MOVIE: Prince Caspian

[Other_Eric]

Here is the OP.
No where does it ask “whether people ought to be excited about it”:

So, actually, you are quite off-topic and have been for some time.

This is the only Prince Caspian topic as far as I know. So, can we just use it to talk about the movie, please?

If you haven’t seen the film or don’t intend to, then you are very much off topic. Please, go play in someone else’s sandbox.

Perhaps, next week, while my son is off attending a camping trip with one of his friends, I will go to see the movie, if only to assess the level of depravity it dabbles in. This, then, ought to give the rest of you an advantage in having at least one week to hone the accusations and assumptions currently used to flagellate me for sport.

 

[Contarini]

Perhaps, next week, while my son is off attending a camping trip with one of his friends, I will go to see the movie, if only to assess the level of depravity it dabbles in. This, then, ought to give the rest of you an advantage in having at least one week to hone the accusations and assumptions currently used to flagellate me for sport.

Oh don’t be silly. You’re the one who accused Lewis of being a Manichean who was deliberately trying to undercut the doctrine of the Incarnation. And you complain of being “flagellated” because people call you on your silliness???

It’s fine to have theological problems with what Lewis did in those books. We can respectfully disagree about that. But when you try to imply that Lewis was pushing some sort of heretical agenda, you are displaying a level of malice and ignorance that deserves no respect whatsoever.

Edwin

 

[Other_Eric]

Oh don’t be silly. You’re the one who accused Lewis of being a Manichean who was deliberately trying to undercut the doctrine of the Incarnation. And you complain of being “flagellated” because people call you on your silliness???

It’s fine to have theological problems with what Lewis did in those books. We can respectfully disagree about that. But when you try to imply that Lewis was pushing some sort of heretical agenda, you are displaying a level of malice and ignorance that deserves no respect whatsoever.

Edwin

If you’re going to allow that there is room for discussion about theological issues in the books, why would you draw the line at defining what those theological problems are?

 

[Crepusculum]

I so hope they go all the way with this series - previous televised efforts stopped short after Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Silver Chair, but I’d love to see a film quality rendering of the Last Battle.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I want to see Last Battle as well!

I just got back from seeing Caspian.
I LOVED it. Well, except for the pop song at the end. A little too tween for my taste.

A lot of things are running through my mind about it, but I cannot put it all together.

Oh yes- I ADORE Reepicheep! So cute, and voiced by Eddie Izzard swoon

 

[Contarini]

If you’re going to allow that there is room for discussion about theological issues in the books, why would you draw the line at defining what those theological problems are?

I’m not drawing a line at defining what the issues are. I’m saying that if you can’t be bothered to inform yourself as to what Lewis believed, or if you hold some weird conspiracy theory that he was really a heretic with regard to Christology even though all his letters and writings express an unswerving devotion to the faith of Nicaea and Chalcedon–then why should anyone listen to you?

Clearly he thought that the Narnia books were expressing the doctrine of the Incarnation held by St. Athanasius among others (in fact, the discussion of “atonement theology” in LWW is basically a paraphrase of Athanasius). Now perhaps he failed miserably in getting this across. But that’s not what you said. You spoke of an *attempt *to deny the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation.

Edwin

 

[jediliz]

I can’t wait to see how they do Voyage. And will Ben Barnes be able to do Caspian again for that one?

I wonder if Voyage will be closer to 3 hours considering all the material they need to include.

 

[Joe_5859]

I just got back from seeing Caspian.
I LOVED it. Well, except for the pop song at the end. A little too tween for my taste.

You noticed that, too! I’m glad I’m not the only one. It felt a little out of place to me. But it’s hard for me to get too upset over that as the rest of the movie was spectacular!

 

[Della]

Well, we saw the film Sunday afternoon. An interesting adaptation that met some expectations, while completely missing the point in some key areas. Adamson made this into an “overthrowing the tyrant” story at the expense of telling it as Aslan’s story, which is what all the Narnia stories fundamentally are. Aslan was brought in too little and too late. Although, whenever they allowed Aslan on screen the moments were golden, due mainly to Liam Neeson’s fine vocal performance, but they often missed the emphasis Lewis intended. The film was all right, and maybe better than my first impressions of it, but I have to say it disappointed me in too many places to make it a great interpretation of Lewis’ story.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I think they are going for the “helping teenagers learn about themselves and grow into the best adults” theme.

Too much Aslan = too much Jesus
And we all know that we can’t have that

 

[PatienceAndLove]

You noticed that, too! I’m glad I’m not the only one. It felt a little out of place to me. But it’s hard for me to get too upset over that as the rest of the movie was spectacular!

Won’t stop me from getting the soundtrack.

Did anyone else tear up? I can’t remember the parts, cause there were about 4-6 times that the tears started coming.

 

[Galandriel]

it was really good!

didn’t like how Caspian had a somewhat weird accent I didn’t think he pulled off well, but I didn’t linger too much on that fact since it moved pretty fast.

And it seemed they took liberty with Susan and Caspian, but oh well, they did that to my Lord of the Rings too, right?

but overall, I thought it was great!

Did anyone notice that Lord Miraz and his head soldier were from the movie Padre Pio?

Padre Pio a tyrant?! That man can act!!! I didn’t even recognize him!!!

but this movie I’m definitely seeing again.

 

[Lil_M]

This movie was much more battle-oriented than the last, so maybe more for the boys BUT I definitely still enjoyed it. Lots of good lessons to be gleaned from it I think.

I really liked Caspian FH keeps teasing me about it!

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I thought it was interesting that the Talmarins were Spaniards and the Narnians were English.

Movie with a side of history, anyway?

