Prince Caspian

When talking about a movie such as Prince Caspian, it is hard to know where to begin.  The epic battle scenes?  The superb filming?  The characters?

Maybe it would benefit us all if I just decided to start at the beginning.  With a warning:  This will have major spoilers.  If you don't want to know what happens, I'd advise you don't read this.  Are we good to go?  Then lets dive right in.

I'm sure I won't want to waste your time with the plot, since I have quite a few things to say as it is.  And really, you should already know the plot.  If you're reading this currently, I'd expect that you've seen the movie already.  If you haven't yet seen it, I would advise that you go to the nearest theater now and get a ticket.  If you really insist on reading this anyway (you dedicated fan!), here is an excellent synopsis courtesy of IMDb.

Though the opening scene of the movie wasn't exactly ever written into the books, there was nothing that I found objectionable about it.  It gave a nice bit of introduction that the book did not exactly provide before diving in to the story.  Harmless things like that I don't mind being added to movies that are based on books.  It's the more annoying unnecessary things that can ruin a movie that has strayed from it's book.  But more on that later.

Narnia—the entrance into Narnia—was absolutely breathtaking.  Apparently the film was done in New Zealand.  Well, I want to go to New Zealand for my next vacation.  The scenery was so beautiful.  It almost made you believe the movie was filmed in, well, Narnia!  I could gush about the lush scenery and the fantastic sets for a whole post, but that's unadvisable.  This is going to be long enough as it is.

I can't really say how well the movie followed the books, since it's been awhile since I last read Prince Caspian, but I think they stuck to the plot fairly well.  As I said before, there were some deviations.  Some I minded.  Some I didn't.  Overall, I'd give them some Caryn points for sticking to what I remember of the story, though.  Let me know if I'm mistaken.

The characters were, of course, all fantastic.  The actors had obviously matured from the last Narnia, but they still seemed to fit the films.  After all, it was a year later in their world, too.  Lucy, played by Georgie Henley, was cute as ever.  Anna Popplewell made a very pretty Susan.  And even Skandar Keyes has matured into a fairly cute little Edmund, after all.  Sorry though, dude, you're still not the highlight of the film.  That title might belong to someone else.  Prince Caspian, played by Ben Barnes, made a nice, tasty Telmarine.  I mean, check it out!  What, you ask, could possibly be hotter than Ben Barnes dressed up in battle gear?  I'm willing to admit, there's not much.  But, there is darling William Moseley (aka Peter).  Ah, he's just adorable when you stick him by that stone table and put a confused sort of smile on his face!  Sadly IMBd doesn't even seem to have stills from my favorite part of the movie!  *Finds William Moseley Fansite*  Ah, much better!  Readers, prepare for a barrage of William Moseley pictures.  Let's see…here's him talking to our favorite Telamarine Prince,  him in the railroad station, here's one I'll call "frightened," (Goodness, he does look a bit like Ed Speelers there, does he not?  More on that man later...)  "expressing his brotherly love for Edmund," another one of him and our favorite Telmarine Prince (ooh-la-la!), the promo poster for some place other than the U.S., just him alone in that sexy promo pose, on set but not on camera, with a face that seems to read "C'mon" (I'd be answering, "Hell yeah!"  But that's just me), one I'll call "manly" (I was going to call it "sexy," but that could apply to any of them), "pensive" (Not to be confused with Pevensie…), yet another of him thinking (he seems to think more than most guys…), "firelight," after arguing with our dear Prince and searching for truth, "'I'm not lost!'", him wearing some too-awesome battle gear, here's after just having entered Narnia, another from the same time period because he's just too hot, "looking for Aslan," (oo-er!) and even one of him hugging Lu.  *is jealous.*  Then, for some reason, being hugged by Susan *is even more jealous*   And, last but by all means not least, off set but sexy as ever.

Sorry for the little gallery of William Moseley photos.  There's what, 20 some?  Wow, I may have gotten a bit carried away.  And sadly, I still haven't gotten my William Fix.  But now I've wasted too much time being a little fangirl instead of discussing the movie.  And now I've almost forgotten what I was going to say.  But only almost.

As with most movies, there are parts of Prince Caspian that were slightly reminiscent of some other movies, but not in too major a way.  The gigantic battle where the Telmarines came to Narnia was, of course, a bit like a scene from The Lord of the Rings.  However, since The Lord of the Rings had pretty much the best epic battle scenes ever seen in a movie, anything that comes now will probably remind people of it.  After all, battles can only be done so many ways!  In The Lord of the Rings, however, the troops were mostly gathered on dry, barren, forsaken land.  The land in Prince Caspian was still beautiful, forming a nice juxtaposition with the troops.  So I didn't have much objection there.  When Peter, Prince Caspian, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy had just found the stone table, the lighting system reminded me a bit of National Treasure 2.  I'm not sure how common things like that were ,though.  When Aslan called the waters of the river to wipe out the Telmarines also made me think of The Lord of the Rings, but the way the water formed into a man quickly changed that opinion.  Lastly, the White Witch—when she appeared, entombed in ice—made me think, not of another movie, but of something I've read.  She was exactly how I imagined Circe to look in The Sweet Far Thing when she is trapped in the well.  Quite amazing, is it not?

Though in the book, I didn't think Prince Caspian or Peter really wanted to work with the Witch.  Probably just a snippet added for cinematic reasons, don't you think?

Something else that was added for cinematic reasons would definitely be the little romantic sub-plot between Susan and Prince Caspian.  Yes, she's pretty.  Yes, he's hot.  Does that mean they have to fall in love with one another?  No.  That really bugged the crap out of me, but then again, I think every Disney movie has to have a little love.  Otherwise it couldn't be Disney.

On the other hand, the costumes for the movie also amazed me.  I mean, they were awesome!  Not so much the pretty dresses, but the armor was to die for!  I would so love to wear this stuff.  Yeah, it's no doubt very heavy, but gosh!  If I ever do become an actor, I'd want costumes this cool.  Yes, I am aware that the three nearest people are men.  Does that mean I can't want their clothes?  They're not the only ones, either….I would kill for Eragon's pants.  Or hell, the whole outfit!  And the armor.  But I digress.

I thought that, overall, the movie was done fairly well.  There were no major plot holes as seen in Eragon, it wasn't overly cheesy, and there was even a bit of deeper meaning to it.  I've written enough for today, though, so how about I explore that another time.  I would give Prince Caspian a 9/10, which means you should definitely go see it!

This has been Caryn…
Out!