Friday night my Dad and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Pros: The movie is beautifully filmed. The actors who play the Pevensie siblings do a very good job (again), particularly Edmund. There are some really lovely moments e.g. when they are first transported to Narnia : that moment when they realize they’re back. They are so happy and begin running around on the beach.
Cons: The actor who plays Prince Caspian is overly effeminate with his well maintained brown tresses and eyeliner, and it all goes over the top at the end when he puts on a really gay-looking crown. This girlyman would never strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Narnia.
What bothered me the most about this movie, though, were the long battle scenes. Personally, I find extended battle sequences in movies to be one of the most boring things I can possibly think of. The second Lord of the Rings movie almost put me to sleep in my chair in the cinema.
I went back and reread Prince Caspian the book on Saturday (it’s quite thin, you can knock it off in a few hours). Most of the battle scenes were shoehorned in by the filmmakers. The movie is probably 50% fighting and the book is maybe 10%. Reading, I was struck by how flimsy the plot of the book actually is. Caspian’s throne is usurped by his uncle. He blows a magic horn which summons the Pevensie siblings who help him get it back. The end.
I think maybe this is because C.S. Lewis intended Prince Caspian to serve as a “book of transition.” The first Narnia book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is set 1,300 years earlier and establishes the ancient mythology of Narnia. The subsequent books in the series are set in a much changed Narnia which has human beings, a royal family, not all the animals talk etc. Maybe Lewis deliberately kept the plot simple so readers could focus on absorbing the changes.
All that to say, I can sympathize with the filmmakers need to beef up the story a little. But I do not sympathize with their decision to do so through endless battle scenes. They sort of turned Prince Caspian into just another fantasy action film like we have so many of these days. It loses the quintessentially English atmosphere that Lewis created.
For the record, I must mention that my dad did really enjoy the movie. If battle scenes are your cup of tea, then get yourself to your local cinema and enjoy. But if your cup of tea is, well, a cup of tea, then I recommend that you just stay home.
Pros: The movie is beautifully filmed. The actors who play the Pevensie siblings do a very good job (again), particularly Edmund. There are some really lovely moments e.g. when they are first transported to Narnia : that moment when they realize they’re back. They are so happy and begin running around on the beach.
Cons: The actor who plays Prince Caspian is overly effeminate with his well maintained brown tresses and eyeliner, and it all goes over the top at the end when he puts on a really gay-looking crown. This girlyman would never strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Narnia.
What bothered me the most about this movie, though, were the long battle scenes. Personally, I find extended battle sequences in movies to be one of the most boring things I can possibly think of. The second Lord of the Rings movie almost put me to sleep in my chair in the cinema.
I went back and reread Prince Caspian the book on Saturday (it’s quite thin, you can knock it off in a few hours). Most of the battle scenes were shoehorned in by the filmmakers. The movie is probably 50% fighting and the book is maybe 10%. Reading, I was struck by how flimsy the plot of the book actually is. Caspian’s throne is usurped by his uncle. He blows a magic horn which summons the Pevensie siblings who help him get it back. The end.
I think maybe this is because C.S. Lewis intended Prince Caspian to serve as a “book of transition.” The first Narnia book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is set 1,300 years earlier and establishes the ancient mythology of Narnia. The subsequent books in the series are set in a much changed Narnia which has human beings, a royal family, not all the animals talk etc. Maybe Lewis deliberately kept the plot simple so readers could focus on absorbing the changes.
All that to say, I can sympathize with the filmmakers need to beef up the story a little. But I do not sympathize with their decision to do so through endless battle scenes. They sort of turned Prince Caspian into just another fantasy action film like we have so many of these days. It loses the quintessentially English atmosphere that Lewis created.
For the record, I must mention that my dad did really enjoy the movie. If battle scenes are your cup of tea, then get yourself to your local cinema and enjoy. But if your cup of tea is, well, a cup of tea, then I recommend that you just stay home.
