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Last Updated: Jun 25th, 2008 - 12:47:36 |
The newest action adventure of the summer movie season, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” is a sequel that brings to life a novel in the series by author C.S. Lewis. And true to fans of these books, the movie is best appreciated by children-who-read, if not by their parents, who will be dragged by their young charges to the theater.
In this story, the four Pevensie siblings—Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan—find themselves swept away again to the magical land of Narnia, which has undergone major changes since their last visit, when they were victorious over the evil White witch (No Hillary Clinton jokes, please) and were crowned queens and kings of the land.
In this sequel, another battle is brewing and the siblings must join forces with Prince Caspian, who is hunted by his murderous uncle, General Miraz. As Miraz seeks to eliminate the prince from the line of succession to the throne, the prince, along with the Pevensie siblings and the inhabitants of Narnia—many different beasts, creatures that are half-beast and half-human and dwarfs—fight to regain control of their land from Miraz and his tribe of humans called the Telmarine.
As in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” this movie has the feel of an old-fashioned fairy tale from England that will appeal to children who relate to characters such as talking badgers and mice, mythological minotaur and dwarfs with the power to be good or evil. Also, from the time that the four children leave their regular life in London through their time in Narnia, “Prince Caspian” is not in the least a movie of diversity. Like the epic “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, there is no effort to make the population of Narnia at all diverse, not even in a token manner—unless, of course, you count the minotaur, who is half man and half horse.
More so than the first movie, “Prince Caspian” delves more deeply into biblical themes: great battles between good and evil, vague images of God like we’re accustomed to seeing in movies from the 1950’s, and a concrete image of evil though Miraz and his swarthy minions who might be from Spain or the Middle East.
Overall, the special effects are not as sharp as those in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” and the production and direction struggle to keep the film at a lively pace. But “Prince Caspian” serves its primary viewers—the young “Harry Potter” crowd—pretty well. While the story builds to its battle royale, the rest of us in the audience may have a greater battle to stay awake or not smirk at all the corny creatures chatting and running around with swords.
This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i>
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