The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2 Disc Special Edition) [2008] - DVD (Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell - Dir: Andrew Adamson)

More exciting than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian continues the movie franchise based on C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy books. The movie picks up where the first left off... sort of. It's been a year since the Pevensie children--Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)--returned to England from Narnia, and they've just about resigned themselves to living their ordinary lives. But just like that, they're once again transported to a fantastical land, but one with a long-abandoned castle. It turns out that they are in Narnia again--and they themselves lived in that castle, but hundreds of years ago in Narnia time. They've been summoned back to help Prince Caspian (Stardust's Ben Barnes, resembling a young, cultured Keanu Reeves), the rightful heir to the throne who's become the target of his power-hungry uncle, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). And he's not the only one threatened: Miraz's people, the Telmarines, have pushed all the Narnians--the talking animals, the centaurs and other beasts, the walking trees--to the brink of extinction. Despite some alpha-male bickering, Peter and Caspian agree to fight Miraz alongside the remaining Narnians, including the dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard). (Also appearing is Warwick Davis, who was in Willow and the 1989 BBC version of Prince Caspian.) But of course they most of all miss the noble lion, Aslan, who would have never let this happen to Narnia if he hadn't disappeared.

Prince Caspian is epic, evoking memories of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. (Some of the battle elements may seem too familiar, but they were in Lewis's book.) And it's appropriate for kids (Reepicheep could have come out of a Shrek movie), though the tone is dark and there is a lot of death, albeit bloodless. After two successful films, Disney and Walden Media's franchise has proved successful enough that many of the characters are scheduled to return in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. --David Horiuchi, Amazon.com

Customer Reviews of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2 Disc Special Edition) [2008]

underworld
uk
26th November 2008

Ripping Yarn
Ripping yarn but lacks the charm and magical nature of the Lion the Witch and the wardrobe. Narnia has been ruled by a brawling warlike people when Susan, Edmond, Lucy and Peter find themselves in Narnia they find it a shadow of it's former self with many of the animals wild and unable to talk. A battle rages at the end and the four band together again and use each others strengths to conquer evil. Good family film if a little old fashioned.

tonyjackie3
uk
19th November 2008

Saved by the mice and Lucy
The first thing that I have to say is that this isn't a great movie,not by a long way. It's too long,boring in parts and I had the same problem that I had with the first film in the series. Namely,three of the four children are a charmless bunch bereft of any personality. Apart from Georgie Henley that is who plays Lucy. She gave the best performance in the first film and is also the best thing about 'Prince Caspian'.As the Prince,Ben Barnes certainly looks the part but his accent varies between Spanish,French and Scottish. I also felt that this film was aimed directly at the children's market.

So why have I given it a reasonable three stars? I was toying with giving it two but in fairness it does look great and some of the CGI is very well done. I especially liked the water giant near the end.If I could give this two and a half stars I would but because of Miss Henley,the water giant and the mice(cute) I will give it a maybe too generous three. This is not a movie that I would watch again but children will probably love it.

barnie884
Netherlands
19th November 2008

Good sequel
I was looking forward to this movie, this was one of the iconic books from my childhood. I have to say that I very much enjoyed it, however maybe not as much as the first film. The filming was excellent, with beautiful backdrops and surroundings, very good CGI and good acting. It's been so long since I read the books however, that I can't remember if this was faithful to the original though... will have to re-read them I think! The things that let it down for me were the comedy elements, the mouse-knights and alike fitted very much with a Disney film, however I thought that they were not necessary, and detracted from the story. Word of warning though, not sure if I would let very small children see it though as there is quite a lot of violent deaths albeit no blood.

Gloria Mundi
Cornwall, UK
18th November 2008

Prince Caspian
This has to be one of the most disappointing films I've ever seen. The books enthralled me as a child and, as an adult I have read them to children in my family who were equally delighted by them, so the liberties taken with the story were a total disaster for us.

It starts off well enough, but then the film-makers apparently think they have to add plot twists with a very silly a subtext where Caspian & Peter are so jealous of eachother that they almost bring about the downfall of Narnia by it.

Yet again Hollywood has tinkered with the original and wonderful story, and lost the magic on the way, and because the special effects are fantastic it's a real let down. This is not a film I'll be buying or would want to own under any circumstances. Don't waste your money.

Mr C Goble

16th November 2008

what happened to...
I did enjoy the film - and thought it stood up well against The Lion et al, but what happened to 'a Horse and his boy'? (The 3 chronicle) also will we go back to the Magician's Nephew at a later stage?