In order to “cleanse the palette,” so to speak, Samantha and Chelsea and I went to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian today at Legends in Kansas City. After the painful experience we had with a sequel last week, I was apprehensively hopeful for Narnia to redeem my summer movie-going. Prince Caspian is the 2nd movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series (though it’s the 4th book in the story’s chronological order), and it features no real “known” actors unless you count the 1st part of the series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Caspian–according to the dialog–takes place 1 year after the end of The Lion… in the “real-world” lives of the heroes. Though the actors had clearly aged more than one year, they still all maintained their youthful appearances and relative ages (unlike Harry & Ron.. {cough}). The magical world of Narnia calls them back to aid in the fight for its mythical inhabitants, only to find out that hundreds of years had passed in “Narnia time.” Prince Caspian is in danger for his life by the archetypal “evil uncle” who wants to claim the throne of Narnia as the king of the Telmarines. During his escape, he encounters some native Narnians who find out who he is and enlist his help in recovering the land for the creatures of the forest. Caspian, the Narnians, and the summoned “kings and queens of old” (our protagonists, Peter, Susan, Edmund, & Lucy) prepare to mount a defense against the massive Telmarine armies and the evil king Miraz.
Now for the actual movie review part. Like the first part of the series, this film deals with some fairly heady issues for a Disney movie–faith, death, abandonment, doubt, love, honor, and more–but wraps them in such a plushy safety blanket that you can watch the movie while thinking about those things or not; they are not beat over the audience’s head or become didactic in any way. Being set in a fantasy world (unlike the Crystal Skulls), this movie has an understandable abundance of CGI work, but in this setting the effects work very well, and in my opinion, were executed with greater skill than in Indy. The acting was on par with the first film, with perhaps slight improvements from Lucy and Susan. Edmund’s character also has seen some growth, but that’s more on the side of the story, not the acting. Some fine sword fights take place, particularly a climactic one between Peter and King Miraz. I found the photography and pacing of this sword fight to be very exciting and near the level of some of the best sword fights on film. The movie does not spend much time in exposition or character development of the main heroes so that it can focus its energy in telling the story of Caspian and his kingdom.
There were very few elements in the entire film that I found distracting or of lesser quality. I was extremely pleased with Prince Caspian, especially considering what typically happens to the sophomore film (Empire Strikes Back excepted). If you found the young actors’ acting lacking in the first film, don’t expect much more from them this time, but I feel that it almost adds an unexpected quality of unsureness to their characters that C.S. Lewis may or may not have had in mind. Their feelings of doubt are almost amplified by their timid acting style. The strongest acting to be found was King Miraz, portrayed by Italian/French film actor, Sergio Castellitto. The music soundtrack (Harry Gregson-Williams of Antz fame) was also very good, though I felt that it could have even been featured more prominently at times.
I recommend skipping Indy4 and heading straight for Prince Caspian, though I also recommend watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe again for a refresher. It is a solid film in its own right, and as a sequel stands out as one of the few movie franchises that actually gets better with age. It is a great way to spend a couple hours and is a mostly wholesome family movie (minus one beheading) with great messages and lessons for kids to learn.
