Overview
- Director: Andrew Adamson
- Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Walden Media
- Release Date: May 16, 2008 (USA)
- Rating: PG epic battle action and violence
- Runtime: Approx. 144 min.
- Website
Synopsis
The characters of C.S. Lewis’s timeless fantasy come to life once again in this newest installment of the “Chronicles of Narnia” series, in which the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia, where a thrilling, perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage awaits them.
One year after the incredible events of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.
The four children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, Trumpkin, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.
Directed once again by veteran director Andrew Adamson, screenplay by Andrew Adamson & Christopher Markus & Staphen McFeely and produced by Mark Johnson, Andrew Adamson and Philip Steuer, the film reunites the original cast and creative team behind the blockbuster first film in the series.
Once again, this film depicts one of C.S. Lewis’s great novels like never before. Good and evil battle it out, but this time, the line is not all black in white. In comparison to the first movie in the series, Prince Caspian has both more war and battles scenes and more humor and jokes. Also, this movie is much more dark, with sinister plots of insurrection.
Compliments
This is actually quite a beautiful film that features awe-inspiring landscapes and beautiful, lush, green land. The war and battle scenes are not quite as vast as those in the first movie, but just as entertaining with many new features, including an awesome, more regimented army that marches together, creating a powerful effect. Close combat is fast and exhilarating, yet the good thing is that, like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the blood and gore is kept at a bare minimum, an extremely good thing for today’s industry. This film does a good job in evoking emotions during scenes of defeat and sorrow, and creates a great sense of nobility and honesty in many characters. Also which is nice is the action and consequence sequence in the film. It showed that pride leads to destruction, whereas humility and faith in others (Aslan) leads to success. As for the music, although the film used many of the same tracks as its predecessor, the music unifies the series and works effectively for the film as a whole. The special effects were very nice with such generations which animated water and plants. Lastly, this film once again portrays the lion, Aslan, as a noble, powerful entity, a role rightly so.
Criticism
Although the movie follows the novel to an extent, it travels off on tanglents many times. For an example, Hollywood set up a romance between Prince Caspian and Susan which was never even hinted at in the book, and the relationship barely goes anywhere. Also, much of the acting seemed fake and even cheesy at someplaces, giving the movie a much more childish sense than it needed.
Conclusion
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a pretty good movie. It is not as good as the first in the Narnia series, but it does have some good highlights. Overall, the excessive humor and the acting does bring the movie down a little, but the lessons presented in the movie are quite good.
Ratings
- Acting: 8/10
- Cinematography/Photography: 10/10
- Morality: 10/10
- Plot/Storyline: 8/10
- Score: 9/10
- Overall: 9.0/10
