It has been three years since we followed the Pevensie siblings on the big screen, and the magic that was felt as they went through the wardbrobe and into the land of Narnia has all but been extinguished by a film that fails to impress and plays instead to the lower end of the PG rating scale.
The Return of the Kings and Queens
The previous film left off with the two Kings and Queens coming back through the wardrobe after many years of ruling Narnia as adults. Upon their return to the real world, they are once again children, and hardly any time has passed since they entered the wardrobe.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian makes sure viewers know this fact by continually hitting the audience over the head with jokes and exposition detailing their situation. In one scene, Peter is complaining about being treated like a child, and when it is pointed out that he is a child, exclaims that he “didn’t use to be.”
Just as we are getting used to seeing the Pevensie’s in a constant state of depression, suddenly they are transported back to Narnia via a horn that summons past Kings and Queens back to Narnia. They quickly discover that in just the time they were back in the real world, several hundred years have passed in Narnia.
Same Song Second Verse
I have the perspective of never having read the books by CS Lewis, so I am able to come to the films and enjoy them as they are, without any preconceived notions of how I envisioned the books as a kid, or how the director did or didn’t bring a part of the book to life. I was able to enjoy The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe as the start of a magical adventure, easily up to par of the Harry Potter films, with fantastic cinematography and haunting music.
This time, they settled for gimmicks.
Take the dwarf from Lord of the Rings, the cat from Shrek, and Mr. Beaver from the first Narnia film, put them in a room and let them make jokes about each other and you have a good portion of this film. Instead of the talking animals and creatures being the cornerstone of the film, we are left with a far less-interesting enemy – humans.
In the first film we had four humans teaming with “good” creatures battling “bad” creatures and the evil witch. It was easy to tell who was good and who was evil. In Caspian, suddenly all humans are evil. In fact, the only moral of the film that I could decipher is this:
Humans destroy the forest and all of its living creatures, including cute, talking mice.
Yes, it is another piece of propaganda from the film world, following on the heels of Speed Racer’s anti-corporate message, directed towards unsuspecting kids and their parents. Al Gore would be pleased.
What Could Have Saved It?
It’s hard to tell what could have saved Prince Caspian since I haven’t read the book. Noticeably absent was Edmund’s witt as the brother we love to hate. The scene where Caspian considers freeing the White Witch from the netherworld seemed thrown in at the last minute – there could have been a little more development in his struggle to use her power or not. Also, the film relies too heavily on what happened to Caspian’s father – so much so I kept hearing in my head “My name is Prince Caspian of the Telmarine, you killed my father, prepare to die.”
Perhaps then we would have had a good film.
Rutter’s Rating: 2/5.
[TAGS]Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian, Movie Review, Troy Rutter, Telmarine[/TAGS]
