Le Monde de Narnia : Chapitre 2 - Le Prince Caspian

In some ways I think film makers who create films based off of beloved books have a hard and thankless job. They must balance the creation of a film that anyone can like while still remaining faithful to the subject matter for the fans of the books. Adamson did this brilliantly in the first Narnia movie creating a rich and deep world faithful to the book while still bringing in those who never did read it. Unfortunately he missed the mark sorely with Prince Caspian.

I tried very hard to separate this film from the book but came up with the conclusion that one can not do that in cases like this. True, movies are never better then the book so you have to go in expecting changes, however this film is so far from the book that if the characters names were changed one would never know it was a Narnia based story. The film felt more like a story someone else wrote and simply pasted names and small scenes from Lewis's book to make it fit the mythos.

First things I like... Miraz was great! He was evil and developed in ways he wasn't in the book and I thought it was fantastic. I also liked how we got to know Miraz general Glozelle. That character showed a man who was on the wrong side but still had honor. He was worthy of what he receives at the end of the movie and was a great addition not included in the book.

Now on with the problems. One of the biggest was the dialog. Long gone is the intelligent flow of language and in its place is a modern interpretation of how people should talk to fit in with todays youth. The children and animals say "Shut up" while the dwarfs pipe up with "Ya gotta be kidding." It is clear that this script was not from the book and was from someone else's work not Lewis's.

Peter and Caspian are not the noble characters impacted by their experience and worthy of leading the Narnians. Peter starts off the film as a whining young man, a mere imitation of the young man we saw in the first film. Peter has little growth from that point never showing any consideration of growth. In fact by the end of the film there is no love for Peter or belief that he is a high King. Caspian is not much better. Caspian lacks humility and any true endearing quality until the end of the film when he admits he feels unworthy to lead (one of the few lines from the book). This moment comes far to late for us to believe there is anything genuine behind it.

The romance between Caspian and Susan is so forced it becomes painful at times. The entire love aspect adds nothing to the characters and merely adds grown factor to poor character development.

Attempts are made at creating drama over the four kids sudden disappearance from Narnia but there is no follow through. Several things have this half thought out feel to them making you wonder if the writers felt Lewis didn't know how to write about characters.

One of the biggest issues is that the lynch-pin for the entire Narnia series is missing for most of the film, Aslan. Aslan is never really referenced through out the first two thirds of the film. The Narnias never mention him or even recognize that he is the major influence for their entire nation. There is a hint at the situation from the book in which the children deal with the fact that only Lucy can see him but what Lewis used to show growth and a major issue of the children's growth in this story is blown over and turned into a three minute trek and dream sequence.

One of my biggest problems is when Lucy tells Peter that a possible reason that Aslan has not appeared is that he is seeing if they are worthy of him showing up. I was very angry at this statement because if there is one thing the first movie showed us and the books make clear it was that Aslan worked for those he cared for, not because of their deeds but because of who he is. Aslan was treated poorly and we lost all sight of the great lion who was loved as a great leader and king from the first film.

All in all I think this film suffers from some one else writing the story they think should have been done, not interpreting the story that was written.

The picture is an extraordinary story with noisy adventures, marvelous fantasy , wonderful scenarios and pretty amusing . Full of action , excitement , entertainment and with an incredible battle scenes similar to ¨Lord of the Rings¨. Fun second part with rousing adventures , incredible monsters and dazzling fights . C.S. Lewis' classic is reborn in this second outing about 'The Chronicles of Narnia' when four children from war-torn England find themselves transported to a land of myth and fantasy . Return to magic , return to hope , return to Narnia . Some journeys take us far from home . Some adventures lead us to our destiny . It begins during German air raids over London in WWII . Four kids travel through underground to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it and help Prince Caspian . Lucy (George Henley) , Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) , Susan and Peter return to Narnia where they meet up with Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) for an impressive battle against dark forces . Along the way they encounter dragons , dwarfs (Peter Dinklage , Warwick Davis) , merfolk, and a band of lost warriors . A fantastic world with fauns and centaurs and where animals speaking , giant mice , beaver , bear , fox , among others . The children are the chosen ones , according an ancient prophecy, and they team up with Aslem , the mighty Lion and real king of Narnia , fighting to defeat a nasty king in an epic finale battle . Then , all of them go throughout the fantastic world and where animals speaking as a likable giant swords-rat , a bull and many others . It has been foretold that they will bring peace to Narnia with the guidance of the mystical lion . They must survive the evil treachery of an usurper king named Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) , his barons , Lord Sopespian (Damián Alcázar) , General Glozelle (Pierfrancesco Favino) and the mysterious White Witch (Tilda Swinton, she also makes a short cameo as a centaur) locked in ice who still claims to be Queen . They team up with Aslan (Liam Neeson ; ¨Aslan" means "lion" in Turkish), the mighty Lion , fighting to defeat the evil in an epic finale battle against a huge army .

