Prince Caspian (2008)

[Iorek444]

I'm surprised that there isn't a topic for this! Has anybody seen this movie yet?

While I didn't think it was great, I did enjoy it (though it's been a long time since I read the book and I barely remember it, so thankfully I wasn't able to notice any differences that would have ruined the movie for me).

[Mouse]

I've not seen it and I haven't read the book either. I did see the first film though and didn't like it, so wasn't going to bother with this one. But Ben Barnes is in it and he looks hot! So I might go and watch it. I'd like to point out that I don't normally go and watch films for that reason!!

[The Ace]

I don't think it's out here yet.

[Ice fyre]

Its not out here in Brtain and quite frankly I wont be going to see it unless dragged by my wife, I really didnt like the first Narnia film it was only lifted for me by some nice creature effects. The two Minotaurs in the army of evil were superb as was Aslan, but as to the rest I just didnt like it.

[Dave]

It's not out in the UK, but the trailer is showing before "Indiana Jones and the Longest Title in the History of Cinema", so it must be out soon.

And it looks good!

[yngvi]

I was entranced by the Narnian Chronicles as a child and have gone back and read them as an adult more than once. I think the only thing that stands in the way of their recognition as classic fantasy is the overtly christian content of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' and 'The Last Battle'

'Prince Caspian' is one of the best of the tales and I am looking forward to it, not the least for the big screen debut of Reepicheep the mouse, one of the greatest heroes in literary history (don't laugh!)

[Teutoniclegion]

am going to see it tomorrow with friends and will let you know

[Teresa Edgerton]

After many, many delays and postponements (I meant to see it right after it arrived in our local theaters), I finally saw this movie last night.

And I liked it very much.

I already knew that it diverged from the book at several points, and had made my peace with that. I told myself to just sit back and experience the picture for what it is rather than what I would wish it to be, and the fact that having made this decision I was able to fall right into the story within about five minutes (usually it takes a lot longer, if I even get there at all) probably says something very good about the picture. Or maybe just that I was in an unusually receptive mood.

The young actors were appealing. For me, the pacing was just right: the story moved right along, but there was time to absorb things. The costumes and sets and scenery were excellent. (I want to move into Miraz's castle.) The effects were a bit mixed in terms of quality. Just like in the other movie I found the centaurs convincing, while the minotaurs looked like people inside minotaur suits. Some of the creatures, like the griffins and the big cats, moved so quickly in the battle scenes I really couldn't see if they were good or not. I felt that Trufflehunter was a complete failure, a character you could never forget was CGI for a minute. But then there was Reepicheep ...

Reepicheep was Reepicheep. I don't think that fans of the martial mouse will be disappointed. Perhaps the computer imaging could have been a little better, but the characterization was so perfect this is mere quibbling.

There were short bits of dialogue here and there that I thought were slightly off, but again mere quibbling.

The decision to present the Telmarines as a Mediterranean culture -- I suppose to contrast them with the Old Narnians -- worked well. One of the big payoffs was that it allowed them to use famous Italian, Spanish, and Mexican actors that are virtually unknown over here. They played their roles with a quiet intensity that I found extremely impressive.

Oh, and there is a scene with the White Witch (I know, I know, not in the book) that was very effective.

All in all, a movie I definitely would like to see again.

[pyan]

After many disappointments, I've decided that I'm going to watch this one on the premise that's it's an exciting film that happens to have the same name and characters as a book that I've read....

[Ursa major]

Isn't that what you should always do if you're going to see a film adaptation of a book you like?


(It leaves the door open to being pleasantly surprised, rather than expecting disappointment.)

[Overread]

I think if they can lose the "made in a film studio" feel that the first film was plagued with then it could be on to something. That was my biggest grip with the first - the fact that throughout so much of it you felt that you could just about see the edge of the studio wall
From the ads this looks to be interesting and might have lost that feel

[manephelien]

I saw this and enjoyed it a lot more than I expected, to be honest. Meepicheep was great!

[The Procrastinator]

I'm with maniphelion - it was better than I expected, I enjoyed it. I was reminded once again of how lucky they were to find that little girl who plays Lucy - she is just perfect. Reepicheep was fabulous (though I did miss his squeaky voice, they had his martial valour exactly right), the "Spanish" Telmarines were very effective, Glenstorm had the right presence, and the list of successes goes on. Unfortunately Theresa is right about Trufflehunter - he was the one character that really jarred with me. The abrupt scene changes where entire armies were apparently materialising through mountains and forests without having to traverse them also jarred a but, as did those ridiculous siege engines. But I loved the added scene with the White Witch, and having Caspian as an older character worked really well. I wants to see it again.

[Teresa Edgerton]

The trebuchets seemed pretty bizarre to my husband (he's done a lot of reading on medieval missile weapons), but he's quite mechanically minded and eventually figured out how he thought they worked. Then he was fine with them.

[The Procrastinator]

Well if he could explain it to me then perhaps I would be fine with them too, but trebuchets have a fairly simple mechanical principle that those funny things approximated visually but not functionally, as far as I could see. We can get away with that angle of missile release ourselves (cricket bowlers do it all the time) because of our control over wrist, hand and arm - but siege engines need a brace to stop the arm at a certain point to achieve the correct angle of missile release, because they have no such control. Nor did those funny double-bunger sons-of-trebuchets - but they did look kinda cool.