The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Rated PG for epic battle action and violence.
reviewed by Christopher Lyon
Well, at least they didn't call it "Narnia 2: Electric Boogaloo." Book 2 of the C.S. Lewis' much-loved 7-book "Chronicles of Narnia" arrives on waves of Disney hype and a great trailer. And while it delivers a very cool adventure story, it dumps lots of the big ideas that make Narnia so much more than just a cool adventure story.
A plea: If you still have not read these short, easy-to-follow little novels, now is the perfect time. Take the movie for a ride, then sit down with the book to soak up the whole satisfying experience.
The Story
With a whoosh of an underground train, the Pevensie kids -- Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy -- find themselves back in Narnia one year after leaving it behind as fully grown kings and queens. That is, it's been one of our years. The sibs quickly discover that 1300 years have passed in Narnia, and they have been summoned back to the ruins of their former kingdom by the blowing of Susan's magical horn.
A young Prince named Caspian is in trouble. His evil uncle is trying to kill him and take the throne for himself. Caspian flees to the nearby woods and discovers that the "Narnians" are not extinct, as all the Telmarines (humans) believe. The dwarves and centaurs and talking animals still exist, though not in the numbers and glory they did in the days of the siblings. When Caspian's uncle learns all of this, he mounts his army to eradicate the prince and all of the Narnians once and for all.
When Susan and the gang save a dwarf named Trumpkin from extermination by two human soldiers, he ungratefully complains about the ruin Narnia fell into after the kings and queens vanished, along with the great lion Aslan. Determined to set things right, High King Peter joins forces with Caspian and all the Narnians and immediately makes plans to invade the castle and overthrow King Miraz. But Lucy, who claims to have seen Aslan and talks to him in a dream, warns Peter and Edmund to wait for the lion.
What follows are a series of battles destined to determine the fate of Narnia.
The Verdict
If you forget the book and series "Prince Caspian" is based on, it's a very good adventure movie -- and a better movie overall than the sometimes stilted "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." It is also darker and far more violent. As the dwarf Trumpkin says in trailer (and in every review of the film I've seen), "You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember." He ain't kidding.
The last two-thirds of the film is mostly just a series of well-choreographed and thrilling swords-and-arrows battle sequences with an enormous body count. Very little blood is spilled, and the camera almost always avoids seeing swords split skin or flying rocks crush heads. But "Caspian" really is a war movie "for kids," with our young heroes slashing and smashing their way through the enemy horde. (I'm sure some of the parents of five-year-olds in my screening were a little shocked at the level of violence.)
Still, director Andrew Adamson delivers a great little epic with an odd mix of tones. It occasionally feels a little like "Lord of the Rings" as made for the Disney channel -- but not in a terrible way. The performances are much better this time around. William Moseley as Peter and Anna Popplewell as Susan come off as especially confident. Susan's character, in particular, is almost transformed into a kind of a superhero archer and fighter.
The beloved non-human characters from the book are less appealing onscreen than on the page. Reepicheep the mouse and Trumpkin the dwarf are both less severe and less memorable. Aslan is more impressive-looking than in the previous film, but his role is reduced to a couple of cameo appearances. The story belongs to Caspian and the siblings.
If you can't forget Lewis's book, the film is kind of a downer. It lacks the character development and depth of spiritual insight that makes the books literary classics and so satisfying to read again and again.
Worldview
Even in the film version of "Prince Caspian," there's little doubt Aslan is a kind of Christ. The Narnian army retreats to the ancient spot where Aslan was killed in the first story by the White Witch in place of Edmund -- and later came back to life, breaking the great slab altar in two. Now that broken slab is the heart of a great stone fortress. And it's around this combination of empty cross and tomb that Peter and Susan and Edmund and Lucy debate waiting for Aslan's help or acting on their own. It's where Prince Caspian and Peter face the temptation of turning to the dark side for help. It's where Lucy insists that she has seen Aslan, that he is coming.
The book makes it even more clear that the whole realm of Narnia is undergoing a crisis of faith. In Lewis's version of the story, even the dwarves and talking animals doubt the existence of Aslan. Peter, Susan, and Edmund genuinely miss opportunities to see him because they just aren't expecting him to be there. It's a battle between a materialist worldview -- the idea that the only real things are ones you can detect with your senses -- and a spiritual worldview that allows for the moving of good and evil unseen forces.
And in the end, it's a battle between the arrows and war machines of the humans and the Deep Magic of Narnia. It's the same clash of worldviews we're still facing. Who is the greater fool -- the one who refuses to believe in the invisible spiritual world or the one who refuses to stop believing, especially in the power of Jesus?
At one point in the film, the human army intent on destroying Narnia is charging. Out from the shadows steps little Lucy, drawing her little dagger with a look of supreme confidence on her face. The army halts for a moment in response to the sheer audacity of her challenge. Then Aslan steps out from the shadows right beside her and you realize that her confidence is not in herself and her little dagger, at all. She's convinced He will win the day.
You and I are no more a match for our enemy than little Lucy is for a band of black-clad soldiers on horseback. But like her, we don't fight in our own strength. Paul said it: "Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." (Ephesians 6:10) Then he described our spiritual battleground:
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand." (vv. 12-13)
We're in war, too. It's no PG-rated Disney movie; the spiritual body count is far too high. And if we can't accept the reality of the spiritual world all around us, we'll never be able to make our stand when the crucial moment comes. Our only hope comes in having Lucy-like faith in the most powerful force in the universe.
Questions:
- As a film, is "Caspian" better or worse than "The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe"?
- If you've read the books, how do you think the film stacks up? Anything left out of the movie your were disappointed about?
- Which of the remaining five books are you most looking forward to seeing on screen?
- What did you think of the mutual attraction between Susan and Caspian?
- Which of the sibs do you most relate to? Why?