Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Movie Review: Arushi's version!)

Hey all,

Well, I respect that Naina is working on a review also...but hey! Who said we can't have two??
Ok so this is my version-

There is a colossal responsibility you have to accept when trying to adapt a OCD(read:Naina, Harry Potter...says it all) series of novels to the big screen. You bring along a heavy set of expectations from pre-existing fans to not only produce an excellent movie, but also one that remains true to the original novel. This is insanely difficult considering the average novel can be anywhere from 300-700 pages…adapting novels into movies is no small feat.

Some, like Lord of the Rings, go far beyond what anyone could have hoped for. Some disapoint, like The Da Vinci Code( gawd what was all that about anyway?? What did they do to Dan Brown's book??!!.). Then you have some that just truly do a good solid job like the Harry Potter films…. and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The first Chronicles of Narnia film was a good movie. At least I thought so (the parts of it that I did manage to watch, that is). I could never exactly figure out how they were going to capture that book on the screen in a practical and entertaining way. Yet they did it beautifully. No, it wasn’t on Lord of the Rings scale, but it was excellent nonetheless. Could that same feat be accomplished with Prince Caspian? Yes, I believe they did.( Not to mention got an incredible star cast, Read: Ben Barnes and Skander Keynes!!)

THE GOOD

The action / adventure quota went WAY up for Prince Caspian. One of the criticisms the first Chronicles of Narnia film had against it was that it felt a little lacking in the action / adventure department (the ending battle not withstanding). Seems that the producers of the film were paying close attention. In Prince Caspian, the battles are more numerous, much grander in scale, the effects much better( the mice hehehe.)! The was also an increased sense of maturity to the action. The four main character from the first film aren’t just cute kids caught up in a battle… they are indeed warrior. ( Not to mention HOT! Well, Except Susan...who just looks plain sick!)

Oh ya!!The mice!! My favorite part of the movie( Ya, I'm just saying that...that was actually Caspian himself and Peter and Edmund!)!! Seeing all the creatures we saw in the first film again was also quite a nice touch.( I dont know about that....since i only have seen about half of the first one!)

THE BAD

In as much as there was more action and adventure in this film than the last… the price of that was a loss of some of the sense of awe and wonder… the sense of magic. With the first Narnia film, I found myself spellbound by the world they were in, feeling like a little kid sitting around a campfire as a skilled storyteller told the tale. There was still some sense of that in Prince Caspian for certain, but not nearly as much as in the first film.

The beginning of the film is a bit( to put it politely) slow and took a little while for it to find its pace. Once it did it was awesomeness… but it did take a good 20(cough) minutes to do so.

There is a terrible lack of Aslan (The Lion , who b.t.w i thought was like, dead...until Geetu told me otherwise!) in the film. Yes I understand the need to maintain the basic arch of the books… but I (and I think most people) was really looking forward to seeing Aslan, the great big Lion going around killing people( omg I'm turning into Naina) and not hugging little girls all through the movie. Seeing him ferociously kicking ass and taking names. Hell, even just seeing him roar sends chills up my spine. Sadly however, Aslan doesn’t appear until well into the third act of the film, and even once he’s there, he doesn’t actually do much at all ( cept hugging little girls and giving long winded descriptions about the philisophy of life. yada yada yada.) There are other things that make up for this… but it was still a disappointment for me.

The White Queen in the first film was a fantastic villain. How freakin cool was it seeing her ride into combat on that chariot pulled by two polar bears and then wielding the two swords like a freaking hot ass ninja?!?! Unfortunately, the villain in Prince Caspian isn’t nearly as interesting or fun antagonist( phew big word) as the White Queen.

OVERALL

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ends up being a very fun ( what with Mali chucking popcorn around)and often exciting( ahem. Mali laughing so hysterically that i couldnt get most of the film) follow up to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The characters have a wonderful sense of continuation to them( caspian!!!!), the battles are bigger, the effects better which all ends up being awesome!The film could have had “classic” status if it weren’t for the lack of a compelling villain, a woeful lack of Aslan and a substantial loss of that sense of awe and wonder delivered by the first film. Still... not a bad one. Overall I give The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian a solid 7.5 out of 10

XOXO!!

A.( hehe Mali...ur M and Naina's N and Geetu's G...not that she's contributing much!)