Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 1.0
Enough to make you weep
I write this from the point of view of someone who grew up knowing and loving C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. It was horrible to see, therefore, what some Peter Jackson-inspired movie director did to "Prince Caspian."Everyone in the movie acts like a jerk. The character called "Peter" picks fights with random people, agonizes over his ego and emotions, and gets a lot of people killed. The character called "Susan" is given a gratuitous romantic sub-plotline with the character called "Caspian." "Caspian" himself is a clueless and inept leader. Both major and secondary characters are mean and creepy. None of them are supposed to be that way. It was all changed for the movie.Sometimes when a story is expanded by being made into a movie, it becomes richer and more complete. This is not one of those times. The book made sense in its very simplicity, and because the simple things were straightforward it could also be a roaring good story. In the movie, however, the changes make the story seem ridiculous. Why would Caspian want to associate with the Narnians when they all seem to be snarling out of shadows and most of them look vaguely deformed? Why would anyone want to follow the four Pevensey children into battle when they are mainly occupied with spiteful bickering? The story makes perfect sense when the characters are friends held together by love and loyalty. Without that, not even epic battles can redeem it, since while characters are locked in a death struggle you're only thinking, "My gosh, this is embarrassing. You're acting like idiots. Please stop."The movie of "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe" held true to the book, but this is a different animal altogether. Major digressions have been forced into the plot. Good and valuable things from the book have been left out. Others have been changed into weird and creepy perversions of themselves.As for the filming itself, unlike "The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe," much of the movie takes place in darkness. It's a gray and grim world, and not in a good way. Even though the movie does contain battles, swords, and sorcery (which it shouldn't), it was actually boring. The characters were so objectionable that you didn't care what they were going to do.Now, if you like stories with magic, mystery, glory, confrontations, battles, great swordfights, and the kind of fun and wonder that makes you long to be there yourself, there's a really good story that contains all of those things. It's by C. S. Lewis, and it's called, "Prince Caspian." I think you'll like it!