Friday, February 6, 2009

"Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" Grade: C-

"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" (2008)
Grade: C-

I was going to give this a C but after rewatching some of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe on ABC Family last night I forgot just how damn good that film is and it further made me realize that this is just not a good film. The effects are great and beautiful, the kids have a lot of presence. But other than that, nothing held the weight it did last time. I thought they stayed too faithful to the book and needed to branch off of it to give these kids some development because while they had presence this time around they had absolutely no personality. These kids grew up in the last film and then went back through the wardrobe and had to be kids again. That is such a golden oppurtunity for exploration. Really? You aren't going to do anything with that? Also this is the most violent PG film I have ever seen. I am convinced the MPAA was on crack when they gave this a PG rating considering that all of the kids KILL people in this ( i don't remember if Lucy does though) and Peter DECAPITATES SOMEONE!!!!!!! What the hell!? PG!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! Also everything involving Caspian and the Telmarines was uninteresting and I know that it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm not huge on the book either but still. And Ben Barnes as Caspian was a joke. That accent was funny and distracting and he could not manage to give emotional weight to anything he was doing. This is a shame considering he is playing Dorian Gray in the new adaptation and that I really liked him in "Stardust". And I understand that these books and film is completely religiously motivated and I accept it and will not ridicule it. I do not think there is anything wrong with it but it distracted me at times. Also this stupid Susan and Caspian romance nonsense? Barf.


Despite all of this I feel that there were a couple of areas it succeeded in. Again I love the kids despite the nothingness required of them this time around. I loved how they handled the scene when Peter and Susan find out they will not be coming back to Narnia. I also have always loved the music in the first Narnia film and I loved it here as well. And again the effects were great and the film looked beautiful. But all in all this was dissapointing.

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