Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) by Halfwelshman — 02 Jan 2012

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe wasn't in the same league as The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in terms of fantasy filmmaking, but it still had a lot going for it. Unfortunately, the sam cannot be said for Prince Caspian.

It's not a terrible film, but there are some glaring problems with it. First and foremost, the story isn't anywhere near as engaging as that of its predecessor, and this isn't entirely the fault of the filmmakers - the same is true of the books, but what is inexcusable is a distinct lack of purpose in the way in which the story is told.

In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we knew what our heroes were trying to do, and what challenges they had to overcome - defeat the White Witch, bring summer and peace eternal back to Narnia. In Prince Caspian, it's all a lot muddier - something about foreign invaders and a Prince who's usurped by his uncle, then the Pevensie siblings return and have to restore balance.

..or something along those lines. The action scenes are all still extremely well executed - particularly Peter's duel with Miraz, but even these scenes lack the epic scale and excitement of the final battle in the first film.

Concerning the returning cast, Georgie Henley still acts everyone else off the screen as Lucy Pevensie (though Peter Dinklage comes close to matching her as the grouchy, but soft-hearted Dwarf Trumpkin - and he had to make his performance stand out under heavy prosthetics) and Anna Popplewell's Susan Pevensie remains engaging.

Even Skandar Keynes' Edmund Pevensie impresses this time round - he has grown as a character and as an actor. Unfortunately, William Moseley is just as wooden as in the last film, and rather than empathise with Peter Pevensie, the eldest, and de-facto leader of the siblings, most of the time you just want to give this bossy, overconfident and immature young man a bit of a slap.

Joining Moseley in the race for most-wooden cast member is newcomer Ben Barnes, who appears to be cast as Prince Caspian simply because he looks vaguely Mediterranean. If we turn to the Telmarines, the nation of invaders who serve as this film's villains, they're a mixed bag.

Most prominently, Sergio Castellitto plays King Miraz, the primary antagonist - he's not a bad actor, but a mixture of an inconsistent accent and some chronic under-development of his character lessen the impact of his performance.

Compared to Tilda Swinton's captivating performance as the White Witch (who thankfully makes a brief appearance here) the Telmarines look like pantomime villains. What the film does get right is that the magical world of Narnia still looks great.

The talking animals are probably even more convincing than in the last film, and have some great British vocal talent behind them (Liam Neeson as Aslan, Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep, Ken Stott as a badger).

So what you have in Prince Caspian is artistic competence in abundance, and the odd standout scene and character performance. What you are lacking is depth, consistency and excitement. The Narnia series has reached a crossroads - will it ever rise to the heights of the first film, or even higher, or continue to degrade and become instantly forgettable? Will the other books even be made into films? Only time will tell.