Into the Wardrobe

Well, considering we haven't even seen a trailer yet, we seem to know quite a lot about the Prince Caspian movie. I thought it'd be fun to make a list of some of the most controversial or talked about issues. Tell me if I missed any (I've numbered them to make discussion easier) ...


1. Caspian
Caspian is being played by 25-year-old Ben Barnes, even though he's 13 in the book. It's also been said by a Caspian auditionee that the character seemed more "cocky" in the movie.

2. "Antagonism" Between the Characters
We've heard over and over about this animosity that will exist between the kings and queens. Ernie Malik said "the king feels that he trumps the prince."

3. Good Minotaurs
Not only will there be minotaurs in PC, but they will actually fight on Caspian's side. The leader will be an elderly minotaur named Asterius.

4. Night Raid
There will be a scene in the middle of the film where Peter and Caspian lead an attack on Miraz' castle. During that scene, Glozelle shoots fauns that are trying to climb up to Miraz.

5. Mysterious Shot
What in the world is going on in this shot? It appears to be inside Miraz' castle, perhaps during the Raid:

6. Susan fighting
Susan will fight at both the Night Raid and the climactic battle, while Lucy doesn't fight at all.

7. Kids riding centaurs
According to VFX Supervisor Dean Wright, the kids will be riding centaurs in the film.

8. Expanded Roles
Miraz', Prunaprismia's, and baby's roles have been expanded. Miraz' coronation will be shown in the film, and for some unknown reason, Weta designed a crossbow for Prunaprismia.

9. Caspian