Prince Caspian!
I saw the new Narnia movie over the weekend, and I can strongly recommend it.
It is wonderful.
It deviates from the book (sorry, Purists) but it captures the soul of the book, which is no mean feat. There were parts I thought splendid, parts I thought moving, parts I thought were delightful to the eye, and even parts that captured the living spirit of C.S. Lewis, at least a bit. There is a hint of attraction between Susan and Caspian that is not from the book at all, but which I admired. There is a scene in the book where the darker Narnians, night-hags and werewolves, talk about summoning up the White Witch again in order to save their land, which, in the movie, is handled differently: they do more than just talk, and the scene is chillingly (forgive the pun) effective as a scene of real temptation and moral peril.
Complaints? Criticisms? I have only the most minor. While I liked the scenes where Queen Susan shoots her bow, Artemis-like, in combat, having a slightly-built girl stun a fully-armored professional soldier with a blow from her bow sets off my “Xena” detector. Well, maybe Aslan was helping her. Maybe the gravity on Earth is higher than in Narnia, so she is correspondingly stronger than a grown man.
Second criticism: Reepacheep (my favorite character of all Narnia) was not courtly enough in his speech. They should have given him an elegant accent; he should have sounded like Ronald Coleman.
But these are the most minor of complaints, merely whining on my part. Overall, the movie was wonderful. Better than the first, by my lights. There was a scene where Lucy is talking to Aslan that brought a tear to my eye, so poignant and piercing was the sentiment. She asked him a question I should like to ask my own God. I would that I could receive the answer with a cheerful and childlike a faith as hers.
My highest compliment is a matter of mood. This was like a story about King Arthur coming again, when he wakes with his knights from where he sleeps below Alderly Edge in England’s hour of greatest need. But in this case, the “King Arthur” were the four schoolchildren from wartime England, young and bewildered, but undaunted. I was pleased to see the theme of Peter as “reluctant hero” quietly dropped. He is a warlike youth in this film, a teen who remembers with frustration what was like to be a grown-up and a king, eager to fight.
Just a fine film, true to the book in spirit, and a refreshing visit to a best-beloved childhood tale.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
