Prince Caspian: A Review

I suppose that the Narnia film series, however long it winds up being, will always be saddled with its associations with Lord of the Rings. The source material comes from two close friends who in their own way were both significant Christian writers in the mid-20th century. The two book series are both still much loved and have found wider audiences than their religious roots. The impetus for the Narnia series was certainly driven in part by the breathtaking success of LOTR, and even the film location in New Zealand and the use of Peter Jackson’s WETA Workshop as the special effects house for Narnia create associations that the series will probably never shake.

With all that in mind, it is extremely difficult for me to watch Narnia without thinking of LOTR, and unfortunately, Prince Caspian isn’t helping that cause. The opening moments of the film have us rejoin the 4 Pevensie children a year after the events of LWW (apologies for all the acronyms, I feel like I’m navigating government bureaucracies!). This is post-war London, and so life seems to be beginning again, but all of them, Peter especially, seem restless to head back to Narnia. They get their wish as their whisked away, but as they explore their adopted homeland, they realize that this is not the same land they left. Indeed, 1300 years have passed since they returned to the wardrobe. Narnia has long been conquered by an invading people, the Telmarines. They are involved in their royal fight, as Prince Caspian, the heir apparent to the throne, finds himself hunted by his uncle, who tolerated his existence until the birth of his son. Fleeing from this power grab, Caspian stumbles upon Narnians, and eventually meets the Pevensies, who were summoned by his blowing of Susan’s horn.

The movie makes significant departures from the book, perhaps the largest being an additional battle inserted into the middle. Peter and Caspian seem to compete for authority, but join together in an effort to take down Caspian’s uncle. The battle fails, and many Narnians fall. While this move seems to frustrate a number of fans, it’s these kinds of scenes, the large scale CGI battles, that play to the director Adamson’s strengths, as well as to his seeming interests. These battles are fun summer spectacles, and this one is no different. To his credit, Adamson does find a way to make the Caspian battles look and feel different from each other and from LWW. Some will say that he is expanding the vision of what a PG-rated action movie can be. I’d argue that he gets his rating because it’s a Disney movie more than because he’s earned it.

The actors who play the four kids have grown well, and while their acting was mainly serviceable in the first film, they actually become a strength this time around. That being said, Adamson often gives them little to work with, and his choices in how he is developing these characters is somewhat suspect. Arguably, these kids have a lifetime of experience in Narnia where they had time to become masters as swordsmen and bowmen, but they are still kids, and having these kids play the role of fighting heroes often comes across a bit awkward.

As I said, the LOTR parallels abound, and it is in these two areas, the battle sequences and the place of the heroes, that Caspian suffers from these parallels. Moments in these battles seemed ripped straight from Jackson’s storyboards (there’s Minas Tirith, and there’s Helms Deep, etc.). While homage and quotation are certainly appropriate in film, here it seems to stem from a lack of creativity. Similarly, when Susan becomes the expert archer, it looks like a lesser version of Legolas, and she simply can’t hold up to that kind of comparison. Taken together, my concern is that the creative team is inviting the comparison between the two franchises, and they will almost always come up short in the comparison.

My largest criticism, though, is in the weakening role of Aslan. In terms of the larger series, he is obviously the key figure, and his role in the lives of the children and the Narnians, even when he is off-screen, is key. Here, he has taken a backseat, and while his appearance doesn’t obliterate his message from the source material, it is muted. Some of the more interesting themes, including the loss of faith over time and the recovery of faith in the midst of hardship, only get scant mention here.

While I enjoyed the film, I find myself hesitant when I think of what it might have been. In a sense, this film is the price of success. To land the big budget for this series, they have to make sure they can fill the seats. To fill the seats, in typical Hollywood creativity they try to make the thing look like something else that filled the seats. The price for this is the particular unique voice that Lewis’ books offer to young children and to the many adults that love the series. There is a warmth to these books that seems lost in the spectacle of these movies. So while Caspian remains enjoyable summer fare at the movies, the series is unfortunately positioning itself as the weaker cousin of a better franchise.