The Chronicles of Narnia:
Prince Caspian
Year: 2008
Director: Andrew Adamson
Starring: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Liam Neeson & Anna Popplewell
Runtime: 150 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 26/11/20
Director: Andrew Adamson
Starring: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Liam Neeson & Anna Popplewell
Runtime: 150 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 26/11/20
You ever find that a big film came out and it completely slipped under your radar? That’s exactly what happened to me and the two Narnia sequels back in the late 00’s. I don’t know whether it was my age and interests at the time that just blocked out any mention of Narnia, or whether the films were just undermarketed (though I find that surprising with the budgets they had). Whatever happened, I didn’t realise that Prince Caspian or The Voyage of the Dawn Treader existed until many years after their release. Having recently revisited The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe I felt it was about time I gave the Narnia sequels a go. So, who’s this Prince Caspian then?
A year has passed since the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Pevensie siblings (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes & Georgie Henley) are back in London and attending school, attempting to adjust to life after Narnia. After having lived in Narnia for decades as Kings and Queens, they are finding it somewhat difficult to say the least, particularly Peter who is often getting himself into trouble because of his hurt pride over seemingly menial things. Then on the journey home from school one day the train station around them dissolves and they once again find themselves in Narnia, but it’s not as they remember.
Meanwhile following the birth of his cousin, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), heir to the Telmarine throne, survives an assassination attempt ordered by his uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) in order to bump him off the line of succession. In his escape he blows the horn of Queen Susan for aid, only to find that its effects cause the thought extinct species of Narnian’s to return. As Caspian escapes and the Pevensie’s learn of the impending Telmarine invasion of Narnia, the two parties must join forces to save Narnia and ensure that Caspian remains on the throne.
A year has passed since the events of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Pevensie siblings (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes & Georgie Henley) are back in London and attending school, attempting to adjust to life after Narnia. After having lived in Narnia for decades as Kings and Queens, they are finding it somewhat difficult to say the least, particularly Peter who is often getting himself into trouble because of his hurt pride over seemingly menial things. Then on the journey home from school one day the train station around them dissolves and they once again find themselves in Narnia, but it’s not as they remember.
Meanwhile following the birth of his cousin, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), heir to the Telmarine throne, survives an assassination attempt ordered by his uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) in order to bump him off the line of succession. In his escape he blows the horn of Queen Susan for aid, only to find that its effects cause the thought extinct species of Narnian’s to return. As Caspian escapes and the Pevensie’s learn of the impending Telmarine invasion of Narnia, the two parties must join forces to save Narnia and ensure that Caspian remains on the throne.
Where The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was, for the most part, quite a whimsical children’s fantasy tale of some children that find a fantasy land and talking animals. Prince Caspian is more akin to something like Game of Thrones, but on a smaller scale of course. Over the two-and-a-half-hour runtime we are subjected to the politics of Telmarine royalty, and battle tactics more than anything. Very little of the film is spent addressing the Narnian passage of time between films, which is several hundred years. We get a brief explanation that shortly after the Pevensie’s took their leave from Narnia the Telmarine’s invaded, wiped out most of the Narnian’s, pillaged what they could, and then ruled over what remained. It’s a pretty unsatisfactory explanation and it may be because nobody that is in the film was alive to witness this, but even then the worldbuilding done in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was so extensive that it feels like Prince Caspian simply wants to get worldbuilding and characterisation out of the way as quickly as possible to get back to more battles.
This is my biggest issue with the film. That it could have been significantly shorter had it not spend so much time in battle scenes that take far too long to play out. The second half of the film is almost all back to back battle sequences. It starts with the climax of the second act that is a stealth mission that goes awry and results in a twenty-minute-long courtyard battle. Which is then swiftly followed up by a 1v1 between Peter and Miraz which also lasts around fifteen minutes. This is then directly followed by another twenty-minute battle sequence, which appears to draw to a close only for Aslan to show up and have another five-minute CGI heavy battle to close it off. That’s roughly an hour of near nonstop combat in a two-and-a-half-hour film that’s based on a book that’s less than 200 pages long! It all starts to feel like Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films where stuff is being stretched out as long as it can and padded out within an inch of its life to keep bums in seats for as long as possible.
This is my biggest issue with the film. That it could have been significantly shorter had it not spend so much time in battle scenes that take far too long to play out. The second half of the film is almost all back to back battle sequences. It starts with the climax of the second act that is a stealth mission that goes awry and results in a twenty-minute-long courtyard battle. Which is then swiftly followed up by a 1v1 between Peter and Miraz which also lasts around fifteen minutes. This is then directly followed by another twenty-minute battle sequence, which appears to draw to a close only for Aslan to show up and have another five-minute CGI heavy battle to close it off. That’s roughly an hour of near nonstop combat in a two-and-a-half-hour film that’s based on a book that’s less than 200 pages long! It all starts to feel like Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit films where stuff is being stretched out as long as it can and padded out within an inch of its life to keep bums in seats for as long as possible.
The performances this time round are significantly stronger though with almost all of the Pevensie children being able to hold their own in a scene, and they have much stronger chemistry with each other this time round. I personally feel like William Moseley is the weakest of the Pevensie actors; and I feel like Anna Popplewell gets shafted in this film as she doesn’t have an awful lot to do as Susan. I also hate that Susan and Caspian get a romance together because I swear that the two of them only ever said one thing to each other in the entire film and that was at the end where they say goodbyes and kiss. You can see the film building to it from the moment they meet, but they never actually talk to each other! Or at least not from what I remember.
Ben Barnes is great as Caspian and his performance is probably the best in the entire film, I also like the rivalry he has with Peter as it actually gives Peter a decent story arc…despite Moseley not delivering a great performance. The fantasy companions this time round are far less memorable than Mr. Tumnus & the Beavers in the original film. In fact I can’t remember the names of any of the Narnian’s but I know that Eddie Izzard voices a mouse who delivers some great comic relief.
In comparison to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I feel like Prince Caspian is of equal quality. Whilst the first film had some great worldbuilding in the first half, and the character arcs were more visible; but the underwhelming performances and uninspired battle sequences detracted overall. Prince Caspian lacks the worldbuilding and character development, but has significantly better performances and despite the battles being far longer than they need to be they are at least interesting to watch and well choreographed.
Prince Caspian is an enjoyable film, though I feel like it will appeal less to families and more to young teenagers as it bears more resemblance to films like The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies than it does to its own predecessor.
Ben Barnes is great as Caspian and his performance is probably the best in the entire film, I also like the rivalry he has with Peter as it actually gives Peter a decent story arc…despite Moseley not delivering a great performance. The fantasy companions this time round are far less memorable than Mr. Tumnus & the Beavers in the original film. In fact I can’t remember the names of any of the Narnian’s but I know that Eddie Izzard voices a mouse who delivers some great comic relief.
In comparison to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I feel like Prince Caspian is of equal quality. Whilst the first film had some great worldbuilding in the first half, and the character arcs were more visible; but the underwhelming performances and uninspired battle sequences detracted overall. Prince Caspian lacks the worldbuilding and character development, but has significantly better performances and despite the battles being far longer than they need to be they are at least interesting to watch and well choreographed.
Prince Caspian is an enjoyable film, though I feel like it will appeal less to families and more to young teenagers as it bears more resemblance to films like The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies than it does to its own predecessor.