Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 4.0
Worthy -- if somewhat loosely adapted -- successor to the first film.
In 2005, Disney and Walden Media took a gamble and produced a big-budget, special-effects heavy theatrical version of C.S. Lewis' classic story, THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE. The tremendous success of that film paved the way for both companies to film the remaining books in the franchise, starting with the second entry, PRINCE CASPIAN. (Actually, it's chronologically the fourth entry in the series, but that's time for another discussion.) The four children from the previous entry, Lucy, Susan, Edmond, and Peter, are called back to Narnia to do battle against the Telmarines and their ruthless ruler, Miraz. They do this with the help of the title character of this tale, Prince Caspian, who naturally turns out to be the rightful heir to Narnia's throne.One of the biggest assets about this sequel is the feel of consistency. Andrew Adamson returns to the director's chair, as do the principal actors (the Pevensie children, Liam Neeson as Aslan) and the special effects team. The adaptation of the story itself is another matter. While THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE proved to be successful in transitioning Lewis' tale to the screen, PRINCE CASPIAN was tricker. The structure of the story, half of which is an extensive flashback on the title character and his kingdom, reads better on paper than on film. A previous adaptation by BBC TV was aware of this, and cut down the story to an hour, while cutting back and forth between the children and Caspian, providing for a faster pace.Adamson's reinterpretation uses the same technique, only it omits many sequences from the original in the process; to be fair, the BBC version did this too, but some of the deletions here include character-building sequences between Caspian and his teacher, Dr. Corneilius (which the BBC version kept intact). As such, their relationship on screen feels somewhat rushed and not fully developed. For replacement, the script opts for development between two of the least well-defined children from the original--Peter and Susan. The former is more conflicted than the first (and even has a bit of a rivalry with Caspian), while the latter becomes more of a heroic figure, taking charge for the archers of Narnia. There are also a few (very scanty) flirting sequences between Susan and Caspian. These alterations may be cause for alarm with many fans of the book, but fear not--they don't come across as clumsy as they could have.If one can accept the changes made in the transition to the screen, then it is easier to appreciate PRINCE CASPIAN as a whole. The story still remains faithful in spirit, if not letter, to the original, and the magic of Lewis' world is imperishable. The CGI effects are drastically improved from the first film (Aslan in particular looks much more regal here), and the performances are splendidly done. All four of the Pevensie children show skill and enthusiasm for their roles (even William Moseley, who seemed a little stiff in the previous outing, steps up dramatically in transitioning Peter's growth into manhood), and Ben Barnes makes for a dashing, heroic Prince Caspian (although at times his fleeting Spanish accent is somewhat reminiscent of Inigo Montoya from THE PRINCESS BRIDE). Sergio Castellitto makes for an adequate villain, but not as memorable as Tilda Swinton's White Witch (who incidentally makes a brief appearance in an exhilarating scene I won't spoil for obvious reasons).However, the characters who steal the show are the animals. Aside from Aslan, the film's highlight is a swashbuckling mouse warrior named Reepicheep, brought to life with vibrant animation and a lively vocal performance by Eddie Izzard. Equally noteworthy are Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin the dwarf and Warwick Davis (yep, Willow Ufgood himself) in a brief but memorably nasty role as the corrupt dwarf Nikabrik.Despite not being as successful a transition as its predecessor, PRINCE CASPIAN is still great fun. It's not another LORD OF THE RINGS (even though there are some similarities to be had; namely the big battle sequence at the end), but for escapist simplistic fantasy, I don't hesitate to recommend it. Adamson has stated that he would be passing the director's chair to someone else for the next installment, THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. Hopefully it will be every bit as good as these two entries are. (Word of note: this is pretty violent for a PG movie; parents should be cautioned.)