't say he was a weenie, I said he wasn't very bright, he was very hard headed and not very useful allaround like in the book. But I did like the alpha male arguing.

[Granite-M]

I liked a lot of things about the movie. The Spanish design for the Telmarines was very nice. Loved Trumpkin (a.k.a. the DLF), thought all of his hardcase stuff was very cool. White Witch scene, awesome. Trees coming into battle, awesome.

A couple complaints.

One: Caspian was way too old. In the book he's 13, and the actor playing him was 26. This wasn't just a stylistic problem for me-- the reason that they called the old kings and queens back in the first place was because Caspian was in over his head, and incapable of leading the Narnians on his own. With a Caspian as old as this one, it doesn't make any sense that he isn't already king on his own, and then he just seems like he's exasperated that he has to deal with the kids that he's summoned. Caused some serious logical issues for me.

Two: What was up with the Susan / Caspian romantic subplot? LAME. I was really getting into Susan as this active, murderous archer queen. We go such a long time in scifi/fantasy movies without any female characters that can hold their own, and then we've got Susan sniping soldiers left and right. Sweet! Oh, but what's this? A soldier knocked her down? No worries, it's Caspian to the rescue! Hooray! Oh, and now they might kiss! This is the sound of me vomiting into my popcorn. ::retch::

Generally not bad, but those two things really rankled for me.

[Sweetcurse]

I liked a lot of things about the movie. The Spanish design for the Telmarines was very nice. Loved Trumpkin (a.k.a. the DLF), thought all of his hardcase stuff was very cool. White Witch scene, awesome. Trees coming into battle, awesome.

A couple complaints.

One: Caspian was way too old. In the book he's 13, and the actor playing him was 26. This wasn't just a stylistic problem for me-- the reason that they called the old kings and queens back in the first place was because Caspian was in over his head, and incapable of leading the Narnians on his own. With a Caspian as old as this one, it doesn't make any sense that he isn't already king on his own, and then he just seems like he's exasperated that he has to deal with the kids that he's summoned. Caused some serious logical issues for me.

Two: What was up with the Susan / Caspian romantic subplot? LAME. I was really getting into Susan as this active, murderous archer queen. We go such a long time in scifi/fantasy movies without any female characters that can hold their own, and then we've got Susan sniping soldiers left and right. Sweet! Oh, but what's this? A soldier knocked her down? No worries, it's Caspian to the rescue! Hooray! Oh, and now they might kiss! This is the sound of me vomiting into my popcorn. ::retch::

Generally not bad, but those two things really rankled for me.

Excellent critique. It's hard to say negative things about this film as it was tons of fun, but they did miss the boat on a couple aspects. I had the same feeling that there seemed to be no point in having Peter around.