Nowadays, sequels to movies are not as good as their predecessors. But ‘Prince Caspian’ proved it wrong. It’s better than ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’, though it does lack some of LWW’s charms.
The sequel (which is also the fourth book of C.S Lewis’ ‘The Chronicles of Narnia) tells the story of Narnia, 1300 years after the Pevensies leave Narnia. Humans, called Telmarines, seize the land of Narnia and leave the Narnian creatures to be extinct. And while Prince Caspian the Tenth is under his uncle Miraz’ care, Miraz’ wife conceives a son, and Miraz devises a plan to murder Caspian, so his son can get the throne. Caspian escapes, and asks the remaining Narnians for help to overthrow Miraz from his castle, and claim his rightful throne.He also calls for the Pevensies to help him for his quest.
The film is very noticeably darker than LWW was. From the inviting glorious grasslands of LWW, we are transferred to the dark forest of PC. And also, the film is very violent, though no blood can be found. The film indeed has more glorious battle scenes than the first. And the last battle in the end of the film? It makes the last battle in LWW seem merely like a children’s TV show. It is simply glorious.
However, even though Prince Caspian is better than the first, it lacks some of the charms that made the first film magical.
Aside from that, the biblical imagery in this movie is noticeable, though not as noticeable as in LWW. The imagery in the film tells us that if we do not believe in God, then how can we succeed?
All in all, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a great film, better than the first, and certainly worth one year and a half’s worth of wait. It will still be a long wait, however, when we expect The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader to arrive in cinemas in 2010.