Prince Caspian

Jump to Comments

I really enjoyed the new movie adaptation of Prince Caspian. I want Ents Trees in my back garden. I mean Trees, not trees… I’m talking about Trees, the things that can whip an entire army from hundreds of metres away. I was disappointed with the first adaptation in this series – The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Perhaps it’s because I prefer that book, so my expectations were higher. I just found the first movie a little tame and a little lacking in heart – although I thought Mr Tumnus and the White Witch were great.

I’ve been trying to work out why Prince Caspian was one of my least favourite of the Narnia books. I think it probably has something to do with the relative lack of magic. I suppose I never really feared Miraz as an antagonist: when compared with the various witches in the other books, he seemed somewhat unthreatening… after all, he is just a man. He has no supernatural powers. This is perhaps the point of the book, which seems to be about lack of faith, and the dangers of human ambition, or something like that.  Reading the book back – as I have been this week - I’ve found myself enjoying the story a lot more than I did when I was a kid.

I think the second reason I didn’t enjoy the book as a child is because, unlike my other favourites (The Magician’s Nephew, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, The Silver Chair) there is very little exploration of the world itself. Aside from the childrens’ discovery of Cair Paravel at the beginning of the book, the world is not a new wonder to be uncovered, and as a child, this meant the book interested me less. I liked quests, and I liked that sense of wonder. I think I found it lacking in a book which seemed to be a lot more about politics.

I thought it interesting that many of the posters  advertising the movie feature a picture of Miraz in his battle mask, beneath the words “Unmask the New Evil.” When I first saw these, I remember wondering if there was a supernatural antagonist in the book that I’d forgotten about. Certainly the suggestion is that there’s an inhuman and evil creature waiting to attack the Pevensies, perhaps even more of a threat than the White Witch. But there isn’t. And this poster makes me think I might not be alone in thinking Miraz is a bit of a puny enemy…

1 Comment

Filed under Books

Tags: Books, cs lewis, movies, narnia, prince caspian