I agree with those who enjoyed the movie, and I have been a hardcore Lewis fan for more than 25 yrs.
In answer to some of the comments, no, “Prince Caspian” is NOT an allegory for the 2nd Coming of Christ, that book is “The Last Battle”. Prince Caspian is about finding and following the true faith despite doubts, doubters and obstacles, and what some would call the lack of any sign of Aslan’s presence or existence.
The additional new scenes, while adding more battles ALSO add another allegory where we see what happens when Peter ties to manage on his own without Aslan.
Yes, Peter’s character is somewhat different from the book. He still has things to learn and he does learn them in this movie, which has I think profound Christian moral themes.
Susan is stuck-up and vain, but she ends up there in the book too!
And was it someone here who said Aslan was hardly in the movie? He was everywhere in this movie! Every time a major decision needs to be made, the characters are tested on whether to believe in and follow Aslan.
So, overall I think it was very well done, I enjoyed it immensely and my sons did too.
I am glad that I read most of these comments before I saw the movie. It probably increased my enjoyment since I was expecting some major disappointments!
Well, first let me apologize if my review spoiled it for anyone. I was heartily disappointed, but you may not be, so by all means go see it. I should also say perhaps I should have put a SPOILER ALERT in my last post (so here it is for this one).
smswife, I’ve been a fan for a similar amount of time and while “The Last Battle” corresponds with the end times, we know the books are not straight allegory, but rather weave concepts throughout. Surely you see how Aslans romp through the countryside righting wrongs and freeing captives could be seen as the second coming, without corresponding exactly. At any rate, my point is that NONE of that was in the movie. We only see Aslan in a dream (a DREAM!) on the trail, and then toward the end of the movie, when the army has been routed.
Peter’s lesson was on the trail in the book, when Lucy showed him what faith was, and he remembered himself and finally saw Aslan. He seved to demonstrate the courage of faith to Caspian. He was righteous and spoke with the moral authority of one who has Aslan’s blessing (remind you of any other Peter we know?).
In the movie, he was power hungry, selfish,and didn’t listen to anyone. Perhaps I’m oversensitive to anti-Catholic rhetoric, but it sure seems like that’s how some people like to paint our church. He didn’t come with Aslan’s blessing, but rather led the Narnians to rely on themselves rather than counting on Aslan to make things right. In the movie, it was because of Peter’s rashness that the Narnians were decimated, rather than because of the ferocity of Miraz’s army. The movie names the Narnians as the attackers, not the Telmarines as in the book. Again, they took some of the righteousness out of the Narnians.
I suppose it would have been an exciting movie had I known the books first. I enjoyed the introduction of Reepicheep (and his healing). And there were nod’s to the books in places that couldn’t be explored further, like the Bulgy Bear being the marshall of the lists (and sucking his paw). I did find it quite ironic that Aslan says “Things don’t happen the same way twice, dear one,” exactly the same way TWICE (once in the dream, and once at the end). I guess the exception proves the rule?
I worry about the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, not so much for the bulk of the book, but for that all important last scene where Aslan reveals who he is in our world. I expect that to be cut out entirely, but perhaps Disney will forget themselves and be faithful to the book.
