“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is a much much better film than its predecessor. It digs deeper and has layers of plots along with varied type of characters. The Pevensies in this version believe in their characters and give a matured performance. The disappointment in the first one did not overshadow this well made film having a spectrum of avenues to be dealt in its third venture in future.The Pevensies Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) are called on by the horn from the world of Narnia, by Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). The reason is that he is chased by his uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) and they are the Telmarines, a long time enemies of the Narnians.The Narnians now live in low profile. Telmarines believe that Narnians are extinct. And this is due to the invasion of Telmarines over them in the past fourteen hundred years with the Pevensies and Aslan (voice of Liam Neeson) leaving them. The Pevensies along with Prince Caspian got to fight Miraz to win his empire back and also to strike a peaceful existence between Telmarines and Narnians.
It all resembled similar as the first one with the target set on the “evil” King Miraz and now the return of these four kids to go through the whole nine boring yards of assemble, prepare and destroy him did not hold a good promise. Gladly the film takes much of the struggles the kids have accumulated in the past one year finding it hard to survive in the human world of London in the film. They have been adults in Narnia before they accidentally returned and Peter desperately wants to grow and he misses the respect, action and command of being a King in Narnia. Edmund a snob in first has accepted the fact trusting and loving his siblings. Susan is traveling towards being a young girl while Lucy is still the very same kid believing in her instincts and imagination as she was before. All these personalities take form and they understand it along this struggle for uniting to fight for the people in the land.
There are mistakes made and lives are lost. The prime character of Caspian adds to this young blood being fast and hasty adding to the already pumping testosterones of Peter. He has seen the only land of Telmarines but his tutor Doctor Cornelius (Vincent Grass) educated him on the far world been destroyed with the stories of super natural powers and prophecies. The story also tells about the reach for new land and the people making a difference in the perceptions and maturity to a boy.
This time, Narnians does not comprise of Aslan and couple of badgers but more comic, delightful and much developed characters. It has the Reepicheep (voice of Eddie Izzard) a courageous comical mouse and constantly gets annoyed of people think of him less. Izzard in his minimal scenes makes us to take this mouse seriously as it wants to simultaneously providing the laughs. But it takes Peter Dinklage’s Trumpkin, a dwarf exhausted by the constant hiding and is grumpy about the leaders abandoning the soil of home to something extra. Dinklage and Liam Neeson performing the characters tells how much good actors can make a simple prop persona for plot into something real and sensational.
The graphics are ample and the stunts are spectacularly choreographed. It has more wide sense of the creatures and people in the arena. More importantly there is a strategy and a plan. The fight for kingdom this time has layered reasons. The fight for freedom and the hindrance of a peace much long should have been achieved is discussed. The Narnians themselves had and gets into a difference of approach and opinions in the governance of their land. This takes the attention off the usual predictability into characters lured for opportunity. It tells the temptation on the young men to make a deal with the devil not realizing the consequences. Mainly this film takes its contents quite seriously than the previous.
Andrew Adamson directed both the films and it is astonishing to note such a vast difference. The film has a fresh outlook on the complexity of the world it has created. And he has treated the characters with respect and does not plainly brand them as evil. There is a desire for a throne and as a family man, Miraz wants to secure his place and relish his generation further. And the enmity and judgments of Telmarines and Narnians are still to be seen in the next film. I told in the review of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” that “It is a formulaic fantasy film which I generally stay away from and hope the sequel proves me wrong.” Adamson sure did prove me wrong.
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