Prince Caspian Review

All right, I've been putting this off, but after reading other reviews out there, I feel like I need to stand up for this movie a bit.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. I went in expecting something that was totally not like the book, but came out deciding that they had done a fairly decent job. Yes, things were changed, yes things were added, but on the whole, they kept with the spirit of the book.

I have been reading the Chronicles once a year since I was 7 (18 years ago!) and from the first time I read them, Prince Caspian was my favorite.

In spite of that, I really liked the movie.

Yes, they changed alot. No, I didn't like the Caspian/Susan romance (what there was of it). But I really enjoyed the different take on it.

I even enjoyed most of the character changes.

I'm one of the few people (that I have found) that really actually liked Trumkin's story at the beginning of the book. But I didn't mind the changes to the story plot.

MAJOR SPOILERS

I loved the music. I think the use of so many themes from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe really made the audience feel as though we were in Narnia remembering the last time we had visited. I don't buy many soundtracks, but this one is definitely on my list.

I thought some of the shots were just amazing. The angles of the camera and the panning shots. Absolutely breathtaking.

I liked the nod to those things that are in the books: Pattertwig, Bulgy Bear, Lucy eating an apple at Cair Paravel.

I found that the biggest changes that were made were to the characters. Some I liked, some I didn't.

Trumpkin wasn't at all what I had expected him to be. I envisioned him more jovial and not quite so cynic. But I could live with him. And some of his one-liners were great.

Reepicheep was almost exactly what I expected him to be. I think they could've added more about his "honor and chivalry" and such, but not too bad.

Prince Caspian....hmmmm. Well, you immediately run into troubles as soon as you raise the age of a person that much. (For those who haven't read the book, he's around 13 and in the movie he's somewhere are 20.) I think his character is one of the weakest, which is sad since he carries the title. There doesn't seem to be any change in him. He is practically the same throughout the movie. He's fighting with Peter practically the whole time and not being humble and realizing his situation.

Speaking of Peter.....

One of the biggest changes in character was Peter. He wasn't the young man who comes to Narnia and is there to "put Caspian on the throne, not take it himself". I thought it made sense for him to be having a hard time adjusting to being a king and then a kid in school. His jumping at the chance to prove himself in Narnia seemed to be a natural out flowing of that. Also, because of his choice not to wait on Aslan and the disasterous results, he learns (the hard way) that Aslan knows what he'd doing. That was a powerful reminder to me to trust in the Lord even when I don't know what's going on. There is a definite moment when he changes missing from the story, but I don't think many (if any) of my personal character changes have had one defining moment. Often, all I can do is look back on what I was and look at what I am now.

Susan. Well, I already said that I didn't like the Caspian/Susan romance, but I have to say that it really isn't played up at all. I mean it is so subtle that when they kiss it almost seems ludicrous. The second time I went to see it, the audience laughed at the scene. It really is laughable. But I really understand now, after watching her character, why Susan doesn't come back in The Last Battle. You can tell with the changes made to her character that she was already not as attached to Narnia anymore. I appreciate them taking the initiative to introduce that part of her character now rather than wait until the Last Battle and she doesn't turn up.

Lucy was just Lucy. So faithful to Aslan. Willing to wait for whenever Aslan chose to appear. Willing to go look for him and risk her life doing so. Willing to stand up to the enemy, knowing that Aslan was with her.

I left Edmund for last because I was so pleased with his character. I love Edmund in this book. In fact, it's his complete change from his character in LWW that made me like this book so much. I was very pleased to see that they allowed his character to change. I was very happy when he killed the White Witch. And I was even more happy that he didn't boast about it, but just had a quick quip for Peter.

Overall, I love this movie. I would actually pay to see this movie in the theatre again. I don't do that often. In fact this would be the first.

I'm okay with the changes overall. The storming of Miraz's castle didn't bother me much after I read that Adamson (the director) came up with the idea from the books mentioning that there were fights almost every night and the particular mention of one that didn't go very well.

Well, that's all. (For now.) I'm sure I will think of plenty of other things to say, but I'll go ahead and post this for now.

Tiffany