Deborah and I went to see Prince Caspian this evening, and I liked the beginning fine, as well as the ending (except for the kiss). That leaves the “in between” which was exasperating. I hadn’t read any reviews beforehand, and had heard mixed reviews from friends. I wanted to like the movie, I really did. However, for me, the cons outweigh the pros, and I’d recommend Iron Man over Caspian in a heartbeat.
Pros:
– Lucy’s character portrayal remains relatively consistent. The young actress appears to have a real sense of the Lucy created by Lewis, and even conveys Lucy’s Narnian “instincts” (for lack of a better way of saying it.)
– Repicheep was fairly true to form, and thoroughly enjoyable. And though somewhat deviant from his written character, Trumpkin conveyed his doubts convincingly enough.
– Delving more into the Telmarine perspective was fun, and interesting for the most part. The betrayal at the end certainly had all of the necessary background (though perhaps too much time was spent on it, and not enough on some of the actual details of the real story).
– Caspian’s escape through a wardrobe was clever, and a nice piece of artistic license.
Cons:
– Aslan was virtually nonexistent, and to me this was a great disappointment. The best analogy I could come up with, is that it felt like trying to tell the story of the Gospel by excluding Jesus, or simply making him a minor character.
– Peter was abysmal. Just as in the first movie, Peter goes through an identity crisis. What’s with Hollywood doing this again and again? (Remember Aragorn in LOTR?) The lead/head man is ever reticent to embrace his role. Blech. Lewis (and Tolkien for that matter) wrote men who were noble. Peter is just barely noble by the end of the movie. Certainly he has his faults, and Lewis wrote him so, but by the end of the movie, I don’t want to be Peter (Edmund, maybe), nor would I want my boys to be him.
– The tension/struggle to lead between Caspian and Peter was too much to swallow. And running a close second was the underlying romantic “thing” between Caspian and Susan. When she kissed him at the end, it received a Bronx cheer from me, and an animated two thumbs down from Deborah.
– Caspian’s love for Old Narnia needed more developing. He strikes me as a hero without a cause for much of the movie, and then seems driven by revenge. He shows mercy in the end, but why should I believe he’d make that decision?
Perhaps a second viewing would make me less critical, but that will have to wait until the movie is released on DVD.