The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

While I read the books growing up, I was not a huge fan of them. I preferred things like The Lord of the Rings trilogy or my personal favorite book growing up- A Wrinkle in time. However, I do not believe you have to know/enjoy a book to enjoy the movies on which they are based. The first Narnia movie was boring, oddly paced and tried to make up for it with one single awesome battle at the end. Narnia 2 looked much much better, but looks are often deceiving.

Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy(William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes,Georgie Henley) are called back to Narnia a year after they leave, but when they arrive they find desolation, ruins and Narnia almost non-existent. A year in Human time translates to a thousand years in Narnia and the Telmarines destroyed Narnia completely because they fear what they didn't know. Aslan is nowhere to be found and saying his name is almost a bad word these days. On the Telmarine front, the evil king finally has a son so he ordered his people to kill the young, handsome Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), the rightful heir to the throne. Caspian runs into the forest and comes across a talking Badger and a dwarf(Warwick Davis). The four kids are met by another Dwarf, Trumpkin(Peter Dinklage) and he fills them in on what is happening. The evil King and his telmarines are building a massive army to conquer the rest of Narnia and the 4 young kids are tested to the max in their ability to lead, to fight and to have faith in Aslan and the cause of the Narnians.

I immediately wished I had re watched the first movie as Narnia 2 started. I was confused for about the first 25 minutes, but I kind of liked that. I kind of liked that the director assumed people would remember and therefore did not waste a bunch of time rehashing what had happened in Narnia 1. That being said, my confusion did not really hinder my ability to follow what was happening in this movie. There are still some pacing problems, especially in the first act, but once the movie gets going it is actually quite a fun ride. The four kids are still annoying but not nearly as much so this time out. Moseley is coming into his own as the the High King Peter and Popplewell, with her sexy pouty lips, does a pretty good job as Susan, but as with Narnia 1, Henley is the main focus and she mostly succeeds. As Caspian, Barnes is pretty with long flowing hair and an odd Spanish-ish accent, but he is wooden in his acting. This may be a star making turn, but he better keep playing these kinds of roles if he wants to not get his acting bashed. To me the acting stars of this movie are the two little people. First of all, the godfather of little person actors, Warwick Davis is such a great actor and brings a sense of gravity to his role. Peter Dinklage is the real true star of Narnia 2. He is an amazing actor and he plays Trumpkin's bravery and skepticism perfectly and when he is on screen your eyes go straight towards him.

There are two long sequences that make this movie ultimately work. Our four young heroes, Caspian and the Narnians believe they can pull a sneak attack and siege the castle of the telmarines and what follows is an exhilarating, thrilling, heart breaking, action packed, funny and intense scene. We get to see all of these mythical creatures in action led by a tiny mouse (voiced by Eddie Izzard) who is as brave as anyone, despite being a mouse. The scene is long, but wonderfully directed and the complexity of the plan is laid out simply enough for anyone to follow. It really gets you on the edge of your seat, even if only for a few minutes. The second scene is the extended climatic battle. It starts as a duel between Peter and the evil King and ends in a total melee. The duel is an awesome sword fight shot in a crystal clear filter of the camera surrounded by ruins, Peter and the King are jumping off rocks and hacking away at each other. Once the duel turns into a full on battle, there is a really cool effect of the ground falling and before long it turns into just a total battle scene. These two scenes make up for some of the slower moments and and take the sting off of the annoying young actors.

Of course, these books/movies are supposed to be about a deep routed spirituality and I think some of that message is lost in Narnia 2. I get that when Peter loses his faith in Aslan, he makes bad decisions and that the child, Lucy, is the one who believes the strongest, but I am not sure the message was as clear this time out. Aslan makes an appearance as we all knew he would as he attempts to save the day, by raising the Earth from the dead, but there was something missing. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but the spirituality of the first movie is hidden behind a little too much CGI. Overall Narnia 2 is a fun ride and a good way to spend a few hours, but I still think these movies are better suited for the December time slot.

Final Grade: B