I apologise, we feel bad, but there's no trailer available. ~Ed.
I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that the first Narnia instalment, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was more than a little underwhelming. Box office receipts, nonetheless, told a different story. A sequel was inevitable.
It’s a relief to say that, while not a massive improvement, Prince Caspian is a more enjoyable outing into Narnia. Everything feels a bit more urgent, and the spectacle is more spectacular. The computer effects are better, and the talky bits don’t stretch the patience quite as much.
Director Andrew Adamson claims that the leanest of all the stories proved difficult in the translation to the screen. The result is an increase in action. There is a night-time storming of a castle complete with spectacular birds-eye shots, a battle on a plain as the ground collapses below, a deadly swordfight, battling trees, and a bridge being swept away by a mighty river god.
What this impressive action masks, unfortunately, is some wooden human performances. The youngest Pevensie child, Lucy, manages to scrape though with some charm. But the other three are sanitised Dudley-Do-Rights.
There is also an unusual tone here. It strikes somewhere between appealing to an older audience (surprisingly, the film begins with a woman screaming in childbirth) and a younger audience who can’t handle the sight of blood (there isn’t any). Susan doesn’t hesitate to dispatch enemies with a bow and arrow, but suffers no lasting mental anguish that one might expect for a 16-year-old school kid.
But despite these criticisms and, given that this is an adventure aimed at children, Prince Caspian succeeds as a modestly entertaining wet weather distraction. It’s slickly produced and attractive – if a little passionless and antiseptic – but improves on its predecessor enough to create anticipation for the next instalment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
By Andrew Hedley, Flicks.co.nz
I myself thought that this movie was amazing, it had a great storyline to it and was filled with plenty of action. The actors were all superb and played their parts brilliantly. Big thumbs up to Andrew Adamson for this great adaptation of a wonderful story!
Although the plot was rather shallow (all they really did was fight) the characters were realistic, the acting great, the scenery amazing and pleasently humourous at times. Besides, I like to see films for the action and advenure, not see people wail about how their boyfriend ditched them or oh how ugly they are. Great movie to relax on.
Prince Caspian was always a more involving book than the first, and this is captured by the movie adaptation; Called into Narnia over a thousand years afte rthey left, though only a few months by our time, the four children of Finchley find that like their own war-torn London, the land the saved has been almost broken by an invading enemy from another state; yet the one person who seems to be key to defeating the despot and his less than trustworthy underlings is of the enemy camp. The four child leads are quite believable in their roles, while some are more stylish actors than others. The adventure has real challenges, and is never entirely safe - Many times it looks like the Narniana may well be defeated, but the story moves in logical ways and never takes a turn to the contrived. Of course, Alsn is the ultimate 'deus ex machina' but Lewis wrote him that way and his appearance is only to add the finishing touch to the triumphs of the other characters, so it feels right. Characters drive this story as well. The nobility growing in the children is well captured, as are the personalities of the many background players - Especially the grumbling dwarves and the magnificently vainglorious Reepicheep, a mouse with truly knigthly tlaents (Ably voiced by Eddie Izzard, and who gets a classic Adamson touch when dealing with the menace of a cat ). Even the villians are portrayed as having depths and complex motivations, and their evil is shown as a concious choice to do what they know is wrong. Some people who watched along with me felt the movie was 'cheesy' in parts, as none of the villians died at the hands of the 'good guys' when they had a chance to do it . . . Probably a result of our secular worldview facing a Christian allegory without understanding; Yes, there is a strong undercurrent in this story, though it is never directly spoken and in fact makes the tale stand out from the average fantasy world. So I rate this very highly and would recommend it to families for a very different action film.
Narina prince Caspian was about two sisters and two brothers coming back to Narnia and fighting back for the Narnia people. The thing I liked about I was that it was very adventurous and I wasn’t like one of those movies that you just know what’s going to happen. The thing I didn’t like about the movie was the war was sooooo long
The children actors are quite ordinary in these movies. Stilted, and dialogue is terifically hammy. It's quite long and slow going too. BUT... otherwise is a grand old epic, with some cute wee CGI fellas. Old timey, but enjoyable.
I really wanted to like this movie, but found myself checking my watch, noting how clumsily the centaurs run and how many "funny" moments have been added to keep things light. Nevertheless, Prince Caspian is a good-looking, entertaining family film, with a sprinkling of Christian allegory for those who seek it.
1/2 I can't condemn it outright, but damned if I can remember anything (aside from Izzard's performance) that would make me recommend it.
By the nature of its story, Prince Caspian is a much more action-oriented film than its predecessor, and as long as you're not too young, the action is exciting without being overwhelming. Fans of Adamson's The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe will be happy with this sequel, and now the action is well under way, Adamson leaves us wanting more.
Exactly one minute longer than its predecessor, but it's a dragged-out exercise, with no epic scale and no spirit worth talking about.
There are brilliantly dastardly bad guys. There are thrilling sword fights. There are brutal battles. Heck, the last third of the film is dedicated to a war on the scale of Lord of the Rings' Battle of Helm's Deep.
We've been told the NZ release date for this flick is Thursday, 19th Jun 2008.
Release date: June 19th 2008.
We haven't received times for this movie in this location yet. However these are updated as cinemas announce them, so check back soon. Hopefully the lovely cinemas in your location will choose to play it shortly. ~Ed.
