Product Description

Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna PopplewellDirector: Andrew Adamson

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9298 in DVD
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 2008-11-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .26 pounds
• Running time: 144 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
More exciting than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian continues the movie franchise based on C.S. Lewis' classic fantasy books. The movie picks up where the first left off... sort of. It's been a year since the Pevensie children--Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)--returned to England from Narnia, and they've just about resigned themselves to living their ordinary lives. But just like that, they're once again transported to a fantastical land, but one with a long-abandoned castle. It turns out that they are in Narnia again--and they themselves lived in that castle, but hundreds of years ago in Narnia time. They've been summoned back to help Prince Caspian (Stardust's Ben Barnes, res! embling a young, cultured Keanu Reeves), the rightful heir to the throne who's become the target of his power-hungry uncle, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). And he's not the only one threatened: Miraz's people, the Telmarines, have pushed all the Narnians--the talking animals, the centaurs and other beasts, the walking trees--to the brink of extinction. Despite some alpha-male bickering, Peter and Caspian agree to fight Miraz alongside the remaining Narnians, including the dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard). (Also appearing is Warwick Davis, who was in Willow and the 1989 BBC version of Prince Caspian.) But of course they most of all miss the noble lion, Aslan, who would have never let this happen to Narnia if he hadn't disappeared.

Prince Caspian is epic, evoking memories of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. (Some of the battle elements may seem too familiar, but they were in Lewis's book.) And it's appropriate for kids (Reepicheep could have come out of a Shrek movie), though the tone is dark and there is a lot of death, albeit bloodless. After two successful films, Disney and Walden Media's franchise has proved successful enough that many of the characters are scheduled to return in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. --David Horiuchi, Amazon.com

Synopsis
The characters of C.S. Lewis's timeless fantasy come to life once again in this newest installment of the Chronicles of Narnia series, in which the Pevensie siblings are magically transported back from England to the world of Narnia, where a thrilling, perilous new adventure and an even greater test of their faith and courage awaits them.

It’s one year since the childrens’ adventures in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, but when the Kings and Queens of Narnia journey back to the magical realm (via a London Underground station this time, rather than a wardrobe) 1300 years have passed, the Golden Age of Narnia is over and the kingdom lies in ruins. Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy. The four children meet an intriguing new character: Narnia's rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as Miraz, his uncle, plots to kill him and place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf called Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz's tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.

Directed once again by veteran director Andrew Adamson, the film reunites the original cast and creative team behind the blockbuster first film in the series.

Synopsis
Based on the second novel in C.S. Lewis's beloved CHRONICLES OF NARNIA series, PRINCE CASPIAN finds the four Pevensie children--Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley)--once again whisked away from WWII-era England into the realm of Narnia, where the siblings once ruled as royalty. However, the Pevensies soon discover that 1,300 years have passed since they left, and the world is now controlled by the Telmarines, humans who long ago banished the magical creatures of Narnia to the wilderness. When the heir to the Telmarine throne, Caspian (Ben Barnes), survives an assassination attempt plotted by his scheming uncle, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), the noble youth stumbles across Narnia's exiled enchanted population, and decides to lead them in an uprising, aided by Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy.

Considerably darker and more action-packed than THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE, this 2008 sequel, once again directed by Andrew Adamson, is driven by the struggle between the Telmarines and the banished Narnians, resulting in many fierce battle sequences. While the newcomer Barnes and the established quartet of Moseley, Popplewell, Keynes, and Henley are all in fine form, CASPIAN is largely enhanced by its supporting cast, which includes indie mainstay Peter Dinklage as the dour dwarf Trumpkin and revered comedian Eddie Izzard as the voice of the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep. Also briefly reprising their roles from the previous film are Liam Neeson, as the voice of Aslan, and Tilda Swinton, as the White Witch, actors who bring their familiar personas to this engaging and entertaining second chapter in the NARNIA saga.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!!!!!
This is bluray heaven, picture is breathe taking the visual effects stunning.This movie was made for bluray,could not follow storyline my eyes were mesmerized by the sheer beauty of this movie on screen.The sound quailty was awesome. Thankyou Disney movies for this excellent movie.I love it.

Great film - despite differences from the book
Prince Caspian is a superb film, and great to own on Blu-Ray, which gives full rein to the breathtaking and detailed cinematography. It's a great film even though it differs from the book in many crucial respects though -- in case you are thinking about not watching it for this reason -- it remains fundamentally true to what the book is about. Want to know how? Read on.

Prince Caspian (the book) was the second of the Narnia books to be written, and was the 'return to Narnia' after the unprecedented (and unexpected) success of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of the seven, it's probably the most adventurous and exciting, but it also has to work very hard to explain itself. What this boils down to is that the book begins with a fairly lengthy 'mystery' sequence, where the children arrive in Narnia, but spend a long time before they understand that they are in Narnia, followed by a very long 'flashback', while Trumpkin the dwarf explains the entire history of Prince Caspian (the character) and the entire course of the war with his uncle Miraz. The children then travel with the dwarf through a changed Narnia, in a section dominated by Lucy's passion to see Aslan again, and the disbelief of the others. The book really takes off when the boys join up with Caspian, and the girls with Aslan, leading to one of the most exciting and well-described sword-fights in all of literature. After victory, the book culminates in joyous and eminently readable victory celebrations.

Prince Caspian is a great book, but, quite obviously, most of the plot presented in that way would be almost impossible to make into a film which was anywhere near as exciting as it deserves to be.

So, what was the film-maker's solution? To keep most of the plot, but to play it in a different sequence. Sometimes this is overcoming the difficulty of doing flashbacks well (by presenting things in their 'natural' order), but, more often, it's playing the crucial scenes actually in a different order.

