The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Movie Download

5 / 10

As Middling As Its Source Material
The first Narnia movie was filled with adventure and magic. This sequel (much like its novel counterpart) cannot match that level of energy or excitement, instead resulting in just a so-so film effort.

For a basic plot summary, “Prince Caspian” sees the Pevensie siblings Peter (William Moseley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Susan (Anna Popplewell), & Lucy (Georgia Henley) once more called back into the kingdom of Narnia. This time, they arrive at a beach surrounded by ancient ruins. After a bit of searching, and some help from dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage), they discover that they are all actually in the same place they used to live…Cair Paravel. Only many hundreds of years have passed and Narnia is now ruled by the Telmarines, more specifically King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). The Telmarines want nothing to do with the “old ways” of enchanted Narnia, and instead rule like a traditional kingdom, where trees/animals/beasts are “dumb” again. The only hope? Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), a Telmarine himself who just happens to have an intimate understanding of (and appreciation for) those “old ways” and wants to see them restored once again.

For a long time, I viewed this movie as a complete and utter disaster. “Prince Caspian” completely turned a friend of mine (who loved “Lion/Witch/Wardrobe”) off from the entire series…he didn’t even watch “Dawn Treader”. After recently reading the novel, however, I came to realize that this movie is only as good/bad as that source material, which is middling at best. Prince Caspian is not nearly as compelling of a tale as LWW, and no amount of movie magic can make up for that.

One thing I truly did like about this movie is that it takes a few chances going off the story material. For example, showing the White Witch again (which did not happen in the novel whatsoever). I was surprised when I saw this film was almost two and a half hours long (I think I might have cut it down severely to quicken the pace), but the “added” material from the book actually composes some of the most interesting stuff of the film.

Overall, then, “Prince Caspian” is just an average film based on a similarly average book. Try as it might, it cannot escape that limitation.Read More