Emerging Women

Monday, May 19, 2008

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Last weekend I saw Prince Caspian, the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. While this movie didn't follow the book it was based upon as closely as the first Chronicles of Narnia movie followed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, it did do a good job of capturing the spirit of C.S. Lewis' _Prince Caspian_.

In particular, I was intrigued by how the movie approached the concept of "blind" faith. How much justification (or maybe reinforcement is a better term?) of our convictions do we need in order to continue to have faith?

If anyone else has seen it, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Labels: caspian, movies, narnia

posted by Lydia at 7:51 AM

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8 Comments:

At 5/19/2008 01:37:00 PM, Helen

I went to see it yesterday - I liked it. My comments are here
At 5/19/2008 02:48:00 PM, Julie

I really liked it. It did do a great job of capturing the spirit of the book even as it changed and added elements. Lewis did so much "telling" that they had to create scenes to convey those ideas. I was a tad disappointed that they left out the scenes of Aslan liberating children from schools... that could have been fun.

But was it just me or did they really evoke scenes from the Lord of the Rings movies?
At 5/19/2008 10:00:00 PM, Helen

I forgot about Aslan liberating children from schools - yes, that was a fun moment in the book.

I thought they were evoking LOTR scenes too.

In my review I wrote about how the movie is less sexist than the book because Susan is a full participant in battle. And I think LOTR has helped validate archers as a noble role in battle.

I liked how Susan is a better person in the movie than in the book. Anyway the rest of my comments are on my blog.
At 5/20/2008 12:12:00 PM, Anonymous

i'm not sure i liked the catch phrase Aslan said a couple of times, "things don't happen twice," or something like it. i thought it was odd.

i also thought it was an interesting interpretation of peter and caspian's interaction...it does make sense that there would be some tension.

overall i did enjoy the movie, it ended up being a lot darker than i anticipated, which is still okay.
At 5/20/2008 04:19:00 PM, Helen

Aslan said "Things never happen the same way twice" and he said it two times in the movie, in response to people asking why he didn't show up and intervene earlier.

It doesn't really answer the question but it's sort of true to Christian experience that God isn't predictable.

It seemed like that might have come from the CS Lewis books but I'm not certain.
At 5/22/2008 01:43:00 PM, LisaColónDeLay

Advise please. . .
I was hoping to take my kids to see it, but when my 8 year old saw the previews, he said it looked too scary, and that he didn't want to go. My 5.5 year old daughter does want to see it though, and now I'm not sure if I should take her. It did look a good bit darker than the first.

Suggestions from those who saw it. . . . .? Would a five year old probably be too frightened? (My kids have seen the first one, but that's it for battle scenes. They've never seen LOFTR) I bascially shield them from TV, and violence etc. It's a PBS kids house and veggie tales scene around here.

thanks for the help!
At 5/23/2008 08:20:00 PM, medium guy

I wouldn't let our almost 6 year-old see it - our kids don't watch TV and she was so scared when starting to watch Ratatouille that she had to leave the library where it was being shown. So she's probably skewed. Still, it's quite violent with a lot of deaths shown by sword and implied violence like when Caspian has the sword up to Miraz' throat - a trickle of blood arrives. Also you really see the older 3 kids doing a lot of the killing. There's also a "scary" part involving dark magic that would probably be very disturbing for small kids.

So, not knowing your philosophy, preferences, or your daughter, I would strongly not recommend the movie for a 5 1/2 year-old.

Now, from an adult's perspective, I thought the movie was great. It was my least favorite book of the chronicles, but they did an excellent job making the film. Very thought provoking. I can't wait for Silver Chair and the Magician's Nephew to be made! Oh, and the Last Battle too.
At 5/24/2008 07:46:00 PM, Julie

Oh, it's not a young kids movie at all. I doubt our daughter will see it for a number of years. She is just three and while I think she could "handle" the first movie, we don't want her to see it until we have read the books to her. My dad starting reading them to me when I was three. I loved LWW, but got really scared by the Horse and his Boy, so he help off until I was 5.

I will say that I have a friend (who read these threads sometimes...) whose three your old daughter apparently had a meltdown while watching Lion, Witch, Wardrobe because she was so disturbed that Lucy wasn't wearing a coat when she entered Narnia - she must of been cold and that really got to her. So what kids can "handle" seriously varies.

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