Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) by Nicola W — 01 Jan 2014

In 2005, when the The Chronicles of Narnia book series still became one of the best-selling novels since the 1950s, Disney adapted the second book into a feature film titled "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe. When it was first released in December, it received a critical acclaim from critics and fans approved of it for being faithful to the source material. Despite it's expensive budget, it became a huge hit at the box office with only 745 million worldwide and with that, the production for Prince Caspian began in 2007. Then, on May of 2008, when it was first released, it received positive reviews as well, but not as high as the LWW's score.

As a fan of the books, I was ashamed for not seeing the first Narnia movie in theaters, but seeing as how I now have, I had much anticipation to see this back at 2008. When I saw it with my brother, we apparently enjoyed it and while I prefer The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe to be the best of the film series, I think this is a pretty good adaption of the book that everyone thought to be the worst entry of the series.

Before I would see why I understood all the hatred it had, there are some good things that I liked about the film. The title character of the film, Prince Caspian, played by Ben Barnes, is a fine character in the movie even though he's much older compared to the book. The Pevensie kids are as likable as ever, the Narnia creatures are great, especially Reepicheep, who is a funny comic-relief while serious and even though Aslan appeared near the end of the film, it's great to see him in the dream sequence Lucy had. Now, the villain being turned to a Hispanic ruler may be the reason why this movie received the bashing in the first place, but I actually liked the portrayal. Sure, his accent may have disappointed others, but his motives are solid it started to make me like him.

The storyline, despite a few changes here and there, is true to the spirit and tone of the book while having a much darker & mature tone, which makes it very satisfying. The writing, however, is the strongest part of the story. It maintains the adventure elements from the book. Kudos to the screenwriters who made the script. :) The visuals are great, the scenery is beautiful to look at and the CGI effects on the Narnia creatures are awesome. Aside from it's sluggish pacing (I'm OK with two hours, but I nearly fell asleep), the direction from Andrew Adamson is solid and flows the story really well. The battle sequences are great and the music score from Harry Gregson Williams retains the same themes from the first Narnia film, but it has an epic tone to it.

Overall, Prince Caspian isn't as strong as LWW and I understood the hatred it had, but I personally think this is an underrated sequel to an epic film. Totally recommended to others who haven't seen it yet. I hope you Narnian fans out there won't hate me for saying this. I just think it's that good.