Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 3.0
Enjoyable despite not being faithful to the book
Purists will revile this adaptation of C.S Lewis's Prince Caspian as it takes quite a few liberties in adapting the book but on the whole, I thought the production quality in this movie was much better than the previous instalment. And though this adaptation is not faithful to its source, the movie itself is entertaining with some great special effects [though not quite the caliber of LOTR].The story [unlike the book] begins in Narnia, where a woman gives birth to a boy and Prince Caspian [Ben Barnes, looking uncannily like a young Keanu Reeves] is awakened by his tutor/mentor and told to flee for his life, Turns out, Prince Caspian's uncle, the evil Lord Miraz [Sergio Castellito] now has an heir and is plotting the Prince's demise. Caspian flees into the forest where he meets Narnians, who have been presumed to be long extinct.Back in England, the Pevensie's are wondering if they'll ever go back to Narnia - it's been a year [their time] and Peter [William Moseley] yearns for the days when he was High King, his younger brother Edmund [Skandar Keynes] seems to be bailing his older brother out of brawls, Susan [Anna Popplewell] has blossomed into quite a lovely young lady and Lucy [Georgie Henley] also yearns to be back in Narnia. Their wish is granted when Caspian blows the horn that summons the Pevensie's back to Narnia. It seems that 1,300 yrs have passed since they were last there and things have changed drastically. Lucy claims to have seen Aslan, but none of the others have seen him and they don't believe Lucy. The siblings soon run into Caspian and band together to help the Narnians reclaim their kingdom from Lord Miraz and the Telmarines [the humans who live in Narnia].The spiritual themes that abound in C.S Lewis' work is not much evident here - to delve deeper into that aspect, one will have to read the books. I also felt that there were some unnecessary diversions such as the alluded to romantic spark between Caspian and Susan. Caspian's character is not very well-developed here. The acting of the main characters seem quite wooden most of the time, not much of an improvement since the last instalment. Also, some of the battle scenes seemed to be rip-offs from LOTR, though there were some interesting elements. I liked the chivalrous, warrior mouse Reepicheep [voice of Eddie Izzard] and also the dwarf Trumpkin [Peter Dinklage] - both made for credible and interesting supporting characters.Though definitely not in the caliber of LOTR, Prince Caspian is an entertaining epic movie and makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.