Movie Talks Archives

Posted by: Monotreme at June 15, 2008, 10:11 am

Topic: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Forum: JoBlo

(Andrew Adamson, 2008) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, aside from being an unprecedented and substantial milestone in modern cinematic history, has also managed to single-handedly neutralize the epic fantasy genre. Every fantasy film post-Rings trilogy will now be unavoidably compared to the epic trilogy, which raised the bar so high it is inevitable that every subsequent fantasy epic film released will be considered inferior. And with C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien’s close relationship leading to them influencing one another’s work, the similarities between the two literary classics are even more inescapable. The fact of the matter is, though, that the two separate film franchises should be considered separately, and once that separation is made one will see that the Chronicles of Narnia franchise fares pretty well on its own. First and foremost, the film exists as an outstandingly skillful application of creative craftwork. A multi-million-dollar budget can buy a lot when it comes to production value, and the film absolutely excels in all aspects of that field. Along with the science fiction genre and perhaps more so, the fantasy genre provides even more of an empty canvas than period films and truly opens up all of the possible creative doors when it comes to production design. The best production design company money can afford these days is probably Weta Workshops, who also brought Middle Earth to life a few years back. As with their work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in this film Weta provided costumes, weapons, props, and sets with such incredible attention to detail, each prop specifically tailored for each race and group giving each one of them a history, telling a story. Also worth mentioning is the majestic score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Story-wise the film also excels; it’s very old-fashioned and rooted in tradition, utilizing such classic literary fantasy devices such as the evil uncle, the banished prince, and eventually the oppressed underdogs eventually overthrowing their oppressors. It’s interesting to see C.S. Lewis’ religious allegories come through, manifested by Aslan testing the Narnian’s faith in him. That said, the film’s screenplay isn’t perfect and is lacking in many portions, including characterization, choppy dialogue and a pretty drawn-out build-up until the action sequences begin at the end of the second half. It is in these scenes though that the movie truly comes to life: It features two major action sequences and both are crafted and executed exceedingly well, filled with excitement, nail-biting tension and plenty of emotional, magical moments. Although I resent the comparisons between this franchise and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it is inevitable that each subsequent film will be compared with its predecessor. In this case, I couldn’t help but feel that Prince Caspian lacked much of what made The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe so enjoyable: The sense of magic and discovery, the strong characterizations (especially of the white witch, to the credit of the magnificent Tilda Swinton) – even the climactic battle which sealed up the first film was far grander than that in this sequel. Still, the series has a promising future and I eagerly anticipate the next installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, scheduled for 2010. RATING: 7/10.

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