Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 4.0
Very good adaptation!!! Well worth the money. 4.5 stars
*** This review contains spoilers adn this has turned into almost an essay. A thousand pardons ***I happened to take 3 cousins last night to the film and we enjoyed it a full theatre. All three, the 15 year old boy, the 11 year old girl and 7 year old boy, were enrapted by the film, and although they thought it was much different and darker than the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, they weren't scared. The 7 year old reacted once to a very tense scene (Caspian has the option of killing his uncle after Peter vanquishes Miraz), but later remarked that he loved the movie.Some reviews have said Prince Caspian is dumbed down. I would argue it was right in spirit of the book and true to real life. It features a horribly wicked man who has already murdered his brother and now wants to murder his nephew for the sake of the crown and that's straight from the book. Also fits in perfectly with world history and politics. Narnians were in hiding because they were being badly persecuted in the book too, and, because this was a very well made film, we are shown the persecution, not just told about it. The depth of Peter and Susan's at their first separation in the first place are explored. And if you know Susan's eventual fate at the end of book 7, her pride and anger at Aslan are almost understandable.As for the violence: It was more violent and dark than LW&W; and a kid of about 7 or younger would be far too scared, but I do remember a fair amoung of mentioned violence in the novel. (I actually thought the scary factor in LW&W; was toned down too much).For those who choose to find Christian themes (after all, Lewis was the greatest Christian apologist of our time), the violence is much less than found in the Hebrew Bible (aka the Old Testament) and the New Testament. Remember the Biblical stories of the woman who staked a man through the head, of the numerous murders and rapes, of Jericho, the nation of Israel's escape from Egypt? Jesus died the worst kind of tortuous, humilating death on the cross. I always though CS Lewis did a wonderful job demonstrating the crappyness humanity can descend to without being grotesque for children. I think Prince Caspian was produced in the same vein.I also think the violence puts Peter and Miraz's actions in sharp contrast to Aslan's violence-free confict management. While Peter choose fighting and Miraz and company chose murder and treachery, Aslan simply and literally washes Narnia clean. All the Telmarines, with the exception of the bad guy, are spared, too.Also, Peter insistence on fighting, along with Susan's attitude, demonstrate CS Lewis' theme of stubborn pride in the novel. Aslan tries to appear to the children as soon as they arrive in Narnia, but only Lucy wanted to see Aslan; the other three children are too busy being mad at the fact they were taken away from Narnia.One review said:"Even Aslem was portrayed as a capricious deity, who didn't lift a paw until a child had to risk her life in order to get his attention"Again, Aslan was trying to get the children's attention pretty much the second they stepped foot back in Narnia. Thanks to pesky free will, they chose not to (excepting the ever faithful Lucy). He wanted to help, but Aslan, like God, is rearing faithful, brave people that must be willing to set aside their pride and jealousy so they are able to see him. Only then can he help. I am reminded of the town Jesus had to leave where he couldn't perform many miracles because of their unbelief. Oh, free will can be so inconvienent. (Man I love CS Lewis, he makes up some spiffy parallels).Basically, we see that when people like Peter, Susan, Edmund, Caspian and even Lucy don't set aside pride, anger, guilt, or fear, people everywhere, like Narnians and Telmarines, get hurt or killed (Can we say Christian history, anyone?)Anyway, off the soapbox and back to normal review type things:The acting was superb. They hired very fine actors for the supporting cast. Besides being a great actor, Prince Caspian is dreamy (excuse me while I have a girly moment), and the children are much better performers than last time, as well as fine looking young adults. Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep is spot on amazing.As for the over done medieval theme: Yeah, it is reminiscent of Lord of the Rings, but CS Lewis was a Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge (see cslewis.org) and Narnia itself is basically a medieval world. Can't really get away from the medieval theme.I highly recommend this film to anyone who loves CS Lewis or JRR Tolkien, fantasy, battles, whether religious, atheiest or who doesn't care either way. You can either ignore or have fun with the religious parallels. It's very fun, as long as you are at least eight years old.Also, I'd give it 4.5 stars. I'd only give it five stars if I could end up in Narnia at the end of the credits and I don't have to go to work on Monday.