Joe’s Review: The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian

The first thing I’d suggest before seeing Prince Caspian is to go out and watch the first one. You can get The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Aff) at Amazon. If you didn’t read the books or watch the previous movie, you’re probably not going to understand what’s going on in Prince Caspian. If you fall into this category… I’d suggest you do that before reading on!

Prince Caspian is the sequel to the 2005 film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. One year has passed since the Pevensies have left Narnia. However, in that time, hundreds of years have passed in Narnia, and the great kingdom they once ruled has fallen into shambles. The Telmarines have waged war against the Narnians in an attempt to render them extinct. Even worse, the self-appointed ruler of Narnia, General Miraz, has attempted to place his own son as the heir to the throne by assassinating Prince Caspian, the rightful heir to the throne. However, with the help of his professor, Caspian manages to escape, and seek help in the Old Kings and Queens of Narnia. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, so I’ll stop there. Feel free to contact me if you’d like more information.

The story behind Prince Caspian does seem epic. Does the film succeed in bringing this to the big screen? In my opinion, it does, but only to an extent. There are several conflicts throughout the film that give the feel of an epic movie, but in the end, the scope of the movie doesn’t seem big enough to make it an epic. This might have been what ended up hurting it at the box office. Narnia seemed to try to appeal to a Lord of the Rings crowd while at the same time maintaining the story that appealed to a younger crowd. If they had picked one route or the other, the film might have been more of a commercial success.

That being said, the special effects and camera work in for Prince Caspian was very good. The colors they used, and effects to make the movie seem grand worked for me. As my supervisor (the day job) said when we were discussing the movie:

It was really relaxing, with the cinematography being so visually pleasing. You just got caught up in it.

An excellent way to put it. I couldn’t agree more. That, in my opinion, was the highlight of the film for me. Even though there were special effects aplenty, it didn’t feel too “manufactured”. Just right, in my honest opinion. But then again, my opinion is my own…you may disagree.

Overall, Prince Caspian was an enjoyable movie. It did the trick on a long holiday weekend where I didn’t really have too much else to do other than build furniture for my mom. I have to say that came out nice, and I’ll be taking pictures of it to show off my handywork :-). Oh, and I’ve got an exciting annoucement (for me, anyway) that I hope will bring lots of attention and great stuff for you guys, just for reading (and commenting) on this blog! That’s just a “preview” though, so look out for that.

So, did you see Prince Caspian? What did you think?

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I Didn’t See Narnia Today :-(

I really wanted to see Prince Caspian today, and I even convinced the girl to see it with me! It must have been my viewing of What Happens in Vegas with her last week! I really enjoyed the first Chronicles of Narnia movie. I think it might have been the last one I went to go see by myself actually. I don’t know why I did it, but I really really wanted to see it at the time, and I think that kinda translated onto this movie as well!

Anyway, we were this close to seeing the movie. We’d just pulled up to my theatre, and found a nice parking spot when some random lady tells me to lower my window. Great… I was hoping she wasn’t going to complain about me parking next to her. She didn’t, thankfully, but instead gave me some information that kinda ruined my day a bit.

The theatre has no power.

BOOOOOOO! It’s going to be hard enough to keep up with seeing blockbuster after blockbuster this summer! Now I have to wait to go see Narnia. Hopefully I find some time this week.. but I don’t know. In any case, we headed back to my place and ended up watching the red sox, then heading out for dinner afterwards. I still had a good day! Even though Bed Bath and Beyond only had a dented version of the trash can I want to get for my room…

Any of you guys seen Prince Caspian yet? I’d like to hear your reviews if you get a chance. I think I might do my first video review with this movie. I just set up my tripod for my Flip Video Camera and I can’t wait to have some more fun with it. My previous videos have been pretty crappy because I’ve had to hold onto the camera, and I’m not the steadiest of hands.

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Movies This Weekend! 5/16/08

Man, the summer movie season is starting to hit full swing, despite the disappointment that was Speed Racer last weekend. It doesn’t stop this week, with another major release. Hopefully you’re enjoying what’s been released so far. I honestly think this Summer might be even bigger than last summer… and that’s hard to top when you consider some of the movies that came out last summer:

• Shrek 3
• Spider Man 3
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End

And many more! There’s already one bona fide hit in Iron Man this year… does this week send out another?

Well… if it’s going to, we know which one it’s going to be. That’s because there’s only one major release this week. It’s kind of expected, especially with movies getting bigger and bigger, and competition for a smaller and smaller niche takes over. Anyway, here you have it!

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Directed by Andrew Adamson, Rated PG

The second chapter of the bestselling C.S. Lewis books. The Pevensie siblings are once again brought to the world of Narnia, one year after they left it last time. However, 1300 years have passed in Narnian time, and the Golden Age of Narnia has come to an end. The Telmarines have taken over, and Narnia is under the rule of King Miraz, who rules ruthlessly. The four siblings soon meet Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding. King Miraz plans to put his own son on the throne after he passes. With the help of some magical creatures in Narnia, the four siblings and Caspian embark on a wonderful journey to try to reclaim the rightful throne.

Joe’s Take - What can I say, this is going to be huge. I didn’t think that I would enjoy the first one, but I found that the great special effects combined with some likeable characters made me enjoy it a lot. Personally, if you’re a fan of Harry Potter type fantasy movies, you’ll really enjoy this one. It’s going to finally push the Iron Clad hero off the top of the charts and rack in about $100 mil in the process. Get ready to wait in some long lines… but it’ll all be worth it!

Ahh.. the summer movie season. I love it. Extended hours at the theatre, and a ton of fun movies to watch. Is Prince Caspian on your list of must sees this summer? It’s on mine!

Images for this post were provided by Movie Poster dot com.

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