by Claire Ramsey
It is a unique moment in my experience: movie makers take a story with severe sequel-itis and create a movie without it!
Sequel-itis (n) : a common condition that strikes authors and movie makers after a very successful first offering, usually the result of trying to recapture the fire in the bottle. The response from the fan base is generally letdown and, potentially, loss of interest. (See Gimmick, Repeated Jokes, Bigger is Better, Longer Action Sequences.)
C. S. Lewis published the very popular The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1950. Prince Caspian, published in 1951, has never been one of my favorites in the series. Had I read it when it came out, I would definitely have diagnosed sequel-itis — it is so leisurely (dull?) compared with its predecessor. (And yes, folks, we are listing the series in order of PUBLICATION, not chronology… bah! newfangled chronology…)
I am justified in doing so, however, since director Andrew Adamson is presenting the movies, so far, also in publication order. Prince Caspian the book is an awkwardly written story with the majority of the action being told in flashback by Trumpkin the dwarf (great acting by Peter Dinklage, by the way) and only one major action sequence happening in the present. Not only that, but there is an extended siege in the book (which would have had the movie reviewers, who griped about the length of the movie battle, snoring in their popcorn.) Had Prince Caspian the book been lifted whole cloth into the script, this would have been one boring movie.
However, joy! Adamson and fellow script writer Christopher Markus clearly saw the problem right away and set about making changes that purists probably deplore but made for a much better movie. Long flashback series caused by Caspian blowing Queen Susan’s horn right before the end of the story? Nope — Caspian blows the horn right at the beginning, yanking Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy (rulers of Narnia from Lion) right off their subway platform and into a Narnia 1300 years later than the one they ruled.
The Telmarines have conquered Narnia and driven all the fauns, dwarfs, centaurs, and talking beasts they didn’t destroy into hiding. The walking trees have gone dormant, though the Telmarines still fear them greatly, and the original Narnians have hidden so well that they are by then only legend. Miraz the murderous regent, then king, is busy building bridges and bringing “civilization” and industry to Narnia. Above all the Telmarines hate and fear the sea, for Aslan comes to Narnia across the sea…
Instead of the book’s endless siege where the Telmarines defeat the Narnians again and again, Adamson has substituted a pithy attack on Miraz’s stronghold, recklessly ordered by again-High King Peter who has been spoiling for a fight. The Narnians are rebuffed soundly and must retreat to their stronghold where the Stone Table from Lion once stood and where a great mound, Aslan’s Howe, has been raised to mark the spot.
Beyond the plot contractions and improvements, though, are the details that honor the story and truly make this movie worth seeing: inside Aslan’s Howe are 1300 year old drawings of Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy from when they ruled in the past. Tilda Swinton’s White Witch gets a cameo as Caspian’s more dubious allies attempt to raise her from the dead. A big improvement over Lion, the dryads, or tree-people, actually WALK in Caspian rather than just moving as clouds of blossoms (and are much more awesome than the ents from Lord of the Rings.) And when Aslan finally arrives, my favorite parts of the story were not abandoned in favor of a shorter film — hallelujah! The river god rises from the Fords of Beruna and breaks his chains (the bridge), the trees drive away the frightened Telmarine army, and the valiant warrior mouse Reepicheep (a brilliant combo of art and Eddie Izzard’s voice) loses his tail in the battle only to have it restored by Aslan.
OK, I experienced a pang or two over the completely unnecessary hints of romance between Susan and Caspian (and what was that SONG at the end?!?) and the absence of Bacchus and the Maenads in the retaking of Narnia, but overall this was a movie I was happy to pay full price to see. If this is what Adamson and Markus can do with the weak Prince Caspian, than I am going to be there on opening day to see the much more fun The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!