Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) by Filipeneto — 19 Feb 2018

This film is the adaptation of a C.S. Lewis book, from a series of novels called "Chronicles of Narnia". In this film, the four Pevensie's return to Narnia unexpectedly, to find it conquered by the Telmarines, humans who slaughtered the talking animals of the country. Directed by Andrew Adamson (who directed Shrek) has script by Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The cast was headed by Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), William Moseley (Peter), Anna Popplewell (Susan) and Ben Barnes (Caspian), and counts with the voices of Eddie Izzard (Reepicheep) and Liam Neeson (Aslan).

This film is a meritorious continuation of the previous film, "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". And I say meritorious because it maintained the quality of previous film, yet not bring anything new or improve any of the negative characteristics of it. In fact, if I could choose the worst film adaptations of books, "The Chronicles of Narnia" was certainly included in the chosen list. For those who have read all the books and knew them well, this film is a disappointment as the previous one. It seems that the writers and the director (well, Adamson did both) didn't read the books but their resumes, or preferred to lighten things up and make a fifth category version of "The Lord of the Rings" (when the dramatic story of Tolkien has nothing to do with the vision, deeply Christian and didactic, of Lewis). Nevertheless, the film continues to work well, delighting the audience although the story does not have much appeal now, and Ben Barnes has been a weak Caspian largely due to that strange and jarring accent. So be warned: those who read the book does not need to see this movie. But, who didn't will certainly adore it.