The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

[The Procrastinator]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Well if he could explain it to me then perhaps I would be fine with them too, but trebuchets have a fairly simple mechanical principle that those funny things approximated visually but not functionally, as far as I could see. We can get away with that angle of missile release ourselves (cricket bowlers do it all the time) because of our control over wrist, hand and arm - but siege engines need a brace to stop the arm at a certain point to achieve the correct angle of missile release, because they have no such control. Nor did those funny double-bunger sons-of-trebuchets - but they did look kinda cool.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Procrastinator: It had something to do with the way they were rotating, but I didn't pay much attention. We're always focussing on different things when we go to the movies, and if we encourage each other too much someone ends up talking over the parts the other one wants to hear.

Pyan: I meant to say this before -- if you do go, don't expect any more bloodshed than the last time around (I seem to remember the lack of blood was a problem for you). A lot more battle, but they continued to leave the blood to the viewer's imagination. Which was fine by me.

 

[Allegra]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Went to see it and loved it even more than the first one. The acting, scenery, settings and music are excellent. Even the Telmarines accent is carefully taken care of. Yes like everyone else said Reepicheep is great! The battle scenes are amazing (I secretly wished no horses got hurt during filming).

 

[Pyan]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Pyan: I meant to say this before -- if you do go, don't expect any more bloodshed than the last time around (I seem to remember the lack of blood was a problem for you). A lot more battle, but they continued to leave the blood to the viewer's imagination. Which was fine by me.

Makes me sound really bloodthirsty!

It wasn't the lack of blood as such, more the unrealism of the battle scenes in TLtWatW, compared with, say Return of the King. I realise that the two films have different ratings, PG as opposed to PG-13, but I still think a bit more grittiness in TLtWatW wouldn,t have come amiss.

Still, looking forward to PC...going on Wednesday.

 

[yngvi]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

I went to see 'Prince Caspian' over the weekend, having really looked forward to it. I was a little disappointed, mostly by the last 20 minutes as they just changed too much for someone raised on the books, and they made the battles too big (my Narnia is just like the illustrations in the books, with maybe 50 people maximum in the battles). That aside it was a very good movie.

 

[Paperkut]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Good film , at least is better that the other 1

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

I saw this over the weekend, too, and I loved it. Just my flavour of escapism. Besides a few dodgy effects and some dialogue that just didn't sit right, good fun throughout.

 

[Pyan]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Well...I really enjoyed it.

It suffered from the usual book-to-film rendition problems of having to alter well-loved scenes to better fit the medium, but, for once, the additions were plausible. It was quite reasonable that, given the difference in the available troops of the two sides, a surprise attack on Miraz' castle would have been tried, and the White Witch would offer her assistance to Caspian, and the added scenes didn't jar with the characterization or plot too much. Contrast this with the infamous "falling over the cliff" scene in LotR.

Agree with Teresa about the children, especially Lucy: I thought William Moseley brought out the essential priggishness of Peter, and Anna Popplewell's Susan was excellent - Susan in the books is probably the least fleshed out of the children, and it was nice to see her played as a vital member of the quartet.

The other thing that I really liked about the film was the retention of large chunks of dialogue from the book - again, this puts LotR firmly in its place, as one of the weakest points in that series was the virtually complete abandonment of JRRT's words.

All in all, a very good stab at filming a well-loved book. Much better than TLtWatW, especially the grittier battle scenes. Yes, there was no blood, but at least in this one, you could actually believe characters had been killed off.

8/10

 

[Culhwch]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Perhaps you should revisit LotR with the same attitude you took into Caspian, Py? You might be pleasantly surprised. Certainly - and I'm not an expert on the books, but I've read them a good few times - I thought much of the dialogue, if not directly from the books, was very close to being the real deal (minus much of the inherent tweeness). And, let's face it, slicing Tom Bombadil was an act of inspired genius.

