Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Wonderful Adaptation (Warning Spoilers!)
I am a confirmed C.S. Lewis fan. Everyone at school knew this as I could frequently be seen toting his books around. So much so that for my final art project, painting a ceiling tile that represented a part of us that people knew from high school, I did a Narnian landscape. I saw this movie three times in theatres and rented it the day it came out even though I knew I would get it for Christmas in just in couple weeks.The movie and the book are SIMILIAR not the same. If you are a person who truly insists on book to screen purity this movie would disappoint. But for clarity and timesake the book wouldn't translate to the screen as well. Plus the film explores some interesting concepts with charactor development.In the book you start off in England, then go to Narnia where Trumpkin tells the events of the past few weeks (and centuries) to the children. In the book this works well but it just doesn't translate to a screen, where flashbacks are a way to reveal something important, not a way to start a story than come back and go forth.However, it appears that the raid on the castle is the problem most people have concerning the adaptation. There is no such raid in the book. Not even anything close. But after introducing the Pevensies in LWW it would hardly seem right that they spend the first half of the movie listening to Trumpkin talk and taking a hike. Whereas exploring the Narian landscape and its changes in a book is exciting such a thing does not translate well on screen. Your imagination has less room to run.Peter's personality is altered for the movie, but let's face it the books are more concerned with situation than charactor, at least where Peter and Susan are concerned. Peter is flat. He is just a perfect thereness in the novel. So I was very impressed with his charactor development in the movie. It is valid to wonder how a high king would feel had he been stuck back in school as a relative nobody.This is not to say the movie has no flaws. Lucy comes off a little too perfect. Peter cannot lead a charge without shouting something 'inspiring' and Susan has a bottomless quiver of arrows (These both come off as laughable). And there is a 'romance' between Susan and Prince Caspian (which is annoying but ignorable).I do feel it should be noted that this is not a movie for people to take young children to. There is quite alot of violence.I felt this movie was marvalously handled and cannot wait to see the next one which I feel will make a fun movie that is much more light-hearted.