Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) by Lukas M — 03 Nov 2011

"I beg to differ.".

As a child, I was enthralled by the Chronicles of Narnia. The stories were thrilling, the dialogue witty and the virtues enormous. I can recite excerpt by heart; perhaps that's why I'm disappointed with Andrew Adamson's "Prince Caspian.".

The script is full of clunky dialogues obviously intended to secure the interest of a shallow adolescent audience (my favorite being "You're a mouse?" "You people have no imagination.") and many key events (such as Caspian's childhood and Aslan's trip to the Telmarine villages) are ignored in favor of one magnificently computerized battle sequence after another. Peter is portrayed as a disrespectful egoistic twerp whose sole purpose is to re-conquer Narnia for himself and as for the potential romance between Caspian and Susan, I forbear to comment further.

The cast ranges from excellent to not very good. Sergio Castellitto gives a deliciously wicked performance as King Miraz and William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley are good in their second outing as the Penvensies but Ben Barnes' Caspian is marred by a ridiculous attempt at a Hispanic accent.

C.S. Lews isn't rolling over as much as for Michael Apted's "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" but if I had to choose between the book and the movie, I would choose the book without a second thought.