Dated 15 June 2008, 1:59 pm (Pacific SA Std GMT-4 hour)
"For Narniaaaaa !!!"
Ha! Ha! I watched Prince Caspian for the third time last week on the same day my son John arrived from the US for his summer break. He hadn't seen it even once. It was the fourth time for my daughter Jayne and the second time for the rest of my family.
I have also already purchased the 7-title book series of CS Lewis so I can read it and really understand the story and see for myself whether they have kept to the storyline or they have changed it a bit or a lot. I haven't done much progress reading it though as my son Jed took it from me soon after I started. However, I have read some reviews, and many are bad, simply because in this second installment the producers seem to have taken more liberty in making changes in the story. For instance, they made the Pevensies get together with Prince Caspian much earlier in the story, they added an extra battle which is the night raid on Miraz' castle, they changed the character of Peter, High King of Narnia, from that of a boringly consistent good character to one which is more realistic – conflicted, nasty, impatient, angry and changing, getting humbled and reverting back to the good old big brother and High King that he was. And then there was also the infatuation between Prince Caspian and Queen Susan which many avid fans of the CS Lewis books found disagreeable as it never happened. In the book version Susan was supposed to be 13, Peter 14 and Caspian 13 when they met and worked together to put Caspian back rightfully to his throne. They were supposed to be in their very early teens. But because the filming of the first Narnia movie and its release took so long, Anna Popplewell who was 13 and William Moseley who was then 16 (they played Susan and Peter Pevensie, respectively)had already turned 16 and 19 respectively by the time they filmed "Prince Caspian." And the character of Prince Caspian himself, played by 25-year old (at the time of shooting) Ben Barnes was also way too-old to be 13, as in the book version. So, the ages of the children were obviously not kept according to the storyline in the book version. According to the movie version of "Prince Caspian" he's supposed to be about the same age as Peter and Susan. So, being all supposed to be in their late teens, it's only natural that there would be sparks between Susan and Caspian, since they are both attractive and likeable characters in the story. Hence, the kiss at the end of the story. However, both Anna Popplewell and Ben Barnes were not actually agreeable to it at first, since both of them have read the CS Lewis books.
Many people are asking why Disney chose Barnes to play Caspian when he's much older than the rest of the Pevensie kids. Well, we must understand that Disney has its practical reasons. They need to book the "Prince Caspian" character for the next installments of the CS Lewis movies they plan to make as sequels. The next sequels will depict him as somebody older. For instance, the next one which will be shot in October this year and shown in May 2010 will depict him as an established King Caspian. If they chose someone very young for the present "Prince Caspian" installment he wouldn't be convincingly old enough to be King Caspian by October this year. At the same time, one of the criteria they had in choosing the "Prince Caspian" character was someone who would be able to handle the sudden enormous changes to one's life and identity, when catapulted overnight, from near obscurity to the center of media attention, not to mention the gigantic leap in pay rise. It would have been almost impossible to find one with such maturity in anyone less than 25 years old.
And why is "Prince Caspian" not doing too well contrary to expected? I mean, they projected it would do better in the box office than the first Narnia movie, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". But it's doing far behind it, although many people are saying, me included, that this movie is better than the first. I guess the novelty has worn off? Or too many good movies being released together with it at the same time – The Iron Man, Indiana Jones, etc.? Well, I don't really wish to speculate though I have a feeling why. Will talk more about it below.
Why am I so in love and "so stuck" with this "Prince Caspian" Narnia Disney movie installment? I am amazed at the amount of things I saw in the movie, which others don't. Only my daughter Jayne and I actually kind of agree. After I read so many reviews on the movie I realized that most people see some other things, the superficial things. Even the actors themselves don't see anything spiritual about the movie. And yet the main theme is so glaring: The childlike faith of the youngest Pevensie kid saves the day. Apparently, according to one review I read, the reviewer hated the fact that he/she was being "preached at" by this film and that's the reason he/she didn't like it. It was originally intended as an allegory by CS Lewis in the original book version, not "preachy" as this film puts it across, according to the reviewer. And that made me curious. Who is Andrew Adamson, the movie's director? What kind of person is he? How can he produce such a "preachy" movie?
