Who wants to go see "Prince Caspian"?

[DesertRose]

The Narnia books were the first fantasy books I ever read, and I was thrilled with the movie of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (which I now have on special edition DVD).  So who besides me is anxious to go see "Prince Caspian" when it comes out next month?

[Shiral]

The Narnia books were the first fantasy books I ever read, and I was thrilled with the movie of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (which I now have on special edition DVD).  So who besides me is anxious to go see "Prince Caspian" when it comes out next month?

MEEEEE!!

Don't yet have the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe DVD, though.

I thought Edmund was particularly well-played; he wasn't made to be a complete little rotter. (Although come to think of it, the boy who played him might make a good young Haldane....)  They did a great job creating the "Narnia" of my childhood imaginings.  I grew up having the Narnia books read to me, and thus have fond memories of them. 

Melissa

[DesertRose]

The actor who plays Edmund is named Skandar Keynes (pronounced Kaynes), and I think he'd make a good Conall, actually.  He's very good at playing a devious character, especially for being such a young actor.  (Skandar is a Turkish version of Alexander, if you're curious.)

[snuffybear]

I didn't like the book Prince Caspian as much as I liked some of the others. I'm looking forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I loved. I thought the first movie was good - not great, but good.

I saw The Golden Compass recently. What a rotter that was! Talk about ruining a good story.

Marion

[Mak]

I will probably wait for it to show up on Netflix.

[derynifanatic64]

Not only can I not wait to see "Prince Caspian", I am also looking forward to the movie coming out on DVD as quickly as possible.  It's T-minus 15 days and counting!

[Shiral]

I didn't like the book Prince Caspian as much as I liked some of the others. I'm looking forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I loved. I thought the first movie was good - not great, but good.

I saw The Golden Compass recently. What a rotter that was! Talk about ruining a good story.

Marion

I think my favorite of the Narnia stories are Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Magician's Nephew, Voyage of the Dawn Treader and The Horse and His Boy. The Silver Chair is kind of the bottom of the heap, for me.

I tried to Read His Dark Materials more than once. It just never clicked for me, so I avoided the movie altogether.

Melissa

[Elkhound]

I didn't like the book Prince Caspian as much as I liked some of the others. I'm looking forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I loved. I thought the first movie was good - not great, but good.

I'm looking forward to "Dawn Treader" also.

The book has one of the best opening lines ever.  "There once was a boy called 'Eustance Clarence Scrub', and he almost deserved it."  They're going to have to do some adaptation to show what kind of a little prig E. was at the beginning, and how his 'progressive' upbringing contributed to it.

[Shiral]

I didn't like the book Prince Caspian as much as I liked some of the others. I'm looking forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which I loved. I thought the first movie was good - not great, but good.

I'm looking forward to "Dawn Treader" also.

The book has one of the best opening lines ever.  "There once was a boy called 'Eustance Clarence Scrub', and he almost deserved it."  They're going to have to do some adaptation to show what kind of a little prig E. was at the beginning, and how his 'progressive' upbringing contributed to it.

I agree, that is a GREAT opening line. =o)  They could do it by showing Edmund and Lucy on their way over to their Aunt and Uncle's house grumbling about how awful Edmund is, and working that  opening line into their dialog. I just know I  wouldn't have wanted to spend the summer with the Scrubb family. 

C.S. Lewis was not shy about showing where his contemporary sympathies lay. =o)

To my embarrassment, I haven't yet gone to see the movie...

Melissa

[Shiral]

I agree, that is a GREAT opening line. =o)  They could do it by showing Edmund and Lucy on their way over to their Aunt and Uncle's house grumbling about how awful Edmund is, and working that  opening line into their dialog. I just know I  wouldn't have wanted to spend the summer with the Scrubb family. 

C.S. Lewis was not shy about showing where his contemporary sympathies lay. =o)

To my embarrassment, I haven't yet gone to see the movie...

Melissa

Ooops, Above I meant to say how awful EUSTACE is.  Edmund is far nicer and would hardly be complaining about himself.

I just saw the Prince Caspian Movie today, and although it's had indifferent reviews, I enjoyed it, and I'd say it's at least worth one viewing in a theater.

