Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 4.0
Not Quite Better Than the First But Still Fun
No one can doubt the success of the very first Chronicles of Narnia. Prince Caspian is the fourth book in the series but it brings back the same loveable four characters from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a good movie, although there are moments when you feel it could've reached higher.1,300 years after the events of the first film, King Miras has a son, and is thrilled for this because he now has an heir to the throne. The only thing standing in the way of his legacy is Prince Caspian. He decides that he needs to get rid of Caspian and decides to assassinate him while he sleeps. Unfortunately for Milas, Caspian has a smart professor who knows what's coming and manages to sneak Caspian out of the castle in the middle of the night. The Prince is pursued by guards as he rides into the forbidden forest populated by the Narnians. Unfortunately, the Narnians don't like him either for being a Telmarine. Prince Caspian eventually blows the horn which will bring back the Kings and Queens of Narnia and thus our four heroes from the first film make their return to the land of Narnia to help Prince Caspian reclaim his throne and free the Narnians.Much like many sequels, it's bigger than the first one. In the beginning of the film there's a lot of exposition. Not much of which helps to develop the characters, but does help you get a sense of what happened to Narnia since the departure of the Kings and Queens. That may be one of the small problems with the film. It doesn't focus too much on its characters. We know the four from the first film, but what about the new characters? Specifically Prince Caspian. He's one of the main characters, but he plays a backseat to most of the films moments. Instead it focuses on our four heroes despite that Caspian is at the focal point of the plot. In fact, if our four heroes from the first film hadn't shown up, you probably wouldn't be too interested in Caspian's struggle because the film neglects to flesh him out as a character.On another note, for a PG movie, it manages to be very violent. There's no blood flying, but there's enough death in here to bring about the question as to whether or not some of the younger kids should see this.The movie is 144 minutes long. Most of which is because of the battles. The battles look incredible, but they can get a little long and tedious. At the very least they have some incredible looking special effects. Even better than the special effects is the musical score provided for the film. Almost everything about this movie screams epic.The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian may not be better than the first film in the series, but it isn't too far off. While the new characters aren't as interesting as the returning characters, the movie certainly gets a lot more things right than it does wrong. If you liked the first movie, then chances are you'll like this one.