Category: Film
Genre: Fantasy / Adventure / Family / Novel Adaptation
Directed By: Andrew Adamson
Running Time: 140 minutes
Much of my impression of this movie no doubt has to do with the fact that I’m not solidly in the target audience demographic group. As I hadn’t read the Narnia books since sometime in the third grade, I had no detailed preconceptions regarding plot points, just a general understanding of the scope of the tale. With thatin mind I was hoping I would enjoy this second installment more so that the first, particulary hoping for a bit darker tone.
The gloves do come off a bit in Prince Caspian, though I find myself witht the same problem I have encountered with other relatively recent fantasy epics; I can suspend disbelief with no difficulty, howerever, I can’t seem to sustain interest, to buy into the characters and feel a need to care about them. Much of this I think comes from the increasingly mechanical treatment of these novel origin properties.
In Caspian, there were some rather sever problems wiht pacing the story agaisnt the action, and many scenes dis not have the neccessary gravitas to fill the experience. Coincidentally, on a more technical note, the animorph CGI characters (obviously painstakingly crafted, and one of my favorite thematic elements form these films) seemed to suffer from a lack of wieght in their movement, much like 2003’s the “Hulk”.
In the final analysis, I enjoyed the movie, but was not especially engaged by it; visually, the scope and scale of the film does deserve to be seen in a theater.
Rating: 3.5/10
