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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Three-Disc Collector's Edition + Digital Copy) | 
 enlarge | Director: Andrew Adamson
Actors: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell
Studio: WALT DISNEY VIDEO
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.99
Buy New: $19.99
You Save: $20.00 (50%)
New (47) Used (12) from $19.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  159 reviews
Sales Rank: 171
Format: Box Set, Color, Dvd-video, Ntsc, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 3
Running Time: 149
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.7
MPN: 0581200
UPC: 786936772340
EAN: 0786936772340
ASIN: B001EDOC5Q
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: December 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 12/02/2008 Rating: Pg
Amazon.com
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, resembling a young, cultured Keanu Reeves), the rightful heir to the throne who's become the target of his power-hungry uncle, King Mraz (Sergio Castellitto). And he's not the only one threatened: Mraz'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 Mraz 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 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
Stills from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 154 more reviews...
 What an incredible disappointment... January 5, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Prince Caspian" was almost entirely horrible. For those who love the book by C.S. Lewis, this is a movie you will only see once. Adamson strayed so far away from the story that it was hard to remember you were watching the tale of Prince Caspian at all. Many of the events are totally out of order, and Peter's character has been infused with a set of childish antics that greatly take away from the story as a whole. In the book, as the children return to Narnia, they quickly go back to having the mindset of great kings and queens, but unfortunately, Adamson chose to have Peter play a selfish, obstinate child rather than someone who has been a great leader. In one particularly heart-breaking scene that has no bearing whatsoever on Lewis's classic story, Peter makes a decision that brutally costs many of the Narnians their lives. This was the worst part of the movie because the arrogant judgment was not one that the character Lewis created would ever have made. I hate to think that many people will believe that this is the true story of Prince Caspian because of this movie. It is a deep shame that "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was done so well, while this movie's only redeeming qualities were the interesting battle strategies and CGI techniques used. To put it in perspective, this movie was as disappointing for fans of the Narnia series as "X-Men: The Last Stand" was for those who have followed the comics for years.
Beautiful scenery + Spectacular special effects + Good fighting scenes + Very little dialogues = Worth watching January 2, 2009
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've not read the book this movie was based on. So, I don't know how much different it is from the novel.
The scenery is poetic and attractive. The best thing about this film is the spectacular special effects, especially the water creature and the mice. They look life like. There is some good humor too. For example, when the cat was tied up by the mice. The fighting scenes are realistic and exciting. The sword fighting between Peter and King Miraz is tense and engaging.
The big problem is it has very little dialogues. That does not help me connecting with the characters. This movie is all about action and beautiful pictures. It's still a good movie for kids.
For this kind of genre, Lord of the Rings is still the only one on my Favorite list.
What DO they teach those moviemakers in their schools? January 1, 2009
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I loved all seven books of The Chronicles of Narnia, and enjoyed The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe's movie adaptation when it came out a few years ago (I don't really consider the BBC movies to be good or valid, so I tend to block out the fact that I've seen them).
I can't say that I didn't enjoy Prince Caspian, but I was disappointed in the amount of "creative license" taken. What was all that tension about between Caspian and Peter, anyway? It made them both seem petty and immature, and diminished their roles as nobel, "good" young men. And why, oh why, does every director think there needs to be a romantic interest between any characters of the appropriate age? That was just plain dumb, in my opinion...Susan is dislikable enough as it is without making her irritating as well.
I sometimes wonder if the people who write the screenplays ever read the original books they're supposed to be adapting. Although Prince Caspian wasn't "that bad" when it came to it, I can only see a future of more and more deviation from the story as the movies go on (look at the Harry Potter movies and how vastly different from the books they've become, compared to the almost-perfectly-done first HP movie). I would love to see more of these, but I would enjoy seeing them made well.
Another reviewer mentioned that he/she couldn't connect with the characters because of so little dialogue, and I realized that's what I'd been missing without being able to pinpoint it. The dialogue and banter in a movie are the only insights we get to a character in a movie, since we can't see inside the mind as we can in a book. Not every viewer prefers slam-bang action over plot content.
Yes, yes, I'll most likely see the next Narnia movie if/when it comes out, but I'll be hoping for better things.
there's a reason why I avoid fantasy movies December 31, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
And this movie is a great example why. I lucked out with the first Chronicles movie, it was good enough that I gave it a 7/10. It did everything that a movie like that should do, without any major mistakes. This sequel however lacks everything that made the first one good. It has no human element. It literally feels like they just went through the motions and decided to make a fantasy movie for kids, with no regard for script revision, character development, meaningful dialogue, etc. It's a BASIC kids movie, which means nothing truly has to be fleshed out. This approach will ALWAYS result in a fundamentally bad movie.
