Director: Andrew Adamson
Writer: Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely (Screenplay) C.S. Lewis (Novel)
Starring: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Williams Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Sergio Castellitto, Peter Dinklage
Plot: The Pevensie siblings return to Narnia, where they are enlisted to once again help ward off an evil king and restore the rightful heir to the land’s throne, Prince Caspian.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Magic Lost
Story: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian starts in Narnia where Prince Caspian (Barnes) is taken away from the kingdom for his own safety when his Uncle Miraz (Castellitto) has a son. We move to London, post-war now as we meet the Pevensie children, Lucy (Henley), Edmund (Keynes), Peter (Moseley) and Susan (Popplewell) who find themselves magically transported back to Narnia, a different Narnia to the one they left though.
With Narnia on the verge of another war the children must lead the resistance against Miraz as they all wait in hope of Aslan’s return, but with a battle from within as Prince Caspian clashes with Peter as the children must answer questions to why they abandoned Narnia all those years ago.
Thoughts on The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Characters/Performance – The children are now all back in London, they get called back to be the leaders Narnia thought they were going to be. The children all seem to have smaller parts in this film and just doing less of the more we saw first time around. Prince Caspian is a solid character but nothing too important in this battle with the villain just being human makes the threat not are scary as the first time around.
Performance wise, it would be fair to say we have nothing but average at best performances here, the kids are all fine coming off slightly too posh with the rest all feeling like no bigger name actors wanted to get involved in the film.
Story – I feel the story just doesn’t seem to have the magic we had first time around, first the idea the kids just go back after the war seems out of place because the first story seems to be about escaping the war. The battle within Narnia is just a power struggle again but the animals don’t talk as much and it is mostly a human battle losing all the fantasy elements which made the first fun.
Adventure/Family/Fantasy – The adventure side of the film does feel lost here, as does the family and fantasy side which showed how Harry Potter was the dominate force at the time.
Settings – The settings also don’t seem to be as well created as first time, nothing comes off memorable through this one.
Special Effects – With this seeming to be a human battle the special effects are no as needed in what should be a big fantasy battle film.
Final Thoughts – This was a huge step back, with a huge budget I just don’t get how it came off as dull as it did.
Overall: Poor sequel that should have continued what was created.
Rating
5 replies on “Franchise Weekend – The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)”
I actually really liked Prince Caspian. It’s a different kind of story than the first, but so is the book, darker and less fanciful. They also added much more action than was in the book, which I thought improved it in a way. It’s a shame Disney didn’t have enough confidence to finish what they started.
My fave is Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Has the most action.
I won’t be sitting g through anymore, the one I watched as a kid was more entertaining
Yes, they aren’t good on the whole.
Disney tried to make Prince Caspian into a summer blockbuster film. I loved the first one, but this one didn’t quite capture the heart of Lewis’s story.