movie thoughts: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

[orangerful]

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

I really enjoyed this movie a lot more than Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Probably because I knew nothing of the Prince Caspian story where as I had watched the old BBC version of LWW and thought they really didn't improve upon that in the movie, except to make it prettier. Yes, it's very Lord-of-the-Rings-esque in it's themes of the true king taking back the throne and uniting the land.  (Yes, I know Lewis and Tolkien were BFFs).

Also, Eddie Izzard as the swashbuckling mouse?  Yeah, it's hard for me not to be into this movie. 

Even at 2 1/2 hours long, this was really fun to watch.  I didn't expect to watch it all in one sitting but I was so drawn into the story that I didn't notice.

The only clunky part was the Aslan storyline, which felt sorta forced, especially with how he defeats the baddies (totally ripped off Arwen hehe).   I'm sure fans of the books will be happy it was included but he doesn't do anything for me. 

Originally posted on orangerful.vox.com

Comments

[ekaterin24.livejournal.com]

I've never seen either movie, though I saw the BBC versions of most of the Chronicles and enjoyed them (Lucy was *perfect* in that LTWTW!)

How highly would you recommend them?

I used to be a huge CS Lewis fan--I ead all the Chronicles of Narnia at least 3 times when I was in jr. high, and have read most of his adult fiction (plus his memoirs and some nonfiction). Now I realize the Christian symbolism in the Chronicles is kinda heavy-handed (my feelings; some may find it more, or less obvious) and ooh, he was sexist. Still awesome stories though.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

yeah, I sorta wish I could have my brain wiped of the Christian symbolism and the sexism issues because it does put a damper on the movie for me (and made LWW really hard to watch for me). It really doesn't rear it's ugly head in this movie until the very end, when Aslan shows up.

I thought it was really good. Not the best movie ever, but as a fan of the books and fantasy in general, I think it's a movie worth seeing. I'd like to hear your reaction since you have read them. Maybe rent it and watch it while you wrap presents haha. :)

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

ooh- you finally saw it. Glad you enjoyed it. I read the book after I saw it, since I'd totally forgotten it, and I was surprised at how different it was. It was like the filmakers had ripped all the pages out of the book, reshuffled them, threw a bunch away, and then wrote entirely new scenes. Like that pivotal scene where they try to take the castle and fail? Not in the book at all. The book isn't anywhere near as action-y, and the pacing is weird- Lewis seems to go on for pages about little details, like what the kids are eating or whether they're sleeping, but then will write off a battle in a few paragraphs. It's not as funny as the movie either (although there's one hilarious bit with the Bulgy Bears that I can't believe they left out of the movie). I actually liked the movie way better, and I NEVER say that.

I'd like to see the kids all together again. It doesn't happen in the books but since this film was such a departure from the book, you'd think they could just make up their own stories for a couple of films. More kids, more Dinklage, more Izzard, less Aslan. And I thought Caspian was a bit of a fop, so they could lose him too.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

BWAHAHA I KNEW THAT WOULD GET YOU OUT OF HIDING!

Wow, so the movie is totally different? That's funny since the first movie seemed to be so faithful to the book, at least from what I've heard.

Yeah, I finally liked all the kids in this movie (as opposed to the last one where I wanted to whack Peter upside the head, strangle Edmund, and just ignore the girls). Its too bad the had to end on that "um, yeah, you two can't come back to Neverland Narnia again because you're too old. Maybe they will forget...

I have no idea if this made enough money for them to continue making them. Caspian's hair had amazing body. Wish my hair was that poofy, especially after a major battle...

[bittertwee.livejournal.com]

hee.. yep, I'm here! New and improved with more free time too! (although I've hardly done any Christmas shopping..)

Word this summer was that they were going ahead with the next book (which has Edmund, Lucy, a new kid (or two?), and I think Caspian and the mouse (and Dinklage? not sure..). But it sounded like they might stop there.

And yeah, they definitely kept many of the scenes from the book, but the timeline is all reshuffled. Then, off the top of my head, they added that whole castle battle scene in the middle, the white witch (who isn't in the book at all), some backstory for the kids, the Caspian/Susan love interest, and they hugely expanded the political backstory. And that's just what I remember from this summer.

[orangerful.livejournal.com]

okay, according to IMDB they are doing Dawn Treader in 2010 - Caspian has a credit (oddly enough, he's apparently doing a "A Picture of Dorian Gray"...I could see him as Dorian Gray. Hope that's good.

[destertale.livejournal.com]

OMG You should have heard me when I saw the movie. lol It was very pretty, and I mostly enjoyed it, but I was like, WTF did they do to the story!? They really did put it through a blender. The parts that were actually from the story were all out of order, and they left big parts out (I figured Bacchus and company would be removed though. Kids can't be expected to be familiar with classical history these days, and we can't possibly have anything that could smack of paganism... no.) and then they added a whole lot. Just to add more action. I call it: Narnia Extreme!!! The parts they added changed the tone though, and that's the part that bothers me. Attacking first instead of just defending? Very different. And the angry/emo/angst between Peter and Caspian... bleah. Still, I mostly enjoyed it, but after the first movie was so true to the story, it came as a big surprise to me what they did to this one. O_O;