The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Review

|PIC1|After The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe grossed $750 million at the box office in 2005, whatever anyone made of it, its sequel had pretty big shoes to fill. Has The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian succeeded? The answer is yes - and no.

The film opens in the thick of night, with a scream ringing out from the bed chamber of a dark and ominous looking castle, setting the scene for a much gloomier follow-up to Wardrobe. In fact, the first few minutes of the film are so gloomy - and gripping - that you almost forget you are watching a Disney movie made for children. It also signals that director Andrew Adamson is far readier to flex his directorial muscles with Prince Caspian than he was with Wardrobe and take considerable leeway with CS Lewis' book.

Thankfully, all the main points of the plot remain. One year after their last visit, the four Pevensie children first introduced in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) - find themselves magically transported from their ordinary London lives and back to the fantastical world of Narnia. Only it's 1,300 years later in Narnia time and the enchanted land is almost unrecognisable to them.

Their beloved castle, Cair Paravel, is in ruins and the friendly talking animals have disappeared, forced into hiding in the woods when the human race, the Telmarines, invaded. The only hope for Narnia now lies in the four children and the rightful King of Narnia, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), whom they must restore to the throne by conquering over his evil uncle General Miraz.

Relative newcomer Barnes puts in a rather dashing turn as the Hispanic-accented prince, and his addition not only refreshes the dynamic of the characters but also prevents the film from feeling formulaic.

The battle scenes, meanwhile, have been stylishly executed by director Andrew Adamson for the big screen, and this is where Prince Caspian trumps the first Narnia instalment. Wardrobe's somewhat lacklustre action scenes have given way to far more tactically satisfying and thrilling battles that still retain their child-friendliness. The result is a much more nuanced and consistent film.

Yet Wardrobe's shortfall in sophisticated action was made up for by its great moral story-telling and it is this aspect that could have been developed more fully in Prince Caspian. It is not that the film is void of Lewis' spiritual themes or some of the more touching moments from the book. It is rather that Prince Caspian lacks those all important quiet moments of dialogue that would have strengthened its moral message and given the film the capacity to truly teach some lasting lessons.

A particular regret is the extent to which the film waters down Lucy's moving encounters with the Christ-like Aslan, who is also somewhat sidelined in Prince Caspian. In the book, he reproaches Lucy for not following him and sends her to tell her brothers and sisters that she has seen him again. This time she convinces them to follow her and as her siblings reluctantly obey, one by one they are able to see Aslan again too. Sadly, the clipping down that this important scene received in the film robbed it of everything meaningful it had to say about faith and trust over reason and self-reliance.

That particular irk aside, however, the movie does still retain enough spiritual substance to ensure that it is a lot more than an action film and where it differs from the book, the changes work well within the context of the film.

A perfect example of this is the rivalry between Prince Caspian and a much changed and far less noble Peter. It's a notable difference from the brotherly respect they share for another in the book but one that helps draw out one of the film's key messages: that true victory comes from working together, not apart.

There is also an interesting juxtaposition between Peter's pride - and its ultimately fatal consequences for innocent Narnians - and the humility and insecurity of Prince Caspian. Whilst Peter is confident that he deserves to be a High King of Narnia, Prince Caspian, on the other hand, nervously tells Aslan, "I don't think I'm ready [to be King of Narnia]," to which Aslan replies, "It's for that reason, I know you are." The difficult relationship between Peter and Prince Caspian is certainly an interesting one that invites further self-reflection and discussion.

For all the sword-swishing and personal struggles, however, the film remains a journey of hope, not only because Aslan pops up reassuringly here and there, but ultimately because we know that the Pevensie children and Prince Caspian, for all their fallibilities, are good people who deep down want to do the right thing. The hope lies in the conviction that they will eventually get it right. It is a classic good-wins over-evil story, which in itself is a message that cannot be repeated too many times.

Again, stronger dialogue would have given Prince Caspian the emotional warmth and personal relationship with the characters that made Wardrobe a more touching and engaging movie. Such shortcomings should be embraced in the spirit of opportunity, however, as they ironically provide the perfect opportunity for deep and meaningful discussions on some of Christianity's core values, not to mention the fact that they should awaken a desire in audiences to read CS Lewis' book, if they haven't done so already.

Therefore, Prince Caspian is not recommended (nor, obviously, intended) as a stand-alone evangelistic tool. But it can still serve as a very useful resource in helping believers look afresh at the all important links between faith, values and actions - and in an utterly entertaining, well-crafted and universally appealing way.