Another chronicle of Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DVD))

Member Name: AJ26

Product:	The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (DVD)
Date:	18/01/09 (113 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good characters, great animation,

Disadvantages: Not as good a story as the first one

Prince Caspian is a film based on the book by C.S. Lewis and follows some of the same characters from the earlier film The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The film begins with the birth of a boy in a castle. The father of the boy is Miraz an evil man who now he has an heir wants to ensure he becomes king. The only thing standing in his way is the rightful heir to the throne Prince Caspian, however this does not stop the evil Miraz who sets out to kill him causing Caspian to flee for his life to the woods. As he flees he is given a magic horn and told to blow it in an emergency. When he is about to be captured he blows the horn and then the film jumps to a scene in London.

Here we catch up with Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy who are living in London, it is a year since they returned from Narnia and they still long to return. As they stand in the tube station things begin to change and before they know it they are back in Narnia. They wander around having fun until they realise that life in Narnia is not how they left it a year ago. In fact although only a year has passed in their lives 1300 years have passed in Narnia. The Narnian's have been overthrown by the Telmarines (Miraz and Caspian's people) and have become almost extinct.

The Narnian's agree to join sides with Prince Caspian to fight to overthrow Miraz, to return the throne to Prince Caspian and the land of Narnia back to the Narnian's. To join this odd army come the 4 children who although young are loyal, brave (well most of the time) and very determined. And so follows a battle between the stronger, well-armed soldiers of Miraz and the animals, centaurs, dwarves and children of Prince Caspian's army.
Who will win the day and what will become of Narnia?

I had read the book many years ago but couldn't really remember any of the story so I came to the film not really knowing what to expect. The story isn't as good as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe but it is still enjoyable. The animation of the animals are really good and there are some really funny characters like the mice who bring some humour to the film. The battle sequences are really good and there are some good special effects too. Some of the scenes reminded me very much of the battles in The Lord of the Rings films especially when the trees came to help in the battle, I'm not sure who wrote their book first but you can see a lot of similarities.

It was good to see the original children from the previous series. Peter and Susan are every bit as annoying as before as they act the older wiser siblings, Edmunds character has developed a bit more and Lucy is as engaging as she was in the previous film with her willingness to see the best in everyone. There is also a little bit of romance/tension between Susan and Prince Caspian which I found slightly amusing, I am sure that wasn't in the original story!

Its an enjoyable film, there are some little moments of comedy and some exciting battle scenes. Although the film is a PG I wouldn't recommend it for younger children as it is in places quite a dark film and some of the battle scenes might be scary for younger ones even although there isn't lots of blood and gore. I enjoyed the film although not as much as the previous film, I still look forward to seeing if they make another from the series.


Running Time - 144 minutes
Rating - PG
Currently on sale in Amazon for £12.98

Summary: Prince Caspian and the children fight to save Narnia, an enjoyable film