Prince Caspian
I was thoroughly impressed by Caspian. I'm not one to be married to the books, but I was skeptical that they would succeed in adapting it. The book is so crazy in it's chronology--and I thought that it would be a mess if they changed it and a mess if they didn't. Turns out, they changed it a lot, and it WORKS!! The whole rivalry between Peter and Caspian, Peter's disasterous castle raid, the progress of the Hag's incantations (awesome awesome scene--one of my favorites), and even the attraction between Suzan and Caspian was a servicable story beat (until the last bit--everyone laughed in the theater).
The acting was much better! Mosely has said that he undertook some acting instruction since LTWW and it appears to have really paid off. I really enjoyed seeing these kids play out these characters (whomever plays Eustace has some big shoes to fill). The new characters were all really cool too. The guy who played Miraz is awesome! He's a thoroughly engaging villain with a well balanced presence (and good english too). Peter Dinklage's Trumpkin is nothing like how I imagined the character, but he's so delightful that he totally makes up for it--I kept wishing he would be in more scense. His performance just made the character look tough and endearing at the same time. Warwick Davis returns to Narnia (he played Reepicheep in the BBC series)!! His performance as Nikabrik was so much more than I expected. He was funny, and wicked-cool when he was being evil. Very cool to see him again.
The action was a major improvement. We all like big armored battles between armies and such, but I feel the real strength and excitment lied in it's swordplay. The choreography was intense as were the camera angles that captured them. Very well set up. The sound-effects also really added an exciting demension to the hand-to-hand exchanges. It looks like these kids really do know how to fight this time around (no wobbling swords here). A higher quality than the witch/Peter dual in LTWW. I also appreciated it that they didn't feel like it was necessary to succum to spectacle-inflation: where the next installment had to be twice as huge and monsterous as the previous. The level of spectacle in the climactic battle was about the same as LTWW--just different and better. TAKE NOTE future genre sequel-makers: Better, is always more...than bigger.
The story was never as good as LTWW, so the first film still has a higher place in my heart. But the changes made to Caspian's story made it much more dramatic and engageing. I thought that the aura of legend that they created about the "kings and queens of old" (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) within Narnia was a nice touch--like the book in the professor's study, the paintings on the wall of the Howe, reactions to their arrival etc. I get kicks out of the epicness and grand scale of time that comes through in that kind of storytelling (like the immortality of the Elves in LOTR--the history). The ideas of ancient powers returning to a dying land to revive it again. All very positive storytelling elements.
However, the ending was too rushed, whereas LTWW took its time to provide an ending that was ultimately more satisfying emotionally. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Considering that Peter and Susan (being of the original four and all) are not going to be returning to Narnia, I would have made more of a point about that--letting the emotion linger a little more and maybe provide a more satisfying reason for it (it felt like an actor leaving a TV show--not a life changing shift of destiny). [END SPOILERS] I also might have saved the song (which is nice) for the credits as the music doesn't really fit the depth and feeling of the ending.
As those who have read the books know, LTWW, The Last Battle, and the Magician's nephew are the only three books which contain allegory as part of their storytelling. The other four (including Prince Caspian) are more straight-forward fantasy stories with the common spiritual theme of Aslan's divinity. The film version of Prince Caspian stays true to the books themes of faith (without proof), humility/courage (Reepicheep), responding to your calling (the children returning to Narnia/Caspian becoming a leader). But the added storylines gave the story a much richer spiritual context too--Peter's downfall, the visual symbolism in the conjuring of the Witch scene.
Contentwise, the film is very violent (but bloodless). Once again, the MPAA proves to be a slick little operation that knows the marketing power of its rating scales. Prince Caspian is a PG-13 movie that received a PG rating. I'm starting to not be surprised by that anymore, but I kind of feel badly for younger viewers whose parents will not allow them to see an otherwise enjoyable and relavent movie because of the violence. Battles can be exciting and spectacular without being brutal (a decapitation, multiple throat-slittings, and some falling deaths that show the impact). The scene with the Hag and Werewolf is faithful to the book in that it's just downright creepy. I loved it, but I kept thinking that my younger cousins are probably being scarred for life by the dark imagry. Of course, for anyone in the PG-13 age range, the movie holds no cause for concern content-wise.
Once again, I'm extremely happy with it, and I look foward to the next installment, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (helmed by Michael Apted). Its story goes in quite a different direction tone and content-wise. It's a grand, high-seas adventure story with some head-spacey existentialism thrown in. I hope that Apted does a good job and helps guide the series in a more progressive direction (seen the numbers on Caspian this opening weekend?).
My hope is that Caspian will outlive Indy at the box office (as that movie is merely a shameless hype machine and is isn't likely to mean much in the long-run...even if it's cool).
