The Cynical Critic

Just last Saturday I went to the movies to see a new flick. Reluctantly, I decided on checking out the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the first. As usual, Disney had toned down a lot of the action/ adventure in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and to be honest I figured they would do the same thing with Prince Caspian. To my surprise however, I was wrong.

For the most part, the first Narnia movie suffered from a number of issues. Number one, the acting was a bit unbearable at times. I think the movie really seem to suffer from it’s lack of experienced actors, and possibly even it’s “PG” rating. It’s really hard for me to take a movie serious that will absolutely go out of it’s way to show some one get killed, and that’s exactly what the first Narnia did.

Prince Caspian on the other hand, is a borderline PG-13 movie, that some how got away with it being PG (probably because most of the violence/ death is related to mystical beasts being killed, and not humans). While I am on this point, I might as well come out and say it, the battles in Prince Caspian are seriously awesome. The movie itself is two and a half hours long, but with the exception of the very beginning, it moves fast. Throughout the majority of the movie there are constant skirmishes, struggles, and all out battles. A couple of the fight scenes (one in particular) are extremely well coreographed, and considering the movies PG rating, are comparable to epic battles scene in movies like Brave Heart, and Lord of the Rings. Honestly, they really impressed me that much.

Another large improvement from the last movie has to be the acting. I was actually surprised at the number of emotionally powered scenes their were in this movie that really seemed to have my attention. Once again the visuals are top notch in Prince Caspian, as well as the landscapes. I don’t know if it’s the filming, or different location this time around, but Narnia definitely feels much more like a huge fantasy world than it did before.

Overall, Prince Caspian is definitely a film worth considering. If you are a fan of the Narnia series, then chances are you have already checked it out. If not, but you are still looking for something to hold you off till the new Indiana Jones movie, then I suggest checking this out. At the very least it’s worth a rental for the battles alone.

6.9/ 10