Prince Caspian

[lagilman]

So, I finally got around to seeing Chron. of Narnia: Prince Caspian. For most of the movie I was quite pleased with the adaption – it was like 'reading' a novel with visuals, in terms of storytelling and development,rather than a series of battles and dialogue. There were a few times that I was annoyed, but my memory tells me that those were places I was annoyed with the book,too (CS Lewis and I had at best an uneasy relationship). Visually the movie got hella lot right – yes, swordfights really were mostly men bashing each other until they were too tired to move – and the things that pricked at my logical mind I could mostly overlook (and the overtly Spanish-style armor [not to mention accents] was dealt with, which made me feel much better). Although I can't be the only one who recited "You killed my father. Prepare to die" at the appropriate moment...

Am still dubious about the basic thematic requirements of Aslan's return (see: previous annoyance) and the set-up to dump Susan, who deserves better (thought so as a preteen, think so now), but a good movie, true to the book while improving on it in subtle and non-intrusive ways (IMO and to the best of my recollection, PC was not one of the better in the series). They've also learned a lot about CGI, use of – showing us the animal Narnians without any closeups allowed the viewer to imagine better than they could actually create, while the shots of the cats flowing along at the hooves of the centaurs was delightful, and the griffins were allowed to retain their magical sense of wonder by only being seen in flight/in shadow (much much better than the first movie, which really disappointed me inthat regard)

Oh, and if I can't have a griffin, I at least want a badger, damn it.
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Right. Enough procrastination. Back to work...

Comments

[sleary.livejournal.com]

He was indeed. My non-reading friends were greatly puzzled, though. "Why is Peter fighting for Caspian? Caspian's older!" I had to remind them that Peter had beaten Caspian earlier in the movie.

I was vastly annoyed that they had Caspian leave his own tournament in order to save Susan. SRSLY?

I wish they'd stuck with a younger Caspian for this movie, and then given us this hot Ben what's-his-name for the next one.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Yes. My main problem with the movie is that by aging Caspian but leaving him both dim and inexperienced as a 12-year-old made him come across as a fairly "special student." Where he could be the age of this guy in the next movie and it would work fine.