by Dave Boehi
About 90 minutes into The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, after the third action sequence of the movie, my wife Merry leaned over and asked, "How much longer is this going to last?"
That was not a good sign.
Merry is not a fan of action films, and that's what this latest Narnia movie is. It may not have the blood and ferocious intensity of a film like Braveheart¸ but it is full of massed army battles, death, and destruction.
And that means it has little of the charm and wonder of the book upon which it is based.
It also means parents should use great caution before taking young children. They may love the book, but this film version is much more dark and ferocious. I'm surprised with its PG rating; I would have given it a PG-13.
I can understand the dilemma faced by the filmmakers. The plot of Prince Caspian is fairly thin for a movie—my copy of the book is just 216 pages of sparse text. I had no problem with the expansion of some plot lines and the liberties they took with some of the characters—that's common in movies. But to me the director went too far in attempting to expand a fairly simple story into a summer action epic designed to lure the teenage crowd. It felt too long by at least 20 minutes (probably the 20 that were wasted in a meaningless attack on King Miraz' castle).
As for the spiritual content, it's fairly sparse, and it's weaker than you'll find in the book. But then, to me Prince Caspian was the weakest of the Narnia books in this department.
Having said all that, there were some parts of the movie I enjoyed, and I'm sure I'll see it again on DVD. It was fun to see the same kids playing the Pevensie children. Their initial re-entry into Narnia, and their discovery of the ruined castle where they once lived and ruled, is everything I thought it would be. Lucy's scenes with Aslan were as touching as in the first film.
But moments like this were overwhelmed by the endless battles. The first film in the Narnia Series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, managed to expand the action while retaining the charm of the original book. This second film failed in that attempt.
Stumble It!
