The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - Film Review
July 1st, 2008 by Robert
How must it feel to go from being the ruler of a fantasy kingdom, in your early twenties and in the prime of life, only to find yourself transported back into your teenage body back in World War II London? I can’t help but feel it would be somewhat deflating. So imagine your mixed emotions to get back to said fantasy kingdom one year later only to find it’s been crushed under the heel of a tyrannical invader for the several centuries that have gone by there in your absence. Read the rest of this entry »
Star Wars, Indiana Jones… are there any more great films produced by George Lucas in the last 30 years that he can now cynically revive with so-called sequels designed solely to cash in the nostalgia of Generation X-ers? Phew, looks like he’s done the lot, unless of course he wants to release a CGI-augmented version of American Gigolo… 
Well, there’s certainly a lot of blood involved. In fact, in the swordfight scenes that are strewn haphazardly through this trash heap of a film, all it takes is the slightest contact between sword and body armour for a veritable fountain of the red stuff to burst in a torrent from the unfortunate protagonist. Not that there’s anything wrong with a C-grade vampire/fantasy flick going a bit overboard with the gore. What’s less forgivable is the execrable acting and a truly atrocious script. 
The appeal of the fantasy and sci fi film genres must seem so easy to understand for the clueless Hollywood execs who churn out so many examples of each these days. Whip up some spectacular CGI effects, throw in a monster or two and loads of breakneck action and insert star here. Amongst all that mediocrity, then, it’s surprising to see an effort that displays such thoughtful craft in its writing and execution. 
Well, it’s aimed at kids. So you have to make allowances. But it’s damn hard to make allowances for something so lame. 
As a massive fan of Philip Pullman’ books, it’s hard to be objective. The film is visually impressive and with a great narrative drive thanks to the source material. Lyra is just a great character, and thankfully her essence is preserved in the screenplay. 
There are so many reasons to love this film: it is a masterpiece of production design - the brightly coloured suburban utopia/wasteland next to the dark and gothic (and much more Burtonesque) inventor’s mansion