I have to say, I was worried that this would happen, which is why I didn't see the film in the cinema (my loss). My niece still refuses to see it.

Although casually cutting up the best bits of the book and gluing them back together differently sounds like a kind of desecration, it actually works very well indeed. A couple of major scenes are added, including a daring (but doomed) attack on the castle of Miraz, and there's a lot more footage of Miraz and his family. What the screenwriters seem to be trying to do is to keep the spirit and ethos of the book, and draw out the characters, and moving the plot around in order to make sense of it.

This is quite different from the way that The Lord of the Rings was altered for the film, with a very different (and disappointing) slant placed on the character of Elrond.

If you've read the books, and can see that this is the same story told different, then you will be able enjoy to the full this rivetting, gorgeous, touching and perfectly timed film, which (because of the way the plot changes) keeps you guessing right to the end, the way the book did the first time you read it. If you haven't read the book, then this is a great movie and will help the book to resonate afterwards. If you've read the books, though, and can't bear for any of them to be altered, then take heart: with its criss-crossing plot and time lines, Prince Caspian will have been by far the hardest of the books to bring to film. Expect a Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Silver Chair, Horse and his Boy and Magician's Nephew which play very straight, in much the same way that The Chronicles Of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe was filmed. The Last Battle, though, may prove more problematic...

What I loved most about this film was the way it brings out the legendary status of the children as Kings and Queens of Narnia, while constantly contrasting it with them as children. The sense of the inter-mingling of time is heady and potent. The camera work is dazzling, and the music, especially when it calls to mind Mr Tumnus's theme from the first film, perfectly offsets it.

Provided that you can overcome the radical surgery to the plot, this is virtually a film without flaw, and its special effects easily overtake its predecessor.

Very warmly recommended, despite my initial misgivings.

You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember
Imagine finding a magical kingdom in another world... only to return over a thousand years later, and find it in ruins.

That's the whole idea of "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," a superb sequel to "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe." While it has a climax that goes on WAY too long, this movie shows us the darker side of C.S. Lewis' fantastical world -- with a heavy dose of Shakespearean villains, political intrigue, and some spectacularly epic battles.

It's been 1,300 years in Narnia, and the human Telmarines have invaded and driven the native Narnians underground. Aslan hasn't been seen in centuries.

And when King Miraz's (Sergio Castellitto) wife gives birth to a baby boy, his nephew -- the rightful heir -- becomes an obstacle. Young Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) flees from his treacherous uncle, and is discovered by a band of Narnians. Along the way, he accidentally ends up summoning the ancient Kings and Queens of Narnia -- also known as the Pevensie children, who were waiting at a train station when they were unexpectedly sucked trough a tunnel.

Though initially delighted to have returned to Narnia, the Pevensies are horrified when they find that their once-idyllic land has been nearly destroyed. Caspian has been organizing a ramshackle army of native Narnians, but Peter (William Moseley) finds that fighting an organized, armed force is very different from battling the White Witch. And after a disastrous attack, the Narnians are facing almost certain destruction -- but Lucy (Georgie Henley) is convinced that Aslan can somehow save them, and restore the kingdom to Prince Caspian....

"Prince Caspian" is definitely a darker story than its predecessor -- good guys die, coups fail, evil machinations succeed, the castles are grimy, some of the good guys turn bad for real, and a bleak, hopeless feeling suffuses much of the movie's second half. Even our heroes have to deal with their doubts and anger, especially since Aslan is conspicuously absent for 95% of the entire film.

And if the first film was a colorful fantasy adventure, then this one is a military story with all the necessary action trappings -- spectacular aerial drops, castle-wide massacres, and a spectacular finale involving a massive pit, tree roots, a river, and catapults. But Adamson also packs in as much violence as a PG-rated movie can contain -- while there's only a few drops of actual gore, there's plenty of beheadings, shootings and stabbings.

But Narnia itself has lost none of its charm, and Adamson lingers lovingly on the sunlit forests and quiet rivers for as long as he can. And though the story is grim, he sprinkles it with plenty of humor (the bound-and-gagged cat) and fairly snappy dialogue. One of the most spectacular scenes involves a very familiar character speaking from inside a sheet of shimmering ice, as Caspian is dragged into a necromancer's ritual. It's really rather creepy.

Problems with the movie? Well, the climactic battle drags on for a LONG time, and every time you think it'll end, it revs back up. And those masked soldiers are a wee bit too reminiscent of "300's" Persians.

The four Pevensie actors all do solid jobs, although William Moseley is the standout -- Peter is struggling with doubt and a bit of alpha rivalry, especially since he's used to being Narnia's top dog. Barnes starts off a little stiffly -- come on, where's the fear when you see your bed turned into a pincushion? -- but soon grows into the difficult role of a Hamlet-like prince who is struggling to become both a Narnian friend and a Telmarine king.

But there's a pretty brilliant supporting cast as well: Castellitto is simply outstanding as the ruthless, icy-cold Miraz, as are Damián Alcázar and Pierfrancesco Favino as his scheming advisors. Warwick Davis does a low-key, malevolent turn as Nikabrik, while Peter Dinklage is the likably brusque, cynical Trumpkin. And Eddie Izzard is top-notch as the mousy swashbuckler Reepicheep -- this could have a silly, comic-relief character, but he does end up being both adorable and formidable.

"Prince Caspian" drops the children's fantasy feeling, in favor of a darker, more militaristic story -- especially with all that father-murder stuff. But despite its darker overtones, it never forgets the light side.