Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Loved it more than the first
A year after their adventures, the Pevensie children are chafing at their mundane lives in an underground train station on the Strand. The next thing they know, the wall behind them is moving. It's magic, they know, and it takes them to Narnia.But, there weren't any ruins in Narnia. Plus, the dancing trees no longer dance. And the beasts in the woods aren't friendly anymore. While a year has passed in their time, it's 1300 years in the future for Narnia.Narnia's been driven near to extinction by the Telmarines, a race of humans led by Lord Protector Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). In the beginning, Miraz is only serving as regent for the Telmarine throne, but his wife is laboring in childbirth. When the news comes that she's borne him a son, he sets plans in motion to kill his nephew Prince Caspian 10, the rightful heir to the throne (played by Ben Barnes).The Pevensale children: Peter, (William Moseley); Susan, (Anna Popplewell); Edmund, (Skandar Keynes); and Lucy, (Georgie Henley) meet Caspian and after a brief dispute between Peter and Caspian, cast their and their animal and dwarven kind friends' lots in with his. They know the Telmarines will invade quickly and choose to meet the enemy offensively."Prince Caspian" reminds me very much of "The Two Towers" in that there's quite a bit of fighting going on. From the minute Miraz realizes he has an heir, he's sending his men to kill his nephew and next to go after the remainder of the Narnians.The story is well-acted. Lucy (Henley) and Miraz (Castellitto) were two of the most interesting characters in the whole story and were at polar opposites of the good-evil continuum. Lucy's faithful and the strongest believer in the magic of Narnia and her old friend, Aslan. Miraz is just plain bad, he's a kinslayer, a backstabber, and the all-around-guy-you-love-to-hate. Kudos also to Eddie Izzard for Reepicheep the Mouse. His portrayal was exactly what I imagined for the brave little mouse.Director, Andrew Adamson did an excellent job hazing the battle scenes with grey implying the dust I'd imagine they'd stir up with the fight. He also managed to capture the wondrous dancing trees, the mountains and the glory that is Narnia in a bright filter.Magical creatures, particularly the centaurs, were very well done. Effects for the one scene featuring Jadis, the Snow Queen were smooth and beautifully done.In my opinion, this is probably not a film for very young children. There's a lot of violence and battle scenes. While there's no splatter factor, I think the decapitations and other scenes might be hard on the younger kids.NOTE: If you are planning on attending "Prince Caspian" for the next week, you probably will want to buy your tickets in advance or see the earliest show. The theatre tonight was full and many of the shows for tomorrow were already selling out.Rebecca Kyle, May 2008