The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian is nowhere near as good as the Lion,the Witch,and The Wardrobe or the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. This movie has neither the wonder of Narnia found in LLW nor the adventure of VOTDT. This movie is lacking the quality of story the other Narnia movies provide. It gets off to an okay start and has a decent ending. But too much of this movie seems to consist of incoherent battle scenes. Action and battle seem to take over at expense of story in large parts of this movie. The battle scenes don't dominate the book in the same way the do in the movie. The book offers MUCH more depth of story,espeically with more development regard to the children figuring out they have returned to Cair Paravel hundreds of years later and the history of Caspian. I also could have done without the suggested romances in the movie,however brief they might have been. While the visual work on this movie is good,and I enjoyed "The call" enough to purchase an MP3 version of the song,overall this movie disappointed me. Then there's the tension between Peter and Caspian,which is totally out of line as there is NONE of it in the book. Parents should aware that there is very high level of violence in this film and it probably should have been PG-13. While there isn't any gore or anything graphic,a number of loud and long scenes of violence with swords are included in this movie and it's overall tone is pretty violent. While middle schoolers and above should be able to cope with Prince Caspian,it is not for elementary school children. A lack of quality story and an overemphasis on battle scenes caused this movie to be a disappointment. Sex/sexuality: Just the one kissing scene which is brief. Not much of a concern. Language: The 1 out 5 is accurate: No profanity. Idiot and shut up are used. If the worst language in a movie is shut up then that's VERY mild. Drugs.alcohol,and tobacco: None at all. Emotionally intensity: 1 out 5. This is much more of an action movie than an emotional movie. There is a feeling of sadness when it is realized that Peter and Susan will never return to Narnia. Violence: 4 out 5. While there are no guns in this movie and while the violence is mostly non gory and non graphic,the 3 out 5 understates the amount of violence in this film. The movie largely consists of loud extended battle scenes that are very violent. The sword violence is loud,cringeworthy,and constant through the movie. Rating: Should have been PG-13. Far too violent for PG. Absolutely off for: Toddlers,preschoolers,kindergarteners,and elementary school children. Absolutely on for: Middle schoolers and older. How faithful is it to the book?: 40%

As good as the previous one, and just as moving. Narnia has been taken over for several generations by a foreign human people who have settled there, the Telmarine. Prince Caspian's father, the king, has been killed and the uncle is the usurper. (Can you say "Hamlet"?!). Caspian is on the lam. Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan are summoned to help by the prince's horn as they are needed. Caspian is found hiding out underground with the Narnians whom the Telmarines thought were extinct. Alliances were formed with talking animals and various creatures, even some dwarfs and minotaurs previously allied to the White Witch--all oppose the foreigners in Narnia. Various exploits and battles ensue. Aslan shows up briefly later in the film. The White Witch even has a brief scene. This film is much less allegorical than the first, with much less sibling discord among the four English youngsters--Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan. They are all far more self-assured. especially Edmund. Action sequences are top notch, and it seems they used fewer digital "people" than Lord of the Rings, which was OK: if you saw a cavalryman in the distance it was a real man and horse. Prince Caspian, interestingly, several times was a real screw-up, Peter and Edmund basically saved his throne for him. At least Aslan showed confidence in him. What was oddest was that although this film was made in New Zealand (as usual!), Slovenia, and Poland, all the Telmarines looked and sounded Spanish! ??? They all had Spanish accents, and even Caspian, played by Ben Barnes (born in London) spoke with a Spanish accent. The Italian actor who played Miraz said that the director wanted such an accent from all Telmarines. Best new talking animals: Trufflehunter (badger), and Reepicheep (sword wielding mouse with attitude). As others have said, "The new Narnia can be seen as a parallel to the modern world, in which old beliefs are scoffed at. "Who believes in Aslan nowadays?" asks Trumpkin (dwarf) when he first meets Caspian. Those who "hold on", like the badgers, are praised: this links with Lewis's views on religious faith". I can't say more about this film without giving away spoilers. But it was top notch.