Prince Caspian Movie Review
Friday, December 5th, 2008A long, long time ago, a gift was given to me by my mother. Now, I know what you are thinking…sometimes “mother” gifts make too much sense. Many times, as kids, we receive needed things like clothes, tools or even food. I always did like the food. You know, the stuff I didn’t really eat the rest of the year?
Kids usually like bicycles and toys. I feel guilty every time I send my nieces and nephews a check in the mail, but the way I think about it is that one day they will appreciate the money more than the toy that is sitting up in the attic or in the garage. Yeah, someday…like the day they are looking through the Barron’s college book before their freshman year.
Back to the gift that was given to me, and really, this was one of my favorite gifts. It was the “The Chronicles of Narnia” book set, written by C. S. Lewis. The set consisted of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew and The Last Battle.
I think I was a little older when I received the set, so the books made much more sense to me than if I had read them when I was younger. Actually, I think I did read them when I was younger, but forgot about them. See what I am talking about?
Like so many other fans of C.S. Lewis out there, I like the first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the best…by far. The reason for this was the magic and mystery of it all. All of the books are fairly short, but the first one left many of us wondering about places like Narnia. It captivated the imagination.
The remaining books read much more like regular stories. It wasn’t like the TV show “Lost,” where the mystery remains throughout the entire series and is continuous, it was much more like Harry Potter, where each book (or movie) was each and unto their own.
Either way, I love the set and I always enjoy reading or watching anything that has to do with Narnia. For that reason, we recently sat down to watch the movie, Prince Caspian. I liked it so much, I thought I would give it a little review of it here.
Okay, I am going to give two ratings, one for what the movie is and one for what the movie could have been.
What the movie is – 10
What the movie could have been – 4
Let me explain.
This movie was really great. When I sat down on the couch and got comfortable, I was quite excited. When things began, I was stunned at how vivid the graphics were and how clear the picture was. The actual plot was good, but I already knew what happened from reading the book. The soundtrack was awesome. It had all the makings of something like “Lord of the Rings.” Well, at least it could have had the makings of that trilogy.
The reason I gave such a low second score is because I wish the makers of this movie explored a whole lot more. There were ample opportunities to do so.
Now, I know the rules…those who make the movie need to follow the book. There are probably negotiated guidelines to follow. I just think this movie had the chance to be made into something like a trilogy like the one I mentioned above. Half the movie could have been spent on the kids sitting in the train station and the other half could have been spent exploring the White Witch. These were areas that didn’t get very much attention at all.
About half way through this movie, I felt as though things were being rushed. There were parts where the creators could have really analyzed what was happening, but instead, they kinds of glossed over them. I don’t blame them because the show had to come to an end at some point, but I feel many important details weren’t appreciated.
Overall, I am not sure I can offer any suggestions to better the movie as it stands. I just wish there was more of it, and I guess that’s not such a bad thing.
