‘Prince Caspian’ is probably my least favourite of the Narnia books; early reviews had not really been too enthusiastic about the film version, so it took me until now to watch it on DVD

The opening of the film works well. Caspian’s mentor was exactly as I had imagined him, urging his young protegé to escape. The scenes when Caspian is discovered by the Narnians also, I felt, kept fairly close to the book and were well done.

When we switch to the Pevensie children in London, there seemed to be some irrelevant extra parts.. but they duly arrive at the ruined castle, and gradually realise what’s going on… so far, so good.

It’s a long time since I read the book – at least twelve years – but even so, I became aware of more and more deviation from the book. Particularly irritating was the unpleasant rivalry between Peter (William Moseley) and Caspian (Ben Barnes). Still, the much-touted’ love interest’, such as it was, seemed very low-key and not actually unrealistic or unlikely in the circumstances. It wasn’t necessary, but it didn’t seem to me to do any harm.

Aslan and the other talking animals are very well done, and I was captivated by the mouse Reepicheep, who provided some light humour in the midst of some quite tense scenes.

But, alas, the rest of film was basically, a series of rather tedious battles, played out in too much detail. The book does have a lot of fighting; but one can skim the detail in a book. Some of it was rather violent, and I’d have personally given the film a ‘12’ rating rather than the ’PG" which both the UK an US censors decided was appropriate.

Worth seeing as part of the series, but if you haven’t read the book or read (or seen) the first one, this would probably be rather confusing.

I saw this last night taped on my DVR from the Syfy channel. I loved it! It had lots of great action, the plot was extremely good, and it wasn’t like most sequels in which it’s a clone of the first film. I can’t wait to go see “Voyage of the Dawn Treader!”

Worth Consuming!

I saw this last night in the theater. I wasn’t dissapointed – in fact I was moved to tears multiple times throughout the movie!

I agree with the others in that the battle scenes were a little much. Also the love story wasn’t believable and kind of distracted from the plot. Other than that, I’m glad they took such liberties with the plot.

The book flat out sucks – they spend most of it trying to cross the gorge looking for Aslan. But the movie brings to life so many of the good vs. evil messages that C.S. Lewis was trying to communicate. I was glad that I had read the book before watching the movie – I’m not sure this on you could just jump into without knowing what happens – the background stories were lacking.

Overall it was truly a visually stunning movie. The cinematography was excellent. Beautiful camera angles and scenery. I felt like I was right in Narnia! The acting was lacking at some parts, but overall a very well done movie – can’t wait for the next one!

I love Narnia, but I’ve always found this book slow and boring. Too much background that hardly moves the story forward. I was glad they got rid of most of that. I’ll admit the romantic relationship was pointless. But I felt it captured the spirit of the book well.

Yes, I wanted to love this, but the script wouldn’t let me. I’m not a purist, really I’m not, but some changes are just plain mistakes, and turning Susan into Xena with a bow instead of a razor-sharp aerobie is one. There are many more but I don’t want to engage in spoilage.

And there are good things about this movie. They found some first-rate people to play the Telmarines up to and including Ben Barnes as Caspian. And of course the film is gorgeous (though I’m still sick of all the CGI). The fight and battle scenes are very well done – especially the scenes of single combat, which have great din and verisimilitude. The combatants look tired, their weapons and armor heavy, all very believable.

Eddie Izzard’s casting as Reepiceep is brilliant and makes me look forward to Dawn Treader very much indeed.

All in all, though, this adaptation felt hollow and disappointing — though this is one of the duller of the books, so I can’t entirely fault the directing/writing team. They did manage to tease out a pretty good war plot from a book that is mostly taken up with a long foot-journey.

This film was wonderfully done. It was everything I expected it to be. It did not have the same sense of magical wonder that I loved in “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” but for a second trip to Narnia it had just the right feel.

Tracy Reed and I – with our chilluns – all went to eat at Mickey D’s last night and then to Prince Caspian. Our gals had a girls’ night out with other gals from the church.

We stumbled on Michael with his two young’uns and felt a little badly that our kids were all old enough to go see this movie with us – that girls’ night out also meant boys’ night out for us. But not for him. You’re not supposed to call it babysitting when you’re with your own kids, but he had a distinct glaze in his eyes when we left for the movie.

All I can say about the movie is a simple… wow. Magical. Wonderful. Moving.

Some of Susan’s dialogue with Aslan in this movie was so deeply profound. I was impressed with the production and selection from the book. Although it diverged a tad from the storyline of the book, it all came together for a dynamically powerful epic tale.

At the end, I glanced over at Adelyn during a particularly poignant moment and saw her wiping away tears. My throat caught just a little, and upon reflection, I am delighted that my daughter is moved by moments of deep love, truth, and beauty.

Go see Prince Caspian. You won’t regret it. Better yet, read ALL the Chronicles of Narnia by Christian philosopher/writer/spreader of divine joy C.S. Lewis.