Starring William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Peter Dinklage, Liam Neeson
Written By: Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Directed By: Andrew Adamson
Studio: Disney/ Buena Vista
Buy on Amazon.com link

Prince Caspian is the latest Narnia movie and it’s just as good as the Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. There are some things that felt different about the movie but overall, I enjoyed it a lot. Prince Caspian is now out on DVD and Blu-Ray. You can read my brother’s Blu-Ray review www.readjunk.com/dvdreviews/chronicles-of-narnia-prince-caspian-3-disc-blu-ray-edition here.

Prince Caspian takes place a year after the Pevensies returned from Narnia. In the last movie, they mistakenly returned to England by entering the wardrobe when they were a lot older. Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy have to come to terms that they are young again and not in Narnia anymore. It must suck to go back to their ordinary lives when they were Kings and Queens of Narnia. Meanwhile, in Narnia, 1000 years has past. The Narnia’s are scarce and Aslan hasn’t presented himself to Narnia in years. The rulers of the land now are Spanish-style conquerors called the Telmarines and the leader is Prince Caspian’s uncle King Mraz. The King tries to kill the Prince after his wife gives birth to a boy. The Prince escapes his Uncle and gets help from the remaining Narnia’s. Prince Caspian summons the Pevensies to come back to Narnia to help out. Together they try to take down the King and restore Narnia to what it once was.

I liked Prince Caspian a lot but I felt there was something missing to the movie. I’m not sure what it was, maybe it was a lack of mystical elements or something along those lines but it felt different to me. That’s not to say Prince Caspian is bad, I actually liked this movie just as much as The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. But when I watch Prince Caspian, I can’t help but think there needed to be more in it. Maybe I was just used to the Beavers, Aslan and other things like that. I haven’t read the books so I’m not sure how true the movie was to the book or where the story continues. I’m really looking forward to the other ones though, and hope Andrew Adamson continues making the movies. He has a keen eye for this type of stuff and makes a lot of these fantasy characters really believable looking. If some other director came on, I’m not so sure another director would do as good as job as Andrew.

Story-wise, I would have liked to have seen the children back in London a little more. It would have given them a little bit more depth and would have been good to see them suffer a little bit in the real world. In the movie, they are just thrown back into Narnia and you don’t get the sense that they were gone for too long. When they do get back into Narnia, I liked how the world has changed since they left. I would have liked to have seen more of Aslan, since Liam Neeson does a superb job of doing the voice-over work. Eddie Izzard was great as Reepicheep and provided some comic relief, as did Peter Dinklage. They both were a welcome addition to the cast. I’m not sure if their characters are in the other books but that would be cool if they were.

I thought the film was even better this time around with the action sequence. The siege on the castle was excellent and really exciting. I loved the point of view Adamson gave where Edmund is flying with the eagle creatures. I also love the low shot of the mice seizing the castle as well. The ending was good, but felt too Two Towers for me. I know I know, Lewis and Tolkien were friends and wrote the books around the same time. I can just see them in some pub, getting loaded and trying to come up with a cool story. I do say, wouldn’t it be brilliant to have the trees attack people? It would be a smashing good time.

The extras are located on Disc 2 and they were awesome. The last movie’s extras were in-depth and thorough as well. You get loads of behind the scenes featurettes that show you filming, special effects work, makeup work, lots of interviews and many more! Each featurette ranges from 5 minutes to 25 minutes or so. I really like all the featurettes and enjoyed seeing them scout out the different locations. I think if I was part of a movie, that part of the job would be fun for me. I just love to travel and think it would be fun finding locations to shoot at. Of course, Ind rather be in the movie or doing the design work before resorting to that job. The bloopers were funny, and the deleted scenes were okay. I liked the quick featurettes on Peter Dinklage and Warwick Davis, who play the two dwarves in the film. If the extras prove anything, is that making a movie can be fun and exhausting at the same time. But it’s all worth it in the end.

Prince Caspian is just as good as the first movie and fans should enjoy this one. I know I did, even though I felt some things could have been better. The filmmakers did improve on the action and some other elements in the movie though. I liked that the film was darker than the previous film and curious to see how the other films will be. If you liked Prince Caspian, be sure to get the DVD or Blu-Ray because it’s worth owning.

Features:
Disc 1:
– Audio Commentary With Director Andrew Adamson And Actors

Disc 2:
– The Bloopers Of Narnia
– Deleted Scenes
– Inside Narnia: The Adventure Returns
– Sets Of Narnia: A Classic Comes To Life
– Big Movie Comes To A Small Town
– Previsualizing Narnia
– Talking Animals And Walking Trees: The Magical World Of Narnia
– Secrets Of The Duel
– Becoming Trumpkin
– Warwick Davis: The Man Behind Nikabrik

Disc 3:
– Disney File Digital Copy
Watch your DVD in the living room and your DisneyFile Digital Copy on the go!

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 2.40:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:

Favorite Scenes: The Siege on the Castle, The end battle
Rating: PG
Running Time: 149 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: