Prince Caspian, the movie

I went to see the new Narnia movie, Prince Caspian (PC), over the weekend. And I have to say that, while I enjoyed the movie, I was a little disappointed. Without going into great detail (if you would like to read on and on about differing view points about this movie, visit Jeffrey Overstreet's website: http://lookingcloser.wordpress.com/2008/05/17/the-looking-closer-review-prince-caspian/), let me just point out a few of the things that I liked and a few of the things that I did not like:

1. The movie certainly was entertaining. It was much more action-packed than was the book. That, I'm sure, helped to capture the attention of my 11 year old son more than anything else--although it did leave me, at times, feeling like I was watching The Lord of the Rings instead of The Chronicles of Narnia!

2. I didn't care for the action insertions into the movie. I understand fully why they did this. But I, for one, loved the flow of the story in the book, the interaction with Aslan and Lucy and the others. The movie glossed over the whole bit about Aslan's appearances and the kids' (especially Peter's and Susan's) refusal to follow after him and their choice to follow their "heads" instead.

3. I found myself disappointed in the way several of the main characters were portrayed--most especially, Aslan, Peter, Trumpkin, and Susan. Aslan was virtually eliminated from the movie, except in a dream sequence, until late in the film. And then he was depicted as somewhat aloof and disinterested until the very end. Peter was portrayed more as a hormonal adolescent than as a high king. And Susan was characterized as a warrior-woman, who falls for Caspian in the end.

4. But perhaps most distressing to me of all is that my favorite scene of the book was all but eliminated from the movie. This is the scene when Lucy comes upon Aslan for the first time in the book, and she remarks how much bigger Aslan seems. Their conversation in the book goes something like this:

Lucy: "Aslan, you're bigger."
Aslan: "That's because you've grown, my child."
Lucy: "Not because you have?"
Aslan: "No, my child. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger."

They so downplayed this in the movie that it stripped it of any real impact. I found myself looking forward to this scene with such anticipation that when it did arrive, I was totally deflated by their casual treatment of it. It took me a good while to get over the disappointment!

5. Overall, I am thankful that there are movies like PC that are being made with Christian themes, even if those themes are somewhat muted (at least compared with the book). Perhaps the movie will encourage millions of kids (and adults too) to take up the book Prince Caspian and read it this summer. Perhaps it will encourage parents to think about and talk about the book and the way it differs from the movie with their children. If either of these things happen, the movie will have been a great success!