My Prince Caspian review

Okay, now that I've stopped obsessing...okay, stopped HYPERVENTILATING, I decided that now might be a good time to review the movie while it's still fresh in my mind.

Anyway, "Prince Caspian was in so many ways, much more epic than "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." The music, the sets, the action, the drama, was all reminiscent of the old Narnia and SUPERSIZED AND DRAMATIZED! (not in a bad way.)

***SPOILERS. LOTS. DO NOT GO FURTHER IF YOU HAVN'T SEEN THE MOVIE YET!!***

Even though the first film was adapted INCREDIBLY, I still feared that Hollywood would take away some of the Christian message of this movie. Now, I havn't read all of Prince Caspian (I've read most) but the movie was completely filled with Christian messages. Some may argue that this film was darker than the first. They're absolutely right. It was much darker, and Narnia has fallen into war and chaos. But if it hadn't, they wouldn't be giving us a very good message. (Doesn't that sound odd?) Aslan has been gone for 1,300 years in Narnia time, leaving Narnia (and now Telmarine) pretty much on their own since the Pevensies left. Basically, if Narnia was exactly the same as it had been, it would mean that the Narnians and Telmarines didn't need Aslan (Christ) and could perfectly function on their own. If Narnia was the same, it would take away from the message of dependence on God (which was shown completely throughout the movie)

One thing about the Pevensies that struck me in this is, they all stray. They all try to rely on their own strengths or, (in Lucy's case) are afraid of standing on their own. Lucy insists on waiting for Aslan to come before a battle, while Peter replies that he thinks they've been waiting for Aslan long enough. Unfortunately, many lives are lost because of Peter's self-reliance. Later, Aslan teaches Peter the error of his ways when Aslan is the one to completely wipe out the retreating Telmarine army.

On a less serious (aka, adults will approve of this) note, I was very surprised when i became attached to one of the characters that I wasn't previously attached to in the first movie. Edmund. I admit, he bothered me. He was so negative, and the one always bringing the other Pevensies down. In this book, such a major change in character was stunning, but not unrealistic. His sense of wit was amplified, making many remarks that cracked me up. Edmund developed a sense of valor and responsibility in this movie that I really admired.

Peter really surprised me in this movie. He was so clean cut and almost perfect in the first movie, in this one he got to show a bit of an edge (as "Nobody's Perfect" by Hannah Montana begins to get in my head, and I begin to feel like I'll scream...) Peter shows very little patience in "Prince Caspian" and tries to rely on his own strengths too often, causing, or almost causing, several major downfalls. Of course he never stopped being himself at heart, you'll easily recognise the Peter we know from the last movie. His protection of Lucy was really sweet, but he also learns to respect her as well, which I really liked. (He trusts her enough to send her on a possibly dangerous mission, because he has confidence in her.) He maintains his honor still in this movie. He fights honorably against King Miraz (aka, REALLY BAD GUY) and almost loses because of it. The battle ends with Peter standing over Miraz, with Miraz on his knees. Instead of killing him and finishing the fight himself. Peter hands the sword to Caspian.

Caspian, since learning that his uncle killed his father to gain the Telmarine crown, Caspian is after Miraz with a need for revenge. (He could be compared to Inigo Montoya. He even says, "You killed my father." In that mostly Spanish fake accent of his which prompted me to whisper to Sophie after the scene ended, "Hello. My name is Caspian the Tenth. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Ben Barnes actually watched "The Princess Bride" while trying to work on his accent. Okay, getting off topic here...) Caspian readies himself to kill the man who murdered his father, but is stopped when Miraz says that maybe Caspian does have the potential to be king of Telmarine. Caspian answers that he does not want to be king the way Miraz does it. In a very suspenseful moment of confusion, Caspian lets loose a battle cry and plunges the sword into the ground instead of Miraz, walking away, because his life "isn't his to take." Caspian shows a strong sense for injustice, trying as hard as he can to go against Telmarine, which is going to murder all of teh still existing Narnians. Caspian isn't perfect in his decisions, (He and Peter regularly butt heads, and his need for revenge may have affected the outcome of a major battle.) But nonetheless, Caspian fulfills his potential.

