Saddam Hussein in Narnia?!
Prince Caspian is out. Yay! I was really psyched for the movie because A) I loved the book B) I loved Caspian’s character design and C) I loved the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. After seeing the midnight showing of the movie on Thursday/Friday, though, I found myself a little let down. I suppose it’s hard to re-create a masterpiece. It seems to happen less often than not. Matrix, anyone? But it has been proven to be achievable a la Lord of the Rings, Bourne identity, etc. Certainly, it shouldn’t be too terribly hard to create a masterpiece with Prince Caspian if they’d simply follow CS Lewis’ genius book, right?
Apparently, this wasn’t what director Andrew Adamson had in mind. Caspian was more of an “inspired-by” than it was an adaption of the book, and while it’s true that the book itself is inferior to Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, it would nonetheless make a flippin sweet movie would they just adhere to the book.
Thusly, Prince Caspian the film threatens to degenerate into the depend-too-heavily-on-flashy-graphics, pseudo-epic battle type of movie that are all too common these days (Beowulf comes to mind). The worst part, though, is that CS Lewis’ charming influence is almost wholly removed from the film. The lines are somewhat simplistic and the characters are almost never expanded upon - most grievously in the case of Prince Caspian himself. By the end of the film, you know almost nothing about him except that he’s hot, is a prince, and has cool armor. The most telling line Caspian has in the entire movie is to declare “I am Prince Caspian!” At least we now know for sure… On a positive note though, Reepicheep mercifully retains most the awesomeness he exudes in the books. Even still, he seems far too intent upon stabbing people in the face while lamenting the fact that they notice he’s a mouse (they seriously bring it up about four times in the movie).
Lastly, the movie fails to bring up plot points that the book uses to connect itself to the rest of the Narnia series. Aslan barely makes mention of how the Telmarines came to Narnia, but we’re given a glimpse of how our world relates to theirs - Saddam Hussein is one of the main antagonists and I must say, his fashion sense is much improved. Apparently, there’s a door to Narnia somewhere in Iraq.
Either way, the movie seemed a bit like they rushed to get to the battle scene at the end. More time should have been spent having Caspian unite the Narians, less on how Peter is now very surly for whatever reason. Having said that, I’m thinking I should go see the movie a few more times. Maybe it’ll be better to see it earlier in the day. I wanted to like the character of Prince Caspian so bad - he was always my favorite in the books - but my initial reactions were a little disappointing.
And it seems that King Leonidas is helping Saddam, too.
But seriously, I’m hesitant to watch a movie if I’ve heard that the makers don’t remain faithful to the original material.
The idea that you don’t like Prince Caspian makes for much trepidation when considering that Voyage of the Dawn Treader centers around Caspian’s voyage. I had wondered if he’s a good enough character to interest viewers without Peter and Susan along.
Dude i thought it was awesome! they did a pretty good job of being accurate (as much as movies can). esp with the mouse corps which were always my favorite from the books. but what is cooler than centaurs and minotaurs pwning dudes on horses?!?! every fight gave me the chills esp when they were infiltrating the castle. however i can agree that Caspian’s accent was a bit too swarthy! Also, no one likes Saddam haha bad casting choice!
Love