Movie review
I was really going to start a separate blog for my book and movie reviews to keep them from eating my LJ, but I'm having a major art block and can't design a decent layout to save my life. So I'm just going to stick this one here for now.
This isn't a recap, so you should be fine reading this if you haven't seen the flick yet. There may be minor spoilers, but nothing worse than you'd fine in a rotten tomatoes review or the like.
Oh, and I sort of went crazy with the visual aids, so dialuppers, be warned.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Epic battle scenes, talking animals, and endless opportunities for double entendres involving swords--what's not to love?
OK guys, I'll be straight with you. Considering that the last fantasy movie I saw was Eragon, that should be enough to sour anyone on the whole genre. I think you can infer the only thing that would lure me into another fantasy flick:
Hey, baby, wanna hold my sword?
Fun fact: I found out the actor's name is Ben Barnes, and is that name totally misleading or what? I mean... it just doesn't sound~*princely*~ enough, ya know? I'm not sure if it even sounds like an actor. Maybe one of those guys who appears in the mile-long list of credits as an "assistant grip" or something. Or else that nondescript dude who shows up in like, every CW show with roles like "boy in coffee shop" "boy with locker next to Clark Kent's" "boy who gets energy-sucked by the Freak of the Week in the teaser" or something.
Anyway, it turns out that this was actually a good movie (although considering what I'm comparing it to, that doesn't take much). At least there wasn't anything brain-breakingly stupid in every frame, and the regulation hottie got more than 5 minutes of screentime.
Another thing I loved? No damsels in distress. It seems like every fantasy flick has one. There was Arwen in Lord of the Rings, and don't even get me started on that sorry excuse for an elf, Arya. Bitch doesn't even have pointy ears. Sorry, but being a supposedly "strong" female lead doesn't count unless you actually, you know, do something besides lie around breathing suggestively. Susan would not approve.
Elf, please. At least my armor doesn't have cone boobies.
Even Lucy, the little girl, is smarter/more resourceful/less useless than your average fantasy chick.
Hehe, Aryna's lame.
So yeah, major points to CS Lewis for writing cool female characters. Normally I'm not all crazy feminist about movies and stuff (even I think the whole changing the Star Trek intro in TNG to be more gender-neutral thing was lame) but it does get really old after a while.
Not to say this flick didn't have all the stock fantasy elements: epic battle scenes, old wise mentor figures with long beards, big ole gothic castles (do villains really like living in such poor lighting? Isn't it harder to read their diabolical plans that way?), an antagonist with funky hair (the whole pointy-beard thing he had going was A++), New Zealand, and talking animals. But the great thing about this movie is that despite the derivative nature of these things, they were still awesome. The characters were fun, well-defined, and engaging, and the special effects were superb. There were some really cool effects and action sequences, particularly during the fight scenes. And the cgi'd animals were cute!
You took my Ice Spiker! Prepare to die!
Listen kid, Dumbledore's the gay one, not me.
You know you've got a problem when a talking mouse is fiercer than a talking dragon.
Compared to the first Narnia movie, this sequel was spare on touchy-feely stuff and heavier on plot, which was OK with me . I've never been much for sentimentality myself. I did not read the book, so I can't comment on how faithful the adaptation was, but I found the plot easy to follow and make sense of despite not having read the source material. I give props to the writers for this, since overdependence on viewers' knowledge of the source material was a big problem in the latest HP flicks and in many other recent film adaptations (Atonement comes to mind). In fact, I prefer to read reviews of adaptations by people who've never read the book, since it's always been my opinion that a good adaptation should be able to stand on its own. Prince Caspian accomplishes that quite nicely. You need not have seen the first Narnia film to follow the events, although it would definitely help, as many references are made to the first film and a major character from it reappears (it was pretty cool, actually).
Now for the whole kids' movie thing: I wouldn't call this a kids' movie. Yes, the protagonists are kids (well, I'd say adolescents... the only one that seems really young is Lucy), but Prince Caspian is no more a kids' movie than the later HP flicks were. I'd class this movie with Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, and other mainstream fantasy epics as opposed to kids' movies like say, Horton Hears a Who. Like in HP, the Narnia world seems to mature with its characters, as this film gives a darker, less innocent portrayal of Narnia. The characters themselves are growing up, and there's even a little romance in there. And thank CS Lewis, it is way better than anything HP has to offer.
So yeah, not a bad way to kill a couple hours and waste $20 (matinee prices, yay). Gotta respect a film that you can still take seriously despite talking mice and villains whose name sounds suspiciously like Tamarinds.
And because I felt like it, moar Caspian picspam!
Miraz is just hatin' cos his hair doesn't wave so perfectly behind him when he runs/rides a horse. They must have some great stylists in Narnia.
Oh, and pictures ganked off movieweb.com
Dammit, it's 2am and now I'm hungry. And I've gotten a sudden hankering for Tamarinds.
