Film: Prince Caspian

[erastes]

What a bloody disappointment.

When I came out of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe I remember getting out my mobile phone and ringing RW Day and screaming OMG OMG OMG into the mouthpiece because it was like someone had opened the top of my head and had made the film better than I had imagined it.

This, though – what on EARTH were they thinking?

I was prepared to be happy about the little changes when they first got back to Cair Paravel because they covered it quickly, but in a way that made sense, and used all the salient points. But then they missed out entirely the whole “seeing Aslan” and “I told you so” part when they were travelling from there to Aslan’s How.  Then …. there’s no bloody Asland. Then there’s this huge entirely unnecessary part where they attempt to take Miras’ castle, I mean WTF? All shot in the dark so you can’t make out what’s going on – and STILL no Aslan.

Then the single combat which misses out some of the salient parts (STILL NO ASLAN) like not having Reepicheep as a steward but having one of the Bulgy Bears (and where are the CHARACTERS?) …. and now there’s a big bloody battle and still. No. Aslan.

What an absolute PIGS EAR of an adaptation.  No wonder it didn’t stay in the cinema for long. And what an absolute heart breaking disappointment after the beauty of the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Comments

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

Somewhere in my LJ is a rant about this film. Agree with everything you say and will add on my annoyance at how it was made into a teen movie rather than anything to do with CSL. And I don't believe that any 1940's boy said his brother was 'there for him', nor would the adults on the underground have tolerated that fight. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

[erastes.livejournal.com]

If you find the rant, I'd love to read, I was probably skipping reviews at the time because I was planning to go and see it at the cinema.

Grrr.

[mylodon.livejournal.com]

http://mylodon.livejournal.com/96285.html

Not much rant in the post, more in the comments.

[angrboda]

It was AWFUL! I'm still, in a vain hope of it being unable to get worse, going to see any others, but I won't be expecting anything. It'll be like when I went to see OotP. I couldn't possibly be disappointed by it because after the travesty that was GoF, I had absolutely no expectations. If anything I was relieved...

I know a film adaptation can't possibly follow the book precisely, but I don't know which book they used to make that film. It sure as hell wasn't the one I've read!

And the Caspian/Susan romance-y bits? What the fucking fuck???? O.o No! Just... NO!

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

And the Caspian/Susan romance-y bits? What the fucking fuck???? O.o No! Just... NO!

That was the thing that finally made sense of the Harry/Hermione thing for me. I never got Harry/Hermione as a pairing--they clearly weren't together, or anything more than friends. But so many people felt that it was inevitable.

And then I heard about the Caspian/Susan and I got it:

In the eyes of the media, the female lead has no justification for existing unless she is being paired with the male lead.

You couldn't take the Pevensies out of the equation. They were vital. By the same token, you couldn't remove Caspian from the equation either--he was the title character.

So the only thing to do, obviously--at least in the eyes of the producers and director--was to pair up Caspian with the female character closest to him in age. And that was Susan. Lucy wasn't old enough to paired off, and Peter and Edmund were boys and could therefore be important characters in their own right. (And oh, that makes me grit my teeth and snarl.)

And thus Susan ends up sending the message that Susan herself ended up buying in the end: that it's irrelevant that she had been a queen and had wielded power. That, in the end, what matters are things like prettiness and parties and being liked by the right boy.

The message that made her "no longer a friend of Narnia."

Wow, guys. Way to miss the point.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

It was utterly stupid. I would much have preferred to see her (and hope I do) as the queen being courted by all and sundry in Horse and His Boy - but this was just icky.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

SO MUCH WRONG. The only decent part was Reepicheep.

And where was the freeing of Narnia? That's as bad as missing out the Scouring of the Shire.

[kcwarwick.livejournal.com]

Oh no! I was going to rent this and was really looking forward to it. I was brought up on the Narnia stories and was impressed with the first film. Well, at least I'm forewarned!

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Exactly - that's why I was looking forward to it, because of the first film and that chap from Weta saying how much he revered the books and didn't want to ruin them.

FAIL!!!

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm shallow. I liked it. But mostly because I thought that the young man who played Caspian was hot, and that my slash goggles could get some interesting play between him and High King Peter going on. What better than rivalry and a bit of jealousy to spice up a quickie? And, um, well, I REALLY liked the Griffins.

I know. I know. Irreligious, but I'm shallow enough to like hot boys in armor.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Oh i liked the hot guy in armour but I hardly saw the Griffins due to all the night time shooting. And the modernising of the speech made my teeth itch. gah. And the books were never religious to me, so no probs there.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

I am a connoisseur of griffins. My grandson, and all, you know. :-) So any movie with griffins in gets a bump up in grade even with the night flying. (And these griffins were quite spiffy from what I could see.)

I agree that the film screenplay could have been MUCH better but I am looking forward to the Dawn Treader movie with this young man.
No King Peter, alas, but in compensation, no Susan. So I have high hopes that it will be muuuuuch better.

Prince Caspian

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

But what about Edmund/Caspian? =O

;-)

erastes--I had the opposite reaction from you. When I watched LWW on the wide screen, I kept on wincing and thinking to myself, "Not in the book. Not in the book. TOTALLY not in the book." I couldn't enjoy it because I was expecting a reenactment. I've also always pictured Peter and Susan a few years younger.
To me, LWW's only saving grace was James McAvoy the pretty faun >_>

Which is why I didn't watch Caspian until it came out on DVD. By this point I didn't expect any faithfulness to the book, because um, Ben Barnes is most def. not twelve years old? So the movie was just: Ben Barnes + Skandar Keynes = PRETTY! And I enjoyed it muchly that way.

[dubaiyan.livejournal.com]

When your viewers actually want Jadis to return, something is wrong...

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Heh yes, that was a good scene!

[essayel.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what that was but it wasn't C S Lewis. I'm not a big fan of the Christian 'message' but I like the idea of their faith being tested, and that was missed out completely.

My favourite bit of it, though, is the freeing of Narnia with Bacchus and Silenus and the 'wild girls' and I mourned their absence far more than that of Tom Bombadil from LOTR. They were a necessary part of the story - he was never really more than an entertaining diversion.