Susan's personality hasn't changed much since the last movie. Her fighting style on the other hand...Susan, the archer of the Pevensies, was cool when she was shown in the first movie. Most of the fighting was shared by her brothers, leaving her out of most of the action. In "Prince Caspian" Susan is a warrior, shouldering defending Narnia almost, if not equal to, Peter, Edmund, and Caspian. She partakes in every battle and conflict, defending those she cares about fiercely. Towards the end, Susan stays behind to fend off over six enemy soldiers so Lucy can escape safely. (Susan KICKS BUTT!!) She takes out around six, before she's almost hurt. (Not to make her sound weak, she was INCREDIBLE and extremely brave in this scene) She's saved by Caspian, who followed to protect her and Lucy. She was approaching 'Legolas style" archery movies, which impressed me greatly. When she's in the close combat, she may use her bow to simply hit oncoming warriors (who have REALLY big swords) or use her arrows almost like daggers (which is done by Legolas in Lord of the Rings and is EXTREMELY COOL!!!) Archery is my favorite sport, so it could be understandable why I over analyzed her archery and fighting style so much. hahah. Bottom line, don't mess with Susan.

Lucy hasn't changed much either, in a a good way. Her faith in Aslan makes her the voice of reason in most circumstances, and she's portrayed as very strong, trusting in Aslan to save Narnia. She definitely has her "moment of extreme awesomeness" when she is standing next to Aslan, unflinching, as the Telmarine army charges toward them. (This is when Aslan decimates the Telmarine army.)

This movie was peppered with funny to sarcastic comments. New characters like Trumpkin (a dwarf, a comic relief character) and Reepicheep (the mouse who doesn't enjoy having that pointed out too him) were hysterical.

This movie is much darker than the last (with a scary scene featuring two creatures trying to force Caspian to surrender to the White Witch. Edmund saves the day! A part where I had to try SO HARD not to scream, "YEAHH!! GO EDMUND!!! WOOOO!!!) but it's all in keeping with the theme of reliance in God. I wouldn't really recommend it for anyone under twelve, and that's only if they can handle fictional violence and highly tense moments very well.

Okay, I have to say it, THE BATTLES WERE INCREDIBLE. From a castle (attempted) siege, and an open field battle, the action and battle plans never stopped. A scene where Susan, Caspian, Edward, and Peter were dropped into the top castle walls by Griffins made me actually chuckle with awe at their ingenuity. The Narnians (when i say Narnians, I'm counting the Pevensies and Caspian) are KICK BUTT fighters!! (ESPECIALLY the Pevensies and Caspian)

Everyone has their opinion on the "infamous" romance between Caspian and Susan. First off, I have to say, they HAD to have some break in the movie from tenseness or fighting. LOL. ;-)
Anyway, anything between them until the last minute Susan returns to England, is very vague. Caspian wasn't trying to flirt wit her, and Susan wasn't falling head over heels for him. THEY'RE IN A WAR!!! hahah, most movies would ignore that and put it in anyway, but not this one. You can see that Caspian has an affection for Susan (offering to protect her on her mission with Lucy, which she declines...he ends up following her anyway and saving her, go figure.) Susan doesn't show very much preference to Caspian, but sides with him on a few matters against Peter. Most of the "romance" is shown on Caspian's side. Like I said, Caspian doesn't flirt with Susan once in the entire movie. Most of the way your discover he likes her is in his eyes. (Ben Barnes can act amazingly with just his eyes, that's an incredible talent that not many actors possess as well as he does.) To end it, Susan gives Caspian a quick kiss at the end because she knows she'll never see him again. After, Caspian quickly hugs Susan and watches her walk away, (and I admit, watching him watch her leave broke my heart) not trying to convince her to stay (as most typical Hollywood male leads would.) Basically, the only "relationship" that Susan and Caspian have (besides the quick moment at the end) is simply most of the time Caspian showing a bit of extra care for Susan.
But come on, you have to admit, they're really cute together. hahha. Don't deny it!!!

And so, here ends my INSANELY long review. You're lucky you're not Brianna, who I could barely form coherent sentences with while I gushed about the movie with her. hahha. Or maybe SHE was the lucky one, since she didn't have to sit through ALL THIS.
What can i say? It was fantastic and one of my new favorite movies.
To finally draw this to a close, *readers, who are still here, cheer* Prince Caspian was EPIC.