This exciting movie has amazing fantasy, breathtaking adventures , groundbreaking battles and awesome FX , as the film contains over 1500 special effects shots, more than its predecessor's 800 effects shots . In this impressive production , C.S. Lewis' imagination is brought to life with top-drawer computer generator special effects . Although C.S. Lewis wrote "Prince Caspian" second, it is actually the fourth book of "The Chronicles of Narnia . This agreeable story is lavishly produced by Andrew Adamson from ¨Shrek trilogy¨ and Mark Johnson , along with C.S. Lewis' stepson and heir Douglas Gresham was co-producer on this film and its predecessor . The pic is a magic story with rip-snorting adventures , overwhelming fantasy , state-of-art FX , sensational scenarios and good feeling . Plenty of action and emotion with incredible battle scenes , thrills , actions and brief touches of humor . Provide enough amusement to keep the hands on your seat and dazzling eyes until the epic ending . In spite of overlong runtime and the difficult of adapting , the film still managing to keep a quick enough pace for those unfamiliar with the fantastic saga . Sympathetic performances for all casting and including a top-notch support cast . The film displays a colorful and evocative cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub filmed on location ; although parts of the film were made in New Zealand like its predecessor, the majority of shooting took place in Czech, Slovenia and Poland because of the larger sets available . Rousing musical score fitting perfectly to the action-adventure by Harry Gregson-Williams . The motion picture was marvelously directed by Andrew Adamson , he's the director,producer, writer of ¨Shrek¨ trilogy . Adamson found a way to have the film stand on its own by adding a grand scale castle battle to the storyline, to make this film more epic and action oriented ; he made this second trip to Narnia bigger and more overblown than the first. Although this film was quite successful , it was far from the blockbuster success of the first film , as a result , Disney declined co-production on the rest of the series . Rating : Above average and worthwhile seeing , the whole family will enjoy this film . It's a very likable adventure-fantasy and enormously appealing for kids, adolescents and young men . Overall this is a really nice movie . If you are familiar with the story, then there are no real surprises, but makes up for it with overwhelming CGI animation.

This was the second installment , the first entry was the following : ¨The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe¨ (2005) by Andrew Adamson with Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie , Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie , William Moseley as Peter Pevensie , Anna Popplewell as Susan Pevensie , Tilda Swinton as White Witch , James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus and Jim Broadbent as Professor Kirke ; the third entry was ¨The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader¨ (2010) by Michael Apted with Ben Barnes as Caspian , Will Poulter as Eustace Scrubb , Gary Sweet as Drinian , Bruce Spence , Bille Brown as Coriakin Laura Brent as Liliandil , Rachel Blakely as Gael's Mum and Nathaliel Parker as father's Caspian

Very excited about seeing the 2nd Narnia film, having read all the books as a child Prince Caspian was one of my favourites as I loved how he was told the stories of old Narnia as a child and desperately wanted to see the old days return. Unfortunately the Caspian in the film seems to have little knowledge of Old Narina! The images from the books which I though would have been a useful tool for the film makers were not used once, a deep disappointment to me, especially as other films such as LOTR worked so hard to recreate the images fans of the book were familiar with. Of course there are the comparisons to LOTR, and at times it does feel like they are simply recreated smaller more child like version of events and characters from LOTR, of course when a film as great as LOTR is made every fantasy flick after will always be compared and fail to match it. If you haven't read the book I'm sure it will be an enjoyable family film, it is darker then the first and some parts will frighten small children. But for fans of the book the likeness to the book can be painfully little at times, and will leave you confused as to where the story is going. The back story for Caspian was not very well developed but as Caspian features in the next two books/films hopefully we will see and learn more about him. I will go and see the film again in the coming weeks and watch it as a fantasy fan and not as a fan of the books, hopefully I will enjoy it more!

While I enjoyed the first film's story more (it was so clearly an allegory for The Atonement, The Resurrection, the Battle of Armageddon, and the Millennium), this one is better made, better written, and better acted. Plus, it has a healthy share of Christian symbolism itself, some rocking battle sequences (how this is only PG baffles me; the intensity of the action has PG-13 written all over it), and some of the best effects I've ever seen (the badger, in particular, is photo-real).

The idea that the kids actually grew up in Narnia, then returned to their world while retaining all their knowledge and maturity intrigued me (and it makes their battle skills more believable). All that said, I still didn't find myself nearly as emotionally invested or involved in this as I was with The Lord of the Rings, the standard with which it will always, perhaps unfairly, be compared. Why Narnian humans now have Italian accents is beyond me, and some of the jokes fall flat, but all in all it was very good; better than the first in terms of storytelling, character, and filmmaking. ***1/2 (out of five).

This movie isn't half as charming or eloquently magical as the first, but it engages nonetheless.

There's something about the young actors chosen to play the four major roles- Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy. They badly make you wish you were in their shoes. The film in itself is often reminiscent of LOTR, but the major difference being in a childlike simplicity this one retains.

Aslan, despite not having much of a role, manages to be the most striking character, and Lucy is as lovable as she was in the first film.

The battle scenes are brilliant, as are the landscapes. The power politics and senselessness of violence are dealt with a lot maturely in this film as compared to the first installment. At some point you realize you want at least a dozen more films revolving around these four siblings, and to be able to access Narnia for ever.

The only thing that ruins this film is this strange invasion of Hollywood-like romance as a very annoying little subplot, and the sudden intrusion of a ridiculous song at a climactic point.

Apart from that, I am pretty sure any fantasy-hound would enjoy this film a lot, and especially so if you're a big Lewis fan.

I know I am.