Rating: [rate 4.0]
Last night was Narnia night with some Street Team friends, and all afternoon I’ve been declaring to my teammates and Twitter and Plurk that I’d be off to Narnia in the afternoon. Excited much? Definitely.
Now, unlike everyone I know, I haven’t read any of The Chronicles of Narnia books yet. *insert incredulous gasp here* I know, even I am amazed that I haven’t. I’ve heard of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe way before because of all of its stageplays that I missed to watch, but I didn’t really know the story until I heard that it’s going to be made into a movie. Then I downloaded an audiobook, so I finally got to know the story and I have been wishing for a boxed set of the books since then (which I think I’ll end up buying for myself eventually, but let’s not get to that :D).
Anyway, so Prince Caspian. I watched the movie with little knowledge of the story, thanks to Wikipedia, but I have no idea how it goes, as opposed to my friends who were watching with me. Because I haven’t read the book, I had zero expectations in the movie, except maybe see how much William Moseley has grown up (yes, I crushed on Peter Pevensie in the first movie, heehee!).
So onto the formal review. Prince Caspian is an okay movie. By okay, I mean, I didn’t really get bored, but I didn’t get too excited about anything else too. I like the entire thing, although to be honest, it feels like such a long movie. The effects were great, as usual, and the battle scenes are okay, except there seems to be a lot of hesitation on both sides. Or maybe it’s just me. However, every battle scene in movies like these remind me so much of Lord of the Rings, it’s ridiculous. :|
Some notes on the movie:
- The Pevensie kids all look so grown up already, especially Edmund and Lucy. Edmund had grown into such a good looking boy and Lucy looks more pretty instead of cute. :) The two older ones look…well, a bit more mature and probably more fit and less awkward than the last movie, which is good since it looked better for them during the battle scenes. They must’ve used pretty good fitness equipment to make them look a bit..buff. Heh.
- It feels pretty weird that Narnia is so dark after everything is so white in the first movie. I miss the old characters too, like the Beavers and Mr. Tumnus. Although everything is darker, I like how everyone has sort of joined forces. Oh and the kid centaur = hilarious. :)
- Trufflehunter, the Badger. I love him! He’s so…cute. :P He reminds me of Mr. Beaver in the first movie. At first I thought he was a skunk, after him saying, “Or do I have to sit on your head again?” but then the markings were wrong. Too bad he only had little airtime in the movie.
- Reepicheep, the Mouse. This character, too, is very endearing. :) He kind of reminds me of Puss in Boots, probably because of his very gallant and knightly posture.
- There were a lot of amazing and witty exchange of lines in all of the movie, especially Trumpkin’s. For example:
Peter Pevensie: [looking down a cliff over the water] Is there a way down?
Trumpkin: Yes. Falling.Winner!
- The clash of Caspian’s and Peter’s egos were believable, and I wanted to bonk Peter on the head for being so hardheaded. Susan’s line during one of the battle was definitely something that should be asked to everyone: “Who exactly are you doing this for, Peter?“
- As for Susan and Caspian’s attraction…I kind of saw it coming, but I didn’t know it wasn’t in the book, so I couldn’t comment. Heh. It has to be placed there I guess; this is Hollywood after all.
I think I’d probably need to watch it again to fully appreciate it. I don’t know if I was a bit too distracted while watching the movie, or because I haven’t read the book yet which made me not really take in all the details.
Oh and before I forget, my most favorite part of the film is when Aslan finally showed up. My friends could all be enamored with Pevensie kids of Caspian, but the bright spot of the film for me would always be whenever Aslan appears. :) I don’t know if it’s because he’s the representation of God in the movie and books or because of the fact that he’s portrayed by a big cat or because his voice (Liam Neeson), but he is my favorite part of both movies. :D When the Narnians stopped yelling “For Narnia” and started yelling “For Aslan”, it felt like they were finally right on track. :)
Now I’m off to read the books (finally)!