Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 3.0
Solid
One of the major problems with all film series is what might be called middle filmitis. This is when films that are not first in a series rely too heavily upon an audience's memories of earlier films to inform them of the traits of characters, the chronology of prior events, and a general knowledge of the world the film series is set in. Such is the case with the latest C.S. Lewis adapted book, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Oh, yes, there are other major flaws in this film, which I shall limn, but middle filmitis is the overarching ill that infects all others. The same was not true with the first film in the series, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe. When I reviewed that film I started out by stating that that film was 1) a more literate and less Byzantine Lord Of The Rings, 2) a deeper and more realistic Harry Potter, and 3) a more mature Oz.Well, all three claims are still true, however the series has taken a sharp downward turn toward LOTR's Byzantine darkness, Potter's shallowness, and the puerility of Oz. Prince Caspian is not a bad film, merely a passable special effects film, filled with all sorts of magical beings. Yet, part of middle filmitis creeps in right at the film's outset, when a child is born and a young man flees for his life. We know nothing of the situation, yet the film's camera work and musical score intone great drama and import into a depiction the viewer is in no way invested in. Then we see the returning children from the first film: (in ascending order of age) Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Susan (Anna Popplewell), and Peter Pevensie (William Moseley). Yet, and here is a critical point, it takes a while for the first names of our heroes to be mentioned, thus leaving first time viewers at a loss, and the family surname is never mentioned in the whole second film.Some critics have harped on the fact that the Telmarines are all swarthy Spanish Conquistadore types, while the kids are Anglo whitebreads, but for this criticism to have any weight there would have to be a much more nuanced approach to the characterization. All the Telmarines could have been Girl Scouts, and it would not have mattered, for they all act in such manifestly `bad guy' ways that their being swarthy Mediterraneans is an afterthought. Similarly, claims that the film relies too heavily on Christian iconography and a Colonial White Man's Burden mindset are rented by the utter shallowness of the screenplay. Christian/Schmistian- Aslan is just a magical lion, at home with any set of mythologies, not just the Christian one. Furthermore, since Adamson, as director, added story arcs the original book did not have, why did he not make some major changes to add zip to the tale? After all, Miraz is hardly a threat, and the fight scene between him and Peter is rather pathetic. meanwhile, the minute or two that the White Witch (Tilda Swinton) spends in the film, is far more intriguing. She would have been a far netter antagonist.Overall, The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian is still better fare- especially for children, than any of the three overblown and pompous LOTR films, but, compared to the far superior first entry in this series, it is a profound disappointment. One only hopes that Adamson can parallax the first two films and take the few things that work well in this film, and add them back to the excellence of the first film, so that the third entry, slated for 2010, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader, is the best of the trio. Elsewise, fans of The Matrix will be happy that their trilogy is no longer considered the most disappointing sci fi/fantasy series Hollywood has produced.