Prince Caspian (minor spoilers)

I am a huge Chronicles of Narnia fan...I would compare my love for the Narnia books to some people's love for the Harry Potter series. I grew up reading the Chronicles of Narnia and still read the books fairly often. They are my go-to reading material. I love the characters. As an elementary school student I had a crush on Peter - then Caspian a little later. I remember buying the books at a second-hand book store in town and devouring them one by one then reading them all over again. I also remember wishing that I could WATCH these stories. I wanted movie versions of them so badly (good versions, that is. there are some cartoon versions and a BBC version I believe - but I wanted effects and realistic looking creatures). And now, they have made the movies. I was so unbelievably excited for the first movie and although I loved it, it didn't quite live up to my expectations - mostly because there is so much ground to cover in that book and to try and introduce all the characters and cover everything is impossible...but they did an overall great job.

Prince Caspian, however, totally lived up to my expectations (with a few small exceptions). It didn't feel rushed and it didn't seem too long. The action was captured fantastically and the first battle at the castle is heart-wrenching. Not to mention, the guys playing Peter and Caspian are hot and not so young that it is inappropriate for me to think so (Ben Barnes [Caspian] is 26). I loved Eddie Izzard as Reepicheep and they were good about not making him too over the top - in the books, he can get on the annoying side as he is a very outspoken and proud mouse. I loved the casting for the DLF as well (that would be Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin - he's a great actor and has been in The Station Agent and Penelope).
The actor playing King Miraz (the bad guy) is so great in the role - he's scary.

The only casting that really bothers me (and that bothered me even more in the first movie) is Susan. The actress isn't bad per se, just nothing at all like I envision Susan...in looks or actions. Susan, to me, was always more naturally beautiful - the type of girl every boy would naturally be attracted to - and although Anna Popplewell is pretty, she's not the same kind of pretty. And there's something about her attitude, the way she plays Susan just doesn't fit. It's hard to pinpoint. But because of this, her subplot in the movie (in addition to not really making sense unless you have read the book and know how Susan is supposed to be) is kind of out of place. Why would Caspian be immediately attracted to her? Really that subplot (as well as the one involving Peter fighting kids from school) are just there to give hard evidence as to why Peter and Susan won't return to Narnia. But they don't make too much sense to people who haven't read the books. I even had to explain that bit a little to my friend (from Australia) who hasn't read the books - it confused her a little.

So besides all that (which didn't really bug me all that much) I loved the movie. I am even going to go see it again tonight. I like seeing these twice in the theater because I always get more out of the second viewing.

I must add, though, that it annoys me slightly to read reviews on this movie. I haven't read a bad one - every one pretty much likes it except for the similar problems I had with it. The main difference, however, is they point out the "obvious" religious allusions in the movie. Aslan as a Christ-figure, the connections made between faith and not being able to see Aslan or the fact that Aslan doesn't come and save the day until they go searching for him and his help. Yes, these details (and many more in the movie and the book) are obviously symbolic of religious principles...but this isn't anything new in The Chronicles of Narnia. It's C.S. Lewis! And, really, they aren't that glaringly obvious unless you are reading into it that way. If you go into it not thinking of making the religious connections, then you'll come out of it having not really noticed them (in my opinion). Really, though, the religious symbolism in the books is part of what makes me love them so much as an adult.

Another thing that bugged me was one critic mentioned the fact that the "bad" guys are Spanish. Well, yeah, they are. But that's how it is in the book - Lewis created a world not unlike ours with neighboring kingdoms and inhabitants that are foreign from one another. The Telmarines are descendants of human pirates from our world - Spanish pirates. In The Horse and His Boy, the "bad" guys are Middle-Eastern (dark skin, turbans, etc.). The White Witch was a British woman called "The White Witch," if we read into that far enough I'm sure some feminists out there could get all uppity. It's a story. There are foreigners for effect and to introduce cultural differences and reasons why Narnia is so different after 1300 years. It only makes sense that a foreign nation would take advantage of a country that finds itself inexplicably without rulers and it makes sense that those invaders would turn that country into something more appealing to their own views and beliefs - these are ideas that one would easily accept upon returning to Narnia after hundreds and hundreds of years have passed.

So there are my thoughts - although I will probably have more after a second viewing...that's all I'm going to say about it. It really was a fantastic movie and I cannot wait for the next one (especially because we'll get to see more of that vair vair attractive Prince Caspian).