True enough, my gut feel was right. He comes from a very Christian upbringing. He is a Kiwi and his Kiwi parents were once Methodist missionaries in Papua New Guinea. Cool. Having brown up as an MK (missionary kid), how can you ever get that worldview out of your system? You can't. One childlike faith saves the day. Period. Preachy, allegory, whatever… I love this Narnia installment made by Andrew Adamson. Much better than the first one definitely. I haven't read the book, and told as it is (though I had the gut feel the many battle scenes and fast pace of the movie would be more of a modern improvisation rather than the kind turn-of-the-century tales would be like), it scores as "epic" to me, even not counting the CGIs and other special effects. The storyline is, plain and simple, cool. I haven't seen a movie like it in ages and I doubt if I will again, for a long, long time.
Now, this is the intellectual analysis on my perception of the movie. On the other hand, I feel there is an emotional side to it, too. I can't exactly pin down what it is but I believe, the story, cinematography, soundtrack, intense emotional scenes and the dark serious mood of the story all played together to awaken my "first love" for the Lord, the Lion of Judah (who to me is Aslan in this movie). It reminds me not to procrastinate, but to act on my convictions, at once, and not make the same mistake that Lucy and Edmund did in the story. When others lose faith, why should it deter us from pursuing God by ourselves? This is the main reason why I'm quite stuck in Narnia Land, not intending to move on… and I love it. :-)
Also, I have officially become a "William Moseley fan", because of his superb acting and massively awesome stunts, not to mention his fresh dashing looks. I have read almost every interview, story and feature related to the "Prince Caspian" movie, I have seen almost all the cool videos on You Tube on it as well, ugh, in other words, as my teenage daughter says, I have become a "Narnia Teenie". Oh well, bear with me, I suppose. :-)
Pertinent You Tube vids:
22 min.
Behind the scenes of The Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian – includes storming Miraz' castle scene, fighting scene between Caspian and Peter, interview of all the cast; Ben Barnes talks about William Moseley's famous stunt with the horse; 7:45 min.
Prince Caspian » Good Morning America. May 8, 2008
Interview with Anna Popplewell and William Moseley
4:38 min.
The controversial kiss between Prince Caspian and Queen Susan:
Interview with Georgie Henley, Susan Popplewell and William Moseley
3:37 min.
Ben Barnes talks about it in this interview
Ben Barnes & mtv 1:15 min.
And now, William Moseley's famous Horse Stunt.
What Will had to say about it:
ComingSoon.net: We heard you did some horse stunts.
William Mosely: Yeah, we did some horse stunts. What did I do recently? Well, I did the biggest horse stunt I've ever done, which was I had to… actually, it sounds pretty crazy, but I basically had to chase a running horse, I had to grab onto the saddle, I had to kick a guy while the horse was running and I had to jump onto the back of the horse, and carry on going...all in a courtyard at four in the morning, it was raining.
CS: Did you do that yourself?
Moseley: Yeah, I did that myself. It was easy. (laughs) It's funny when you do stunts like that, because you know you can do it, and if you're not quite getting it, then...I don't know, you want to do it again and again and again, but you don't really realize how dangerous it is at the time, until you look back and go, "Oh, at take 7, I probably should have taken a break."
CS: How many takes did you do?
Moseley: Seven. That's all I was allowed. I wanted to do eight, but seven was all I was allowed. Two were perfect, five I was kind of like, holding on for dear life a couple of times.
CS: Were there any wires involved?
Moseley: No wires involved, no. It was good, though. It was really fun. They must have a lot of faith in me.(Taken from
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/interviewsnews.php?id=38420)
Related Posts:
Stuck in Narnia 5 June 2008
This Movie Rockz 20 May 2008
