The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

I went into the theatre with very low expectations, yet I secretly longed to be surprised by a marvellous film.  I left secretly disappointed.  It was flat, so utterly flat.  The performances lacked life (excepting Skander/Edmund and Peter Dinklage/Trumpkin).  Though it seemed very much like the fault was shared by the actors and the director.  In fact, the story was in itself lifeless.  Perhaps if they had stuck to the way C.S. Lewis wrote the original story, things would have fallen better into place.  I agree, though, that not every page to screen adaptation can be exactly like the book; that there are some liberties that can and should be taken.  For instance, if Peter Jackson had included every adventure account in Tolkein’s masterpieces, we would have sat through films of at least four to five hours.  Some would argue in favor of that, but I find them to be the true fanatics.  But for Prince Caspian there was a good story in the book that somehow got lost in the transfer to film.  I hate to say it, but I found it to be mindless entertainment.  It almost hurts to say that because I know that Lewis never meant for his works to become mindless.  In his own words: “Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it.  It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.”  I would say these words apply very much to film as well as literature.  The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (though I disliked it at first) did very well in being not only good entertainment, but also a good and enriching adaptation.  I think that’s about all I have to say about this film without being too rude and ripping into things.  Props for the special effects, costumes, cinematography, slo mo, and most of the other tech aspects.