Movie Musings: Prince Caspian

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Spoiler Alert: I may give away more than you want to know if you haven't seen the movie yet...just a warning.

Now, it's not like I'm a big time movie critic; the LAST movie I saw in an actual theater may well have been The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, so you'd be quite justified to give my opinion very little weight. But I thought I'd throw my two cents out there....

And I'll admit readily that The Chronicles of Narnia, like The Lord of the Rings and A Wrinkle in Time are books that have wound their way into my View of Life; they are stories that I read and re-read...over and over. So my standards may be unreasonably high.

But my test for a movie-made-from-a-book is 'Does it tell the same story that is in the book?' And for that, I'd give Prince Caspian about a B-. Yeah, overall, it tells the same story. But it does it with some characters that are not quite those presented by C.S. Lewis, and that bothers me a bit.

Perhaps the filmakers did not want the honest nobility that Peter displays in the book; perhaps they thought it was not realistic. Perhaps they wanted a heart throb factor in making Caspian considerably older than Lewis described him. Perhaps they wanted to demonstrate a stronger Susan by putting her in the battles that Lewis deliberately left her out of.

But to hold Aslan back until the very critical moment, to place the characters in a position of relying on their own intelligence rather than having the assurance that he was there, fighting with them in a different manner, bothered me. To hear Peter say, "I think we've waited for Aslan long enough!" really bothered me. My heart dropped at that point and I didn't really get it back until I realized that what followed allowed for the return of Dr. Cornelius and laid the foundation for the desperation that drove Nikabrik to try to call up the White Witch.

But those were, I suppose, my own issues. Overall, with Aslan's aid, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy did accomplish the same goal -- restoring freedom to Old Narnia and placing Caspian on the throne. The groundwork was laid for the making of The Voyage of the Dawntreader. I loved the mice. I loved the Centaurs. It *looks* like Narnia should look. I laughed at the very dry humor that is evident throughout the film. And I did...mostly...enjoy the movie and plan to get the DVD version.

But a little more evidence of Aslan's guidance, and a little less belligerence on Peter's part...in England and in Narnia...would've left me a lot more satisfied.