It's already been well-established in this blog that I'm a big fan of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. The books are a joy to read at any age, allowing one to escape into a world where badgers speak and centaurs are more than fantasy.
The first film was good, and gave a sense of nostalgia for fans who read The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. But it never quite reached a point of sheer exhiliration. It instead inspired a gentle sense of wonder, which is beautiful nonetheless.
Thus it is with great pleasure that I report to you that Prince Caspian is truly thrilling. If you can sit through extended periods of chatter and plot exposition, you will be richly rewarded with tales of heroism, exciting battle sequences, and CGI graphics that are (mostly) believable.
In this second film, the actors portraying the Pevensie children have grown up a bit and it shows. Anna Popplewell in particular shows sharp focus as Susan, and Georgie Henley is comfortably settling into the role of Lucy as she matures.One thing I really liked this time around was how the screenwriters injected a little dry humor here and there to lighten the mood. You'll especially enjoy Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin, doing what he does best (the gruff dwarf with the soft heart that he doesn't want you to know about). And who can't love Eddie Izzard's vocals for the noble mouse knight, Reepicheep?
And again, I can't say enough for the thrilling visions put forth by the artists and animators in this film. Swirling flower petals, warring trees, and especially a powerful river creature are Lewis' creations come alive.
For Narnia!!!
(Now my hope is that a third film is on its way. The logical next step is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, featuring the final appearances of Edmund and Lucy.)
4 comments:
Edmund and Lucy would be in Horse and His Boy and Susan too if its made. Not forgetting Last Battle
I'm glad to hear this -- I'm thinking about taking a movie break sometime soon, and Prince Caspian is up on my list. Of course, I'm thinking I might be using part of my day off on Friday to be front and center at an early screening of SATC. :-)
Enjoyable. Better than the last, certainly. But I had a problem hearing much of the dialogue. Perhaps I'm going deaf, perhaps they needed to get the kids to ennuciate a little better, I'm not sure, but I missed plot points for sure. And I could have seen Lion, Witch, Warddrobe again as a refresher.
Dawn Treader is coming out in 2009, and yes, the audio sucked when I saw it as well.
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