So I took the kids to Prince Caspian today on a whim. All in all a very good movie... unless you wanted to see the plot of C. S. Lewis' novel Prince Caspian in movie form. I mean, they didn't change the entire story: the characters generally have the same names, for example.
I was generally impressed with the movie adaptation of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, which led me to actually see Prince Caspian in the theatre, rather than waiting for the DVD release. Even The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was not completely true to the novel, but it was as close as Disney can reasonably be expected to get, so I tolerated the minor plot deviations, and very much enjoyed the movie.
But Prince Caspian took so many liberties, it went beyond "liberty" into "anarchy". They inserted at least one major battle, gutted Trumpkin's role, didn't even name most of the major Narnian characters, ignored Dr. Cornelius' long relationship with Caspian (briefly alluded to it, but also indicated it was substantially different than in the novel), totally changed Aslan's return (neither Bacchus nor Gwendolyn are even mentioned), and developed an entirely weird romantic interest.
All was not lost: the movie is really very well made, and the story is not bad, just... er... novel. The actors were very good, the battle scenes epic, the score very good, and the filming well done. All in all, it was a good movie, and I shall certainly buy the DVD on release. I did enjoy it, if not so much as Spiderwick earlier this year. Of course, I haven't read Spiderwick, which could have a lot to do with that.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
"You are free to eat."
Disclaimer
The views and opinions on my blog don't reflect the views and opinions of my employer.
2 comments:
I talked to Ames and read this just in the nick of time. We were about to take the kids! I think we'll go see it ourselves and perhaps get the DVD when it's out. We'll see.
I will miss Gwendolyn, though. I am quite, quite fond of her.
I realized a couple years ago that I can buy a DVD when it first hits the shelves for less than we can go to the movie theatre. Thus, buying a DVD when it releases, watching it once, and throwing it away is cheaper than going to the theatre. That's when I started buying movies I was interested in on release day, even if I suspect I'll throw them away.
Of course, I don't actually throw DVD's away: I give them to Goodwill and claim them on my taxes, but you get the idea.
I just thought it might be fun to take the kids to the movies: we've only gone a handful of times, and it's still very new and strange for them.
Earlier this year we got "sneak peak" passes for Spiderwick, and that's when I saw that Caspian was coming out.
Post a Comment