David Ashton said :
I doubt we will be seeing any future movies in the series

Not so David. The next film “Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader” will be released in ten months time about 30/4/2009.

“Director: Michael Apted
Cast: Ben Barnes, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes

Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia with their cousin Eustace where they meet up with Prince Caspian for a trip across the sea aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader. Along the way they encounter dragons, dwarves, merfolk, and a band of lost warriors before reaching the edge of the world.”

And then after that :

“The Silver Chair” will be the fourth film in the series. Andrew Adamson, the director of the first two movies in the series, has indicated that he wants films two through four to be released closely together, which implies that “The Silver Chair” will probably be made. However, pre-production has not yet started.
Ben Barnes is expected to reprise the role of Caspian X due to the terms of his contract; no other word on casting has been announced.

I must say that David A’s reaction was quite different to mine (though, admittedly, it’s a few years since I read the book).  I’ve talked to other devotees of the Narnia Chronicles who also really enjoyed Prince Caspian.  Both movies have altered the stories to suit cinematic audiences, and both have to some degree altered their ‘theology’ (if such a thing can really be said) also.  But they are still well put together movies, and IMO not so far from the original stories as to have lost any sense of continuity.  I’m glad that there are more in the pipeline.

Kevin Goddard - 28 June 2008 02:31 AM

David Ashton said :
I doubt we will be seeing any future movies in the series

Not so David. The next film “Chronicles Of Narnia: Voyage Of The Dawn Treader” will be released in ten months time about 30/4/2009.

By “we” I meant my family.....sorry.

I still hold to my opinion that the original story was trashed, and the meaning is lost in the attempt to make it more “exciting”.

Hi Bob,

My family also enjoyed Prince Caspian as a movie - and I am looking forward to seeing it again. For purists it may not have been ‘true to the book’ - but that is the nature of the cinema experience. There was an interesting article in “The Times” on Thursday ( the date of the UK release ) that said :

The Chronicles of Narnia series: take it as read.

“ No matter how well a great children’s book is filmed, it can’t match the pictures in a young reader’s mind”

June 26, 2008 by Nicolette Jones ( from The Times )

My heart sinks at the prospect of the film of Prince Caspian, released today. In 1959 C. S. Lewis declared his absolute opposition (“adamant isn’t in it!” he wrote) to a live action adaptation of the Narnia books. “Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare,” he said, and “a human, pantomime Aslan would to me be blasphemy”.

Douglas Gresham, the film’s producer, has argued that technology can now do the book justice. At least the lion won’t be human. And no doubt this film, like its predecessor in the Chronicles of Narnia series, will be technically impressive and faithful to the events of the book. It will even lead to a surge in sales of Lewis’s books, bolstering the consensus that adaptations of children’s books stimulate an interest in literature.

But, however good it is, it will be another story spoilt. In the sense that it can’t unfold on the screens of children’s imaginations any more. Words do stuff that pictures never can. They allow readers to make their own movies. And the imagination already does special effects......

Times article

There are also some excellent articles on the Christian site ‘ damaris.org ‘ by Tony Watkins, including this one :

http://www.damaris.org/content/content.php?type=5&id=696

They also have a useful list of questions for discussion at :

www.damaris.org/content/content.php?type=1&id=416

I agree with the sentiment of The Times writer :  “It will even lead to a surge in sales of Lewis’s books, bolstering the consensus that adaptations of children’s books stimulate an interest in literature” - and that has to be a good thing.

Cheers, Kevin

ps sorry, I was unable to ‘link’ those last two articles for some unknown reason

I loved the film.!
I had been disappointed by the lion the witch and wardrobe, I just didn’t enjoy it that much, I wasn’t captivated like I had been with the book.  It was OK, but the fact that it should have been great (such a clear allegory of Christ’s defeat of sin), meant that ‘just OK’ didn’t cut it for me. Added to the fact the lewis is such a brilliant writer and the books made me cry.

however, caspian I thought was a great adaptation. you can’t just put a book on a film reel word for word, so we have to be forgiving when parts of the book we love are left out. However I will say I would have liked there to be just a bit more focus on Aslan’s role, and a bit more development of every character’s mistakes. The book Prince Caspian was a stunning illustration of how we forget to call on God and instead trust ourselves. This didn’t come through as clearly in the movie as I would’ve liked.

Somebody mentioned the added violence. I didn’t think the violence was gratuitous, but I do think your opinion has some validity. There was a LOT of battle scenes. A bit less battle probably wouldn’t have done any harm.

Final thought - the white witch scene was chilling. Go Edmund! once bitten twice shy. good lad.

I agree with Doug (welcome to the forums btw)

I think that Prince Caspian was a great mix of hollywood adaptation of a great book while maintaining christian undertones. One thing I really liked about the violence was how it developed the clear and utter uselessness of the narnians without aslan. It was only once the battlecry became ‘for aslan’ that they started winning…

Hi Doug,
welcome.

however, caspian I thought was a great adaptation. you can’t just put a book on a film reel word for word, so we have to be forgiving when parts of the book we love are left out. However I will say I would have liked there to be just a bit more focus on Aslan’s role, and a bit more development of every character’s mistakes. The book Prince Caspian was a stunning illustration of how we forget to call on God and instead trust ourselves. This didn’t come through as clearly in the movie as I would’ve liked.

I’m curious about this because I don’t remember the book that well, but really thought that this point came out loud and clear! High King Peter clearly and shockingly states something like “We’ve waited long enough for Aslan, it’s time we did something now” when deciding to raid the Castle.

Then the look of horror and guilt on his face as he watched the senseless slaughter of the Narnian’s through the portcullis.... I thought it spoke volumes about acting without Aslan? The foolishness of nearly invoking the White Witch was also very dramatic. Were there other scenes you had in mind?

On a slightly lighter note...here’s a link I found - one of the blogger friends of my elder (or is it older?) sister. It references the movie version a fair bit.

Please be warned, I think it was written by a non-Christian, but I laughed a great deal through it. Probably a bit more than I should have done.

TZ.