Pluses:
Beautiful Scenery and Costumes,
good animatronic animals, especially Reepicheep, Centaurs and  Trufflehunter the Badger.
Narnia is in rough shape when the story opens--there's something real at stake to fight for. They also start at a dramatic high point, of Doctor Cornelius saving Prince Caspian's life and getting him out of the castle after the birth of Miraz's son.
The four Pevensies are again well played. The manner in which they go back to Narnia is very effective, although it's hard to believe the whole London Tube station didn't realize something strange was going on. Also poignant is their seeing Cair Paravel in ruins, and realize it didn't just fall down by itself--it had been besieged. Similarly, they see the Narnia they remembered is significantly changed and not for the better. Skandar Keynes, once again, struck me as a good candidate to play a young Haldane with gray contact lenses. William Mosely, who plays Peter, might make a good  teenaged Alaric Morgan.
Ben Barnes who plays Caspian is very easy on the eyes. Renaissance style clothing is very flattering on him.  He doesn't start out perfect, but becomes more likable as the movie goes on.  Possibly good as the young adult Kelson.
  In one respect, the movie streamlines the story from the book by intercutting what's going on in the present in Narnia up to the moment when Caspian blows Susan's horn, then cuts to England until the moment the four Pevensies find themselves on the shore down by  Cair Paravel. The book begins with the four returning to Narnia then back tracks while Trumpkin tells them about Prince Caspian's upbringing (Including things Trumpkin couldn't possibly know.) The movie leaves out Caspian's childhood entirely, but implies all we need to know--until Miraz had an  heir of his own, he was content to have Caspian follow him as King of Narnia. After that, it's get lost, Caspian.
Peter Dinklage makes a good Trumpkin, although his personality was rather more interesting in the book.

Reservations I had:
For the most part, my reservations with the film were the same as my reservations with Prince Caspian the book. If you're not fond of battle scenes, be forewarned there are several in this movie. Including a major strategic blunder in trying to attack Miraz's castle that wasn't in the book and makes the running time a bit long. An excuse for a battle with a lot of Special Effects. But if that's your cup of tea, you'll be happy.
The first time Reepicheep and his mice attack, you don't see them and don't know what's happening until Reepicheep is standing on Caspian's chest aiming a tiny sword at him. The first time a human finds himself being attacked by a largish armed talking mouse, the joke is good, but it gets less effective with each repetition.
Doctor Cornelius is one of my favorite characters from the book as Prince Caspian's only truly trustworthy friend, but he's hardly in this one enough.
The Telmarines are a bit too much a case of "The Borgias Rule Narnia."  They're descended from Pirates from Earth who stumbled into Narnia by Magic, and in their behavior, they don't stray much from that ancestry. It's a castle full of olive skinned people with Italian accents all busily being treacherous. I didn't hate the movie on that account, but the cultural stereotype got old.  Still, Sergio Castellitto who plays King Miraz made a good, if not particularly complex villain. But he's not all that deep in the novel, either, given that it's a children's book. 

So, overall, I give the movie a solid B.

Melissa

[Elkhound]

In the book there is a discussion of an attack on Miraz' forces that went wrong; it isn't shown 'onstage', but in a movie you can't really talk about something--you have to show it.

[derynifanatic64]

My favorite part of the movie is when the movie opened in Narnia instead of the train station.  I did not expect that beginning.  Edmund definitely was the strongest character this time around--in my opinion.  I loved it when he got revenge on Jadis for stabbing him in the first movie.  I'm sure he enjoyed being able to prevent her return from the dead.

[Obiwan3]

Watching the first Narnia movie on the telly piqued my interest in the rest of C.S. Lewis's works. Is there a suggested order for his books?

[Shiral]

Watching the first Narnia movie on the telly piqued my interest in the rest of C.S. Lewis's works. Is there a suggested order for his books?

Hi Obiwan  The Narnia books were published in this order:

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle.

I personally think a more logical reading order might be:

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
The  Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

Melissa

[Elkhound]

Watching the first Narnia movie on the telly piqued my interest in the rest of C.S. Lewis's works. Is there a suggested order for his books?

Can open!  Worms on floor!

In CSL circles there have been--ahem!--heated discussions about this matter.  There are good arguments for both reading them in the published order and in order of the internal chronology.  Lewis himself said that one could read them in whatever order one wished.