Prince Caspian Thoughts
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
I got the opportunity to see Prince Caspian this morning and jumped at it, my previous tries getting interrupted with time conflicts. The best part of going so early (besides the reduced pricing) is the lack of foot and car traffic. The parking lot was fairly empty, as was the audience for Prince Caspian, maybe 15 people. I missed the trailers and the first few moments of the film due to terrible traffic, the freeways here in So Cal can be horrid at times. =/
I really liked the first film, and it really surprised me that it took nearly 3 years for the sequel to come out. I had expected them to really capitalize on the success of the first to get moving on the second. Saying that, this one won't near the first's box office take, but I think that's the chance you take putting it out in the crowded Summer market. The first came out in winter i believe, less competition (I think maybe only Goblet of Fire?) led to a bigger take. That said, this was very enjoyable in its own right.
I've yet to read any of the books, which is something I probably should fix, but now that we're in the phase of seeing them produced as films I think I may just wait until they go through the lot of them before picking up the prose (or a rainy day/week. XD) It was nice to see the actors hadn't aged too much and were still believable in their roles. In the previous film, my least favorite character was Edmund Pevensie, but seeing him a little older and a bit taller, it really did a lot for him. He felt more mature and I found myself wishing he had more lines in the movie (It does make me happy to find out he's in the next one).
I was a little disappointed with the lack of magical feeling in the film. I do understand that was something they were trying to put over with this story, how Narnia has become wild and repressed as time went by, but all the doom and gloom could have used a bit more of the fun splashed around. I was surprised by the turn Warwick Davis's character took, I knew the White Witch would make an appearance but I had all but forgotten that her assistant had been a dwarf.
I hope the studio doesn't get too down by the numbers this one brings in, I would hope that they would take notice and move the next one from May 2010 to Dec 2010, to go against less competition. It'll be interesting to see how my interest keeps as the cast begins to change, but I definitely feel solidly for the series - haven't had a bad time yet!
**** out of *****