Some notes on the movie:
First of all, WE LOVED IT!!!!! Even though there are many things to quibble about, just evaluating THE MOVIE ITSELF, we would have to say it is a definite keeper. This one will go on our (very picky) shelves. The cinematography, the costumes, the sceneries, the acting (for the most part), even the plot (thought not as faithful to the book as one would hope). I would rather watch this movie a hundred times over than any of the other inane offerings at our local cinemas these days…
That said, some things that we didn’t like:
- Let’s go ahead and get it out of the way: the kiss. Though it was a very chaste kiss, and seemed to fit the ages of the actors and the movie’s plot, it was not necessary. It was sweet, and given that (spoiler ahead) Susan is not supposed to be back for The Last Battle, it kinda makes sense to sneak that in there. But again, not necessary. The movie would have been FINE without it. To their credit, however, it doesn’t really detract from the movie’s value either. It just doesn’t add a whole lot, but I can see how some teeny-bopper non-book fans may like it a lot.
- Reepicheep was not the noble, gallant mouse we were all expecting. He was a little too cartoony and coarse for our taste, which ruins it quite a bit since Reepicheep is one of the major characters in the book. He was just a little too 21st century both in dialogue and action to fit in perfectly.
- I personally am not that happy with Ben Barnes, and thought they could have gotten a better actor. Maybe I’m just stuck in what I imagined Prince Caspian to be. Okay, I’ll give you that he IS quite dashing. My 17-yo doesn’t have any complaints so there you go.
- Too violent in some spots. But some may see that as a definite plus. For example, knight- and soldier-crazy boys like mine. And martial-arts-crazy girls like my 17-yo.
- Susan being such an asset in battle was inspiring, but somewhat unbelievable. Even my black belt of a daughter probably wouldn’t have been able to kick-___ much as Susan did in the movie. The fight scene between Miraz and Peter was first-rate though. (The kids had complaints about Miraz’ moment of demise which was different from the book 🙁 ).
There are several more, but too petty to put on here. If you want more reviews, see my links on my “shared stuff” on the right. Macbeth has posted her opinion and so has Elena Maria Vidal.
the makers of Prince Caspian kept to the original story better than i would have expected… i had heard they were going to make it into a silly pure-action flick, but thankfully this was not so much the case