by Sheila Koester

Created on: June 02, 2008

I enjoyed viewing the second movie adaptation based on the book Prince Caspian by C. S. Lewis. Prince Caspian is the fourth book in The Chronicles of Narnia series following the plot begun in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. There is a great deal of symbolism in this movie, which might be easily misunderstood by a younger audience under the ages of twelve or thirteen and up. I thought that this movie was more appropriate for a teen/young adult audience. There are many action scenes appealing to the sensory perceptions of movie viewers this age.

Overall, I thought the movie followed the original story plot intended by the author, C. S. Lewis, with one exception. There is a fight scene at the beginning of the movie set in a 1940s London subway between a couple of boys, one of whom was one of the Pevensie children, that does not happen in the original book.

In the first Narnia movie, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy were commissioned kings and queens of Narnia by Aslan, the realm's fictional creator. Many years had passed since they ruled Narnia. Summoned back to Narnia by a magical horn blown by Prince Caspian, while he was escaping his pursuers sent by his evil uncle, the four children emerge in Narnia. They had been returning to school in 1940s England and were waiting in the subway station for the train to take them there. Just as the train passed by, they were whisked away to deserted ruins near the seashore on an island once referred to as Cair Paravel, where the four children lived while they ruled Narnia. After frolicking in the water, they decide to explore the ruins and found relics of their past lives as kings and queens of Narnia.

Soon their curiosity prompts them to find out what happened in Narnia. Lucy notices how much things had changed since their reign in Narnia ended when the trees didn't dance and move as they once had. She approaches a bear, in her anticipation of making a new friend, but this turns into a disastrous experience when the bear decides to attack her instead. Trumpkin, the dwarf that they have met and are traveling with kills the bear with his bow and arrow. He is standing in the boat behind Susan who has also fired at the bear.

Lucy alone of all the four children believes that she has seen Aslan, the great lion of Narnia, and that he has shown her the way across a raging river. Peter, Susan, and Edmund have their doubts, but follow Lucy after she falls down a grassy spot that leads to

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>