Product: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Two Disc Edition + BD-Live) [Blu-ray] (2008)
Rating: 2.0
Inferior, badly-directed sequel
Sometimes a first-time big-budget feature film director achieves great things with a fresh vision and new ideas. This is not one of those times. The director, who has helmed big-budget animated features, has never directed a big live-action film, and it shows. The direction is amateurish at best. The camera work and editing are baffling in many places. Why have an aerial shot pointing straight down for 5 seconds as our heroes go underground, when that aerial shot tracks over some grass and rocks for 5 more seconds only to go to a fade to black transition to the next pointless shot? And parts of the movie that should be dramatic turn out to be laugh-out-loud funny (and not in a good way). The Mexican standoff in Miraz's chambers is the prime example of this. And the Telmarine accent - hoo boy! Let's just say that whenever one of the Telmarines speaks, you can't help thinking of Inigo Montoya from the far-superior "Princess Bride."The true problem with this movie is the script. Purists will decry any change to the source material in a motion picture; the problem is that changes necessarily have to be made to cram a novel into a 2.5 hour movie. However, the changes here are enormous, and to no good end. It's still unclear what's happening in half the movie, who the characters are, and why we should care. The first Narnia movie excelled in plot and direction; "Caspian" is a letdown in both areas. Let's hope that the experienced director heading "Dawn Treader" at Fox can do better. Completists will have to watch this; for others, it's a pass.