**All the charm from the first movie was gone, and other than Lucy, these characters just aren't likable very much at all. The girl playing Lucy did a great job here like last time though, I hope she gets many more roles.
**What's up with the constant, sweeping, forced, emotional music?
**Edmund and Susan felt like role players. They got lost amidst the shuffle of all these characters. It got to the point where I was consciously watching to see what lines they would speak next. And those lines mostly consisted of soulless, interchangeable lines that could've been spoken by one of the bears or cheetahs for all we care.
**I really hate to compare it with the Lord of the Rings movies, but it's really hard not to do when you have walking trees going into battle, a water creature summoned to wash away bad guys on horseback, and bow and arrow tricks being performed which doesn't involve actually shooting the arrow..
**Susan's kiss to Caspian at the end goes in my book as one the most contrived kisses I've seen in awhile. There was nothing that happened for her to even develop these feelings. From what I can recall, there was no more than one or two times that they even specifically looked at each other. And during the times they did that (looked at each other), I was actually praising the movie that they didn't overdo it with these forced exchanges where the girl shyly looks at the handsome hero, with just a hint of a smile on her face, as she then walks away as the hero searchingly gazes at her, with a wondering, thoughtful look on his face, before the scene fades to the next. I was glad they DIDN'T go this route and kept it subtle. Well so much for that; she ends up randomly KISSING him on the mouth at the end. Contrary to what movies may have you believe, this NEVER happens. Ever. No girl does that. Think about it from a real life perspective, this would be the equivalent of you helping a female friend unpack her things after a move, during which time her female roommate is also there (which sets the scenario for you sort of knowing this other girl), and then after all the unpacking is done, the roommate comes up to you and just plants one on your mouth. How realistic does that sound? Bottom line: no girl walks up to a random guy and just kisses him on the lips. This whole clichéd romance angle hurt this movie's credibility even more.
**I haven't seen a forced romance this...forced, since Winona Ryder inexplicably fell in love with Edward Scissorhands after she saw him on TV and he said he would "do anything for her."
 Enjoyable despite not being faithful to the book December 31, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Purists will revile this adaptation of C.S Lewis's Prince Caspian as it takes quite a few liberties in adapting the book but on the whole, I thought the production quality in this movie was much better than the previous instalment. And though this adaptation is not faithful to its source, the movie itself is entertaining with some great special effects [though not quite the caliber of LOTR].
The story [unlike the book] begins in Narnia, where a woman gives birth to a boy and Prince Caspian [Ben Barnes, looking uncannily like a young Keanu Reeves] is awakened by his tutor/mentor and told to flee for his life, Turns out, Prince Caspian's uncle, the evil Lord Miraz [Sergio Castellito] now has an heir and is plotting the Prince's demise. Caspian flees into the forest where he meets Narnians, who have been presumed to be long extinct.
Back in England, the Pevensie's are wondering if they'll ever go back to Narnia - it's been a year [their time] and Peter [William Moseley] yearns for the days when he was High King, his younger brother Edmund [Skandar Keynes] seems to be bailing his older brother out of brawls, Susan [Anna Popplewell] has blossomed into quite a lovely young lady and Lucy [Georgie Henley] also yearns to be back in Narnia. Their wish is granted when Caspian blows the horn that summons the Pevensie's back to Narnia. It seems that 1,300 yrs have passed since they were last there and things have changed drastically. Lucy claims to have seen Aslan, but none of the others have seen him and they don't believe Lucy. The siblings soon run into Caspian and band together to help the Narnians reclaim their kingdom from Lord Miraz and the Telmarines [the humans who live in Narnia].
The spiritual themes that abound in C.S Lewis' work is not much evident here - to delve deeper into that aspect, one will have to read the books. I also felt that there were some unnecessary diversions such as the alluded to romantic spark between Caspian and Susan. Caspian's character is not very well-developed here. The acting of the main characters seem quite wooden most of the time, not much of an improvement since the last instalment. Also, some of the battle scenes seemed to be rip-offs from LOTR, though there were some interesting elements. I liked the chivalrous, warrior mouse Reepicheep [voice of Eddie Izzard] and also the dwarf Trumpkin [Peter Dinklage] - both made for credible and interesting supporting characters.
Though definitely not in the caliber of LOTR, Prince Caspian is an entertaining epic movie and makes for an enjoyable viewing experience.
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