PRINCE CASPIAN Film Review - 23/6/08

With the second film in the series The Chronicles Of Narnia continue with "Prince Caspian" to be followed by "The Dawn Treader" in 2010. Dependant on Box Office receipts (What else?) the following books will also be turned into films. This second film starts off very darkly and continues in this vein and the two elder children seem rather unpleasant as they grow into adulthood. Forget the fantastic effects and wonderful sets and gorgeous scenery and you are left with a handful of battles strung together with chase scenes. I was not actually bored with the film and 2 hours just flew by but I felt a sense of lethargy to the whole production as it did not really pull me in like the original "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe" did which I really enjoyed. Then again this time around instead of the White Witch we get human villains; in the shape of the Telmarines, descendants of pirates from our own world. So we get something more real than otherworldly and we get reality more than fantasy as humans are fairly nasty creatures. Not a great sequel but will probably generate enough cash to produce the final film in the series unless things improve!

This time around the Pevensie children return to Narnia and it is a thousand years later. Narnia has gone and the Telmarines rule with a iron fist and kill those who threaten their political status. Hence Prince Caspian has to go on the run and finds himself in the deep forest with the remnants of the last of the Narnians. Meeting up with the Pevensie children (The original Kings & Queens of Narnia) they decide to take the fight back to the Telmarines. Warfare ensues and Aslan pops up for a cameo as does the White Witch. Everyone lives happily ever-after as some awful pop power ballad is shrieked out by some woman at the end of the film. Disney cash tills ring and studio execs jump up and down with glee. Uggh!