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Title: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, though the MPAA gave this PG rating there is a shocking, SHOCKING, amount of violence in it! No sex or language, but still pretty intense. Recommended for ages 12 and up. |
“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 movies for 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 effect 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, “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.
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Narnia is not the same place it used to be though. Though it has been only two years since the Pevensie children have been to Narnia, in Narnian time it’s been 1,300 years. Which means no there's no beavers, no Mr. Tumnus, and Aslan seems to be missing in action as well. Most fantasy series slowly kills 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 thrown and attempted to kill Caspian.
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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 Shakespear’s story is certainly more sophisticated then Lewis’s writing is. Well, that may be, but Shakespear never wrote stories with centaurs, eagles, and sword wielding mice either. “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.
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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 the good guys or bad guys are anymore. One of these days one of these fantasy movies are going to have to address this problem and have the hero accidently kill one of his comrades among the confusion. The villain is also less interesting then 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.
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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 borderlines on PG-13, so parents might want to keep that in mind before taking young children to see this. Disney’s adaptation of “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 “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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