Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 1.0
This is Narnia Fan Fiction, Not Prince Caspian
I'm doubtful the writers involved in this travesty ever read "Prince Caspian." Or worse, they DID read it and decided they could write it better. Whatever happened, this film is a derivative work with virtually nothing in common with the novel beyond character names and locations.I'd love to say I understand why the writers and production teams would take such extreme liberties with the original story line, but the truth is I really don't understand it. Too much effort is placed on portraying the Pevensie kids as ordinary kids (perhaps to make them more relatable and likeable to child/young adult audience.) I found this absurd. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are NOT ordinary kids. They have lived a lifetime as warriors and rulers of an unique fantasyland, grew to adulthood there, and were magically returned to their earthly/childhood forms. These kids shouldn't be engaging in petty fistfights or rivalries. Nor should Peter be leading his troops into ill-planned suicide missions.I found Susan's character more sympathetic but also disjointed. As lovers of the Narnia series know, Susan is the sibling who ultimately loses faith in Narnia and pulls away from her role there. "Prince Caspian" provides interesting clues and character development as to why Susan might behave this way. A light, slightly cheesy romance element is thrown in to emphasize this. However, Susan is also presented as a truly violent character, and I was shocked by this since it went so against the grain of the original story.Ben Barnes is gorgeous eye candy. He's a tremendous actor, but you won't see it in this film because his role requires little of him besides looking young, studly, and a bit bewildered most of the time.Georgie Henley and Skander Keynes had the most remarkable performances in the film, probably because they were the only stars permitted to accurately portray their assigned characters. Edmund is indeed "King Edmund the Just" even if he's still a young teen boy. Clear thinking and mindful of his conscience. And Lucy's faith and spiritual confidence based upon her closeness to Aslan is wonderful and terrifying to behold. Her wordless confrontation of the attacking Telmarines on the bridge is possibly the one thrilling moment in this movie. The Telmarines clearly don't know who they should fear most: an army of Narnian creatures behind them or one little girl armed with a small dagger and flanked by an enormous lion in front of them.It's obvious the producers and writers wanted to strip this film of most of its spiritual symbolism and there was nothing else they could do except wreck the film. I'm seriously disappointed. Lovers of the Narnia saga know Narnia is a series of spiritually significant journeys. Take that away and you've got nothing but generic characters and meaningless events. And that's just what "Prince Caspian" is.I'm going to view "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" because other reviewers have noted it's better than "Prince Caspian" but if it's similar to this film, I doubt this series will complete itself.