To criticize the latest film adaptation from C.S. Lewis's classic Chronicles of Narnia series for being manufactured would be like criticising a stopwatch for being manufactured. “Of course I was hastily assembled with machine-like efficiency,” the stopwatch would protest. “Now bugger off so I can continue timing things with, uh, machine-like efficiency.”
Like clockwork, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian nails every single beat a modern high-fantasy epic is supposed to. After spending a year back in boring old London, the Pevensie children are transported back to Narnia where 1,300 years have passed, and the magic Narnian creatures have been all but exterminated by the invading loose Spanish analogues, the Telmarines. They meet Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), heir to the Telmarine throne, who is at war with his evil uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). Quickly getting over the attempted genocide, the Pevensies join forces with Caspian to kill some Spaniards. Though the safe approach is disappointing in some ways, it makes perfect sense: with a budget of $280 million, Prince Caspian is now the most expensive film ever made.
Caspian is a bigger, darker and much more Christian book than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. What’s strange, though, is that Lewis’s story is manipulated to justify an extra battle in the second act — what was just an offhand suggestion by a secondary character in the novel becomes a major turning point in the film. Though it’s certainly the most thrilling moment of the movie, given the massive cost, the necessity of the addition is questionable.
Lewis’s obligatory Christian subtext is handled with more elegance than the first film, though it does get awfully allegorical when Azlan (lion-Jesus) appears. The parallel of the mustache-twirling Telmarines to the Spanish isn’t handled with as much tact — they are almost all depicted as bloodthirsty warmongers. Apparently the English aren’t quite over Philip II. This isn’t helped by the fact that Barnes, as Caspian, can’t seem to decide whether he’s French or Spanish, and the amalgamated lilt he eventually settles on sometimes has the hilarious effect of making his character sound harelipped.
The Telmarines present more tangible problems for the film as well. The first film used its action sequences to explore the unique combat styles that mythological creatures. With one side of the battlefield now entirely human, the possibilities are considerably more limited. Sadly, this leads to a rather bland third-act climax. With all of the imaginative violence exhausted, the last 10 minutes or so feel like a bargain bin Lord of the Rings (which, notably, only cost $282 million for the entire trilogy).
Safe is the watchword for Prince Caspian. While it’s by no means a bad epic fantasy genre film, it’s also by no means an interesting or original take on the source material, either. It’s been designed with the expressed purpose of affixing yet more jewels to the giant money-hats everyone at Disney wears, and as a finely tuned work of profit, its engineering has to be respected.
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