Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Brilliant adaptation of the book
Andrew Adamson and the team who produced "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" have surpassed themselves this time. All four of the actors who played the Pevensie children are brilliant and the film introduces Ben Barnes who is spellbinding as Caspian.If you enjoyed either the original book or the first film you will almost certainly love this adaptation.Apart from the five leads, other excellent performances come from Liam Neeson as the voice of Aslan and Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep, the leader of the talking mice - an incredibly difficult role to bring off because he has to be funny in places but also genuinely heroic. (If you've not read the book, imagine a version of Antonio Banderas's character from Shrek II except that where the swordfighting cat is 80% comic and 20% hero, Reepicheep the swordfighting mouse is 80% hero and 20% comic.) Warwick Davis is excellent as the black dwarf Nikabrak and Peter Dinklage is even better as the cynical but golden hearted dwarf Trumpkin.Previous reviewers have posted some excellent descriptions of the film from the viewpoint of a newcomer to Narnia, so I will add a few comments aimed at those who are familiar with the books but have not yet seen the film.Surprisingly, the film managed both to be reasonably true to the spirit of the book and also keep me in suspense, because the way the story was presented kept me thinking the film must be about to diverge from Lewis's plot, though it usually didn't. In fact almost all the major events of the book eventually happened in the film in more or less the same way, along with most of my favourite details of the book, although the order of events is not quite the same.What's missing: Bacchus and his wild girls have been censored, and any schoolteachers cursed with naughty children may be disappointed to learn that the scene where a class of horrid little boys get turned into pigs has been taken out. The Bulgy Bear does get to be one of the Marshals for the duel between Peter and Miraz, but the delightful little exchange when he reminds Peter that he has the right to that position "I'm a bear, I am!") didn't make it into the final cut. When Aslan summons the River God, the latter doesn't need any further permission to deal with the Bridge of Beruna. When the DVD comes out I shall be fascinated to see if any of these are in the "Deleted scenes."What's been added: this story gives far more details of the battles than the original book, and also to the political manouvering amongst the Telmarines. In the original the initial battle between the forces of Caspian and the Narnians, and those of the Telmarines loyal to Miraz, is passed over in a few lines written in the past tense. In the film a completely different battle which has, however, an equivalent place in the story is shown in gripping detail. The desperate battle which follows the duel is also depicted in much greater detail than in the book.Anna Popplewell's character Susan Pevensie also gets a significantly meatier role than in the book: Queen Susan is not just a formidable archer herself but plays a heroic role commanding the Narnian archers at the Battle of Beruna and she also has what looks like a near romance with Caspian.Having built up Susan's character as much as they have in this film, the producer may have created even more trouble than they would probably already have had in allowing her to drift away from Narnia as recorded in the book "The Last Battle." This is probably the most controversial aspect of the seven books although it is not true, as frequently alleged (especially by people who want to denigrate C.S. Lewis) that Susan is excluded from heaven: the reason Susan doesn't meet the other characters in Heaven at the end of the series is that she isn't dead yet. Speaking as an arch-purist where being true to Lewis's original vision is concerned, a more positive role for Susan at the end of the series is one of the few modifications which would not annoy me.Although Peter and Susan are told at the end of "Prince Caspian" that they are not coming back to Narnia, William Mosely as High King Peter may get a cameo role at the end of the world (Narnia, not earth) in "The Last Battle" and Anna Popplewell will probably have a chance to play Queen Susan again in "The Horse and his Boy" which is set during the Golden Age which follows the main action of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" e.g. the period while the Pevensies are Kings and Queens in Narnia, before they return to Earth at the end of the book.Conclusion: broadly true to the book, gripping and exciting, well worth going to see. I can't wait to see Ben Barnes, Skandar Keyes, and Georgie Henshaw return in "Voyage of the Dawn Treader."