Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) by Mike S — 18 Aug 2013

I was a bit lost at first because it had been a couple of years since my one and only time seeing the first movie in this series based on C.S. Lewis's fantasy novels. Once I was through that, it was a well-made action-fantasy film in which good-hearted Prince Caspian unites with the outcast Narnians (a mix of talking animals and mythical creatures) to overthrow evil human invaders led by Caspian's corrupt uncle. Caspian is aided by the four Pensevie siblings, human children from Earth magically transported to Narnia, a land they had visited before in the first film.

Although the production values were good, the film didn't quite come together enough for me to care about the characters. The fact this story was just one episode in Narnia's long history made it seem less important to me than it did to the characters. Also, knowing that the Narnia stories reflect at least some of Lewis's strong, fundamental Christianity had me hunting for the allegories rather than just watching the story unfold. (For the record, the religious references seemed to be about faith and materialism, but I could be wrong.).