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Well, when you get into the Magician’s Nephew (which actually takes place ‘before’ LWW) you’ll know why Narnians speak “English”). And of course the Telmarines were supposed to be descendents of Spanish pirates on an island who found a ‘portal’ on the island which went to Narnia (you’ll learn more about THAT–portals I mean–in the Magician’s Nephew as well) so it is very logical that the people have Spanish type accents. And of course I’m wondering how they are going to handle the other nonNarnians in The Horse and His Boy --which kind of takes place just before the end of LWW–as well as the Last Battle–which is the culmination of the Narnia story.

Even my DD (22 but a ‘young’ 22 with her disability) hated the ‘tween’ music and said it was the only thing that detracted from her enjoyment.

Yes, the Susan/Caspian was ‘theatrical liberty’ (considering in the books Caspian was quite a bit younger in appearance/actions) but I think it will work out well overall. At least it didn’t make me CRINGE the way that LOTR changed Faramir’s entire CHARACTER in TT–what a mess! Makes me wonder though if they are going to change who is going to be in the Last Battle (in the books there is a significant omission of one major character–but they may change that for the movie).

 

[Altesse]

I had heard of the books when I was younger but never read them. I saw the trailer in the theater and I want to see it. I got the first movie at so I could get familiar with the story before seeing the second one.

 

[mikijam]

My wife and I just got back from seeing the movie, and we are SOOOOOO disappointed. We almost left the theater I thought it was so bad. This was one of my favorite books of the series, it’s about the Second Coming of Aslan, and the importance of faith (Lucy’s) in the face of unbelief.

All of that was cut from the movie in favor of battle scenes and exploits that were fabricated from whole cloth! Peter was bereft of any nobility or honor and was made into a pouty sniveling brat. They made Susan into some kind of warrior princess, and even had Lucy use her dagger. Aslan was left almost entirely out of the movie. And worst of all, there was no JOY in the movie. In the book we celebrate as Aslan comes triumphantly back and those in bondage are released from their shackles. The trees dance and Lucy and Susan rejoice. NONE of that was in the movie.

Besides the scene of Aslan returning, the one I most anticipated was the moment when Lucy discovered (without any prompting from Aslan) that she should have followed him without regard as to what the others thought, and then the moment when the others finally saw him and realized Lucy was right. Again, this important moment of faith discovery was excised from the movie. No, we can’t explore faith issues, but we can have Peter getting in school yard fights for no reason, Susan lying (“Phyllis”), fighting, and planting an unnecessary sloppy kiss on Caspian.

What a huge disappointment. Don’t go see the movie, read the book instead!

 

[Sailor_Kenshin]

My wife and I just got back from seeing the movie, and we are SOOOOOO disappointed. We almost left the theater I thought it was so bad. This was one of my favorite books of the series, it’s about the Second Coming of Aslan, and the importance of faith (Lucy’s) in the face of unbelief.

All of that was cut from the movie in favor of battle scenes and exploits that were fabricated from whole cloth! Peter was bereft of any nobility or honor and was made into a pouty sniveling brat. They made Susan into some kind of warrior princess, and even had Lucy use her dagger. Aslan was left almost entirely out of the movie. And worst of all, there was no JOY in the movie. In the book we celebrate as Aslan comes triumphantly back and those in bondage are released from their shackles. The trees dance and Lucy and Susan rejoice. NONE of that was in the movie.

Besides the scene of Aslan returning, the one I most anticipated was the moment when Lucy discovered (without any prompting from Aslan) that she should have followed him without regard as to what the others thought, and then the moment when the others finally saw him and realized Lucy was right. Again, this important moment of faith discovery was excised from the movie. No, we can’t explore faith issues, but we can have Peter getting in school yard fights for no reason, Susan lying (“Phyllis”), fighting, and planting an unnecessary sloppy kiss on Caspian.

What a huge disappointment. Don’t go see the movie, read the book instead!

I absolutely agree with your assessment. To me, PC would have been an enjoyable action movie, if I didn’t know about or see the previous film, but this one left me thinking, “What was the point?”

I did sort of ‘get’ the story of Lucy’s faith, but it was kind of ham-handed.

 

[PatienceAndLove]

I absolutely agree with your assessment. To me, PC would have been an enjoyable action movie, if I didn’t know about or see the previous film, but this one left me thinking, “What was the point?”

I did sort of ‘get’ the story of Lucy’s faith, but it was kind of ham-handed.

Definitely agree on the Lucy bit, it was kind of a “oh shoot! did we forget about that? Throw it in right quick and hopefully no one notices”

 

[scylla]

Just watched the movie last night and I was disappointed. I enjoyed myself but I was still disappointed.

It is a shadow of what the book was and all the while I kept thinking to myself, “this wasn’t in the book, where did that come from, and did I miss something?”

It seems to have been sanitized for a modern culture so that all the kids have a rude attitude, introducing a silly love interest for Susan, a rude Peter who seems far removed from the first movie, Edmund seems to have retained his good qualities, and Lucy’s story of faith has been neutered. The kids seem to have become a bunch of tiresome tweens eens, straight out of the Disney channel with bad attitudes and smart mouths.

Unfortunately you can only fall so far from the original story so it does retain some of the story and is nice because of that. I enjoyed watching it, though I was disappointed with the removals and additions that came out in the movie.

The visuals were beautiful as before, yet it did seem kind of a wanna-be Lord of the Rings movie, instead of a faithful adaption of the book.

I will re-read the book since it seemed so off to me, to verify if it is just my poor memory, or indeed they really took a lot out and added their own stuff in.

That being said I enjoyed it for the movie told a good story and was entertaining, except for that last Susan song and kiss.

Wow, I did complain a bit, didn’t I? I hope they move to get things back in order for the next movie. I would like to see them make all 7 books as long as they stay faithful to the books.

God Bless
Scylla