The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

MPAA Rated – PG
It’s 2:24 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

The Chronicles
of Narnia:
Prince Caspian
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Ben Barnes, Liam Neeson, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Georgie Henley, Anna Popplewell
MPAA Rated: PG
Released By: Walt Disney Pictures
Release Date: 2008
Kiddie Movie: It’s very violent. I hope the 5 year olds are ready for it.
Date Movie: Only if she is a Narnia fan.
Gratuitous Sex: It’s from Disney. There’s a kiss. And it’s “PG” for battles and violence.
Gratuitous Violence: The Narnians pretty much slice and dice their way through the Telmarinina army.
Action: There’s some fighting and chasing.
Laughs: Nope.
Memorable Scene: I did like the collapsing battlefield.
Memorable Quote: None.
Directed By: Andrew Adamson

Okay, sure, they don’t actually show the decapitation portion of the decapitation, and all we really see on the ground is the top of the helmet, but for the life of me I assumed “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” was rated PG-13 and found it kind of odd the parents bringing in kids as young as about 5 years old to the movie. Then, when I’m doing my research on who played whom, I say to myself “Holy crap, that thing is only rated PG?” as I notice what the the MPAA rating is. Can you tell I’m sort of flabbergasted by the rating? I guess sometimes there are things, like the decisions the MPAA rating’s people make, that we are never meant to understand.

Now, since I never saw the first Narnia movie, the one about the lion, the witch, and bedroom furniture, and many of you know my stance on reading books (of which this movie series is based on those by C.S. Lewis), and since they didn’t really give us any back-story on the first film during the second, from what I can gather our four main characters, Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Susan (Anna Popplewell), and Peter (William Moseley) were some kind of royalty/fighters when Narnia was having trouble with this crazy white witch looking to put down the big lion, and for whatever reason the four of them ended up back in London. But while they’re living their lives over the course of one year, we know, from the trailer, that it’s 1300 years later in Narnia, something has beaten down the Narnians, and there’s trouble afoot in the land of the Telmarines as Lord Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) wants to be king, with only Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) in his way.

So our good Prince escapes certain death by entering the land of Narnia, where, much to his surprise, some Narnians still exist, but he blows the big horn that summons our four heroes, who arrive just in the nick of time as the evil Telmarines are hell-bent on wiping out the Narnians, and Prince Caspian, once and for all.

The problem, though, for our heroes, is that one year is enough for Edmund, Susan, and Peter, to forget the magic that is Narnia, but Lucy still believes, which is a damn good thing because she seems to be the only one that thinks Aslan the lion, (voiced by Liam Neeson), is still alive, and that maybe the trees will wake up.

Fine, maybe I would have liked “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” more had I seen the first one, thereby understanding a little bit more about what is going on, but even as a movie I didn’t care for it that much on its own. I mean, how did our Narnias actually think they would be able to storm the castle? And how come the armies of the Telmarines seem to suck so bad? And what’s with crappy look of the epic battle scene, although I have to say the collapsing battlefield was pretty cool. And why did they seem to think they had to cast Prince Caspian as a pretty-boy wimp type rather than a pretty-boy warrior?

I could go on and on, but I think, if you are a fan of the first Narnia movie you will probably like the continuing story, but for me, this version didn’t make me want to seek out the first one so I could catch up. It’s 2 ½ stars out of 5 from me, but if you are a Narnia fan, you will probably give it a few more stars. Oh yea, one more thing, what’s with the water dude actually being able to “eat” someone? I guess I have so much more to learn about Narnia, it’s just too bad I won’t read about it.

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!