Thank you Walden, Disney and Adamson for yet another satisfying (and hopeful) Narnia Installment. Please do what it takes (meaning take the time) to make the following installments worth their effects budgets so we can enjoy returning to Narnia again and again.
The acting was much better! Mosely has said that he undertook some acting instruction since LTWW and it appears to have really paid off. I really enjoyed seeing these kids play out these characters (whomever plays Eustace has some big shoes to fill). The new characters were all really cool too. The guy who played Miraz is awesome! He's a thoroughly engaging villain with a well balanced presence (and good english too). Peter Dinklage's Trumpkin is nothing like how I imagined the character, but he's so delightful that he totally makes up for it--I kept wishing he would be in more scense. His performance just made the character look tough and endearing at the same time. Warwick Davis returns to Narnia (he played Reepicheep in the BBC series)!! His performance as Nikabrik was so much more than I expected. He was funny, and wicked-cool when he was being evil. Very cool to see him again.
The action was a major improvement. We all like big armored battles between armies and such, but I feel the real strength and excitment lied in it's swordplay. The choreography was intense as were the camera angles that captured them. Very well set up. The sound-effects also really added an exciting demension to the hand-to-hand exchanges. It looks like these kids really do know how to fight this time around (no wobbling swords here). A higher quality than the witch/Peter dual in LTWW. I also appreciated it that they didn't feel like it was necessary to succum to spectacle-inflation: where the next installment had to be twice as huge and monsterous as the previous. The level of spectacle in the climactic battle was about the same as LTWW--just different and better. TAKE NOTE future genre sequel-makers: Better, is always more...than bigger.
The story was never as good as LTWW, so the first film still has a higher place in my heart. But the changes made to Caspian's story made it much more dramatic and engageing. I thought that the aura of legend that they created about the "kings and queens of old" (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) within Narnia was a nice touch--like the book in the professor's study, the paintings on the wall of the Howe, reactions to their arrival etc. I get kicks out of the epicness and grand scale of time that comes through in that kind of storytelling (like the immortality of the Elves in LOTR--the history). The ideas of ancient powers returning to a dying land to revive it again. All very positive storytelling elements.
However, the ending was too rushed, whereas LTWW took its time to provide an ending that was ultimately more satisfying emotionally. [SPOILERS AHEAD] Considering that Peter and Susan (being of the original four and all) are not going to be returning to Narnia, I would have made more of a point about that--letting the emotion linger a little more and maybe provide a more satisfying reason for it (it felt like an actor leaving a TV show--not a life changing shift of destiny). [END SPOILERS] I also might have saved the song (which is nice) for the credits as the music doesn't really fit the depth and feeling of the ending.
As those who have read the books know, LTWW, The Last Battle, and the Magician's nephew are the only three books which contain allegory as part of their storytelling. The other four (including Prince Caspian) are more straight-forward fantasy stories with the common spiritual theme of Aslan's divinity. The film version of Prince Caspian stays true to the books themes of faith (without proof), humility/courage (Reepicheep), responding to your calling (the children returning to Narnia/Caspian becoming a leader). But the added storylines gave the story a much richer spiritual context too--Peter's downfall, the visual symbolism in the conjuring of the Witch scene.
Contentwise, the film is very violent (but bloodless). Once again, the MPAA proves to be a slick little operation that knows the marketing power of its rating scales. Prince Caspian is a PG-13 movie that received a PG rating. I'm starting to not be surprised by that anymore, but I kind of feel badly for younger viewers whose parents will not allow them to see an otherwise enjoyable and relavent movie because of the violence. Battles can be exciting and spectacular without being brutal (a decapitation, multiple throat-slittings, and some falling deaths that show the impact). The scene with the Hag and Werewolf is faithful to the book in that it's just downright creepy. I loved it, but I kept thinking that my younger cousins are probably being scarred for life by the dark imagry. Of course, for anyone in the PG-13 age range, the movie holds no cause for concern content-wise.
Once again, I'm extremely happy with it, and I look foward to the next installment, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader (helmed by Michael Apted). Its story goes in quite a different direction tone and content-wise. It's a grand, high-seas adventure story with some head-spacey existentialism thrown in. I hope that Apted does a good job and helps guide the series in a more progressive direction (seen the numbers on Caspian this opening weekend?).
My hope is that Caspian will outlive Indy at the box office (as that movie is merely a shameless hype machine and is isn't likely to mean much in the long-run...even if it's cool).
Thank you Walden, Disney and Adamson for yet another satisfying (and hopeful) Narnia Installment. Please do what it takes (meaning take the time) to make the following installments worth their effects budgets so we can enjoy returning to Narnia again and again.
posted by Your humble servant at 1:19 PM
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