Went to the midnight showing of Prince Caspian and was really disappointed. Almost angry at how bad it was (hence blogging at 3am!). Overall, it was poorly done and isn't worth seeing in theaters.
There were some points of excellence, such as the production design. Costuming was fantastic. I loved the armory of the Telmarines–thought the helmet-masks were stunning. Scenery was beautiful and magical. ...and that's about it.
Because it is late, the skinny is this: I felt cheated by cheap jokes, story manipulation, ridiculous accents, long battles and rushed character development, silly contemporary dialog, and spiritual application that requires maneuvers to glean. The latter in particular...a tale of self-sufficiency? If so, where was repentance? Where was conviction? Where was the kindness and power of Aslan? Apparently, Andrew Adamson was too busy choreographing battle scenes to think through the gaping weaknesses of the film.
Everything I hoped would make me love the film was returned with clichés. I hope for better sequels and will grasp on to my love of the books more deeply.
Did anyone out there actually like it?
7 comments:
bummer...glad I chose to sleep instead ;-)
come on Luz...it wasn't the book but it was a lot better than the first one and it had a lot of violence which is always a plus
"Director Andrew Adamson wanted to make the film more spectacular than the first, and created an action sequence not in the novel to up the ante. The Narnians were designed to look wilder as they have been hiding from persecution, to stress the darker tone of the sequel. The filmmakers also took a Spanish influence for the antagonistic race of the Telmarines."
-Wikipedia(the source of all true knowledge)
...Bam! Spaniards, fight scenes, and the darker side of furry creatures/Disney-what more could you want!
Haven't seen it yet, but I can't say the first one totally lived up to my expectations. I tend to have too high of expectations. Thanks for lowering them for this one. I might actually be able to see it now.
On a side note, how very British of them to have bad guys inspired by the Spanish.
scotty - the only thing more i could want is a GOOD PLOT! i don't care that they decided to deviate from the book. at least give me a good story!
steph - glad to help lower your expectations. enjoy. :)
I disagree. While it has been a while since I read the book, I think they did a good job adapting it. As with LotR, some things just have to be changed to reflect the medium. Certainly it wasn't fantastic, but the production quality alone was head and shoulders better than in LWW.
I have mixed feelings about the film. I felt like it was vastly entertaining (minus the disaster of Susan and Caspian) even with the long fights and what not. I however, agree with you completely with the mental gymnastics that have to be taken to find the spiritual elements. I rather felt that if one hadn't already realized what we were supposed to understand, and were already looking for those things, then you would completely miss it. I thought it was interesting to have Aslan "missing" for so much of the film but when he was there, he needed to BE THERE. And there needed to be their realization of being wrong and all those lines of reconciliation were removed.
(I would also like to say, that Edmund was fantastic. He was one of the best parts of the film)
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