Prince Caspian

I got to see Prince Caspian, the 2nd movie based on C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, Wednesday afternoon. Overall it was well done. But there are several complaints I have about how some things were handled (or not handled).

I did enjoy the movie. & I would recomend it. But with the caution that it takes some liberties I will deal with later. In doing so I will have to include some spoilers. I have kept them in the latter half of this so you can avoid them by not reading that part of the review.

The film catches the beauty of the areas filmed perfectly. You feel like you ARE in Narnia. The effects are also very well done. But given it was W.E.T.A. doing the effects, that was to be expected. They have lived up to the standards they set woking of The Lord of the Rings films. All of the talking animals & other creatures are believable. 1 of the best effects is that of the River God. The living trees were also well done, with the exception of not showing the spirits that inhabit them during the battle. But earlier, in an encounter with Lucy, they are presented in a way that captures the type of playful personality you would expect them to have.

Make-up is another area that they use to help strengthen the storyline. They make the Narnians look darker & dirtier, fitting in well with the fact that they are forced to live in hiding. These are dark days for the true Narnians & how they look shows it. The minotaurs & centaurs were very realistic in their look.

The costuming was also very well done. I esp liked the Telmarine armor & in particular the face masks. They reminded me of Don Quixote. That all fit with the Spanish overtones given to them. Overall all the technical aspects were excellent.

The music for the score used during the film worked very well. However the music for the closing credits is a different story. They used songs by Regina Spektor, Oren Lavie, & Switchfoot. While they were fine songs in their own right, they didn't fit in with the style of music used for the score. A friend of mine who had seen the movie felt the same way. The music in the movie had a medievil feel. These songs were modern in style & clashed as a result.

The acting was for the most part well done also. From those playing the dwarves to Caspian, from Miraz to the centaurs, & to those voicing the animals, everyone was up to their role. I was esp pleased with how Eddie Izzard caught the personality of Reepicheep, the head mouse. Reepicheep is 1 of my favorite characters in the books. & Izzard lived up to my expectations.

There were a couple of scenes where Anna Popplewell seemed to be calling in Susan rather than bringing her to life. That aside, the rest of the time she did a fairly good job. But not as good as that of the actors playing the other Pevensies. I talk about Ben Barnes in the spoiler section. I will say here that he did do a good job of taking Caspian from an innocent young prince to someone ready to rule. Sergio Castellitto (Miraz), Damián Alcázar (Lord Sopespian) & Pierfrancesco Favino (Lord Glozelle) suceed in making their characters into living human beings with good points rather than the cardboard villians they could have been.

But we run into problems when we begin dealing with the script. For the most part the script was well written. BUT. . . . (CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD)

Some things were changed from the book that should not have. However there is 1 change that makes some sense. The book starts out with the 4 Pevensie children being drawn back to Narnia while waiting for a train. Then we get the back story of Prince Caspian & why they were summoned back to Narnia. Having a more straight forward timeline makes the movie flow much better.

1 of the 1st things I didn't like was that they made Caspian much older than in the book. He is supposed to be the same age as Peter, but he struck me as older. & he was made to be more of a hunk than he should have been. Ben Barnes handled the role well, despite the flaws in how his character was written.

The movie starts out with the birth of a son to Prince Caspian's Uncle Miraz and Aunt Prunaprismia. Miraz killed Caspian X's father King Caspian IX. The only reason Caspian was kept alive was because Miraz didn't have an heir. Til now. Doctor Cornelius, the half-dwarf teacher of Caspian helps him to flee. He is given Queen Susan's horn & told how to use it.

Here is where the big weakness of the film comes in. They have Caspian blow the horn much earlier than in the book. The result is that they omit many of Caspian's meetings with Narnians, mostly non-human. & in doing so, the plot is weakened. It also ment that we didn't get to see as much of Reepicheep as I would have liked.

The same is true with the part of the book dealing with The Pevensies return. The movie is fairly close to the book in how they discover they have returned 1300 yrs later. But the jouney to find Caspian goes to quickly & much that is esential to the plot being better developed is omitted. The writers seemed in a hurry to get to the battle section of the book. The friend I mentioned earlier told me he wanted it to be a half hour longer so it could include some of the omitted events about Caspian as well as the Pevensies.

Aslan also returns much sooner in the book. Again, this weakens the plot. It lessens the spiritual aspects of the story. Although a later scene focusing on a bas-relief of Aslan repairs some of the damage.

1 plot change that is OK but wasn't really needed was how much further along in calling back the White Witch they went in the movie. The scene works, but really wasn't needed. I did like the fact that it was Edmund who stopped her.

Another change that was OK but not in the book was the attack on Miraz's castle. I enjoyed the griffins. & the loss of the battle by the Narnians did serve to remind them that their plans didn't include Aslan. But, it wouldn't have been needed if they had kept some of the earlier parts in.

The fight between Peter & Miraz is mostly faithful to the book. While it would have been nice to have some of the omited characters, it didn't hurt to not have them. The battle afterwords is somewhat faithful. The trees part in the battle is a highlight.

1 other plot change I could have done without is the subtle romantic overtones between Susan & Caspian. It was not needed & detracted from the story as far as I am concerned.

There are some other changes I would have made to enable it to be more faithful to the books. I say this as a realist who knows & understands that by their very nature it is impossible for any film to be completely true to the book.

& given the state of Hollywood today, including Disney, I know that it could have been worse. But, I think the execs know that if they strayed too far it would drive away a huge portion of the audience they want to reach. So, much of the spiritual side was still able to be kept in that otherwise would have been thrown out.