 

[purple_kathryn]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

I enjoyed it but the christian allegory annoyed me a bit. Saying that if I hadn't of known it was there I probably wouldn't have noticed it.

Thought the fx were good, better than last time!

and If I had of been Susan I would have stayed and married the prince. I am a sucker for a sexy accent though

 

[yngvi]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Did anyone else notice the scene with the giant sitting under the tree (set up like the original illustration from the book) Nice touch!

 

[Dave]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Not much to add. I went without any prior expectations and enjoyed a good film. I have read the book, but so long ago now that I remembered nothing at all (and I don't remember if I read the others or not.)

I noticed that Eddie Izzard voiced Reepicheep.

The only thought I had about the attack on Miraz's castle was, if they had left only a minimal defensive force, why didn't more of the Narnians attack? They still seemed totally outnumbered, and yet left many behind. And where did all those civilians in the castle come from the following morning? But it wasn't anything a dwelt on for more than a few seconds.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

And where did all those civilians in the castle come from the following morning?

I wondered about that, too. But then I read somewhere that the civilians were in the village, not the castle. (I guess that means that all Telmarine architecture looks alike.)

 

[clovis-man]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

Well if he could explain it to me then perhaps I would be fine with them too, but trebuchets have a fairly simple mechanical principle that those funny things approximated visually but not functionally, as far as I could see. We can get away with that angle of missile release ourselves (cricket bowlers do it all the time) because of our control over wrist, hand and arm - but siege engines need a brace to stop the arm at a certain point to achieve the correct angle of missile release, because they have no such control. Nor did those funny double-bunger sons-of-trebuchets - but they did look kinda cool.

On a flight home a few months ago, the guy in the seat next to me told me about a time when he and his brother actually built a trebuchet. Apparently schematics were easy to obtain, but instructions were sparse. So they easily built a full sized model, but were unsure of what direction to mount the release mechanism. there were two options, so it was a 50/50 chance of getting it right. They set it up to fire and carefully loaded a 16 pound bowling ball (their missile of choice). When they fired it, they had to run for cover because they had the release in wrong and the ball went straight up about 200 feet. They managed to escape harm and reversed the release mechanism. From there on it apparently worked great shooting the projectile about a football field's length.

 

[Lith]

Re: Prince Caspian (2008)

This one's sure dropped off the radar fast. It was supposed to come to town, didn't, and we barely found it in any of the theaters in Portland over the weekend.

I liked it. Not so much as the first one, which took me pleasantly by surprise. A few too many unexplained movie coincidences, and a little confusion over the names of the characters. Beautiful scenery though, and the kids and new characters were good.

There was a large town right next to the castle- I assume that's where the people in the castle came from the next morning.

 

[Pyan]

"Narnia" series to continue...

20th Century Fox have stepped in to make The Voyage of the Dawn Treader after Disney decided to pull out...

Glad to see this - VotDT is one of the best of the series, one of my favourites, and, IMHO, one of the most suitable for filming.

Narnia franchise continues voyage

The Narnia series of films will continue after 20th Century Fox stepped in to produce the third of CS Lewis's books, Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Fox replaces Disney, which bowed out in December citing "budgetary considerations and other logistics".

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Narnia franchise continues voyage

 

[Michael01]

Re: "Narnia" series to continue...

Glad to hear it. Unfortunately, I have yet to see Prince Caspian, and I want to very much.

 

[The Ace]

Re: "Narnia" series to continue...

Ah yes, 'There was once a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.'

Great news, they still won't do, "The Last Battle," though.

 

[HareBrain]

Re: "Narnia" series to continue...

they still won't do, "The Last Battle," though.

Would anyone want them to? I think it would make a terrible film on every level.

I'm looking forward to seeing how the others turn out though.

 

[Dagny]

Re: "Narnia" series to continue...

Glad to hear it. Unfortunately, I have yet to see Prince Caspian, and I want to very much.

I actually liked Prince Caspian better than the Lion, the Witch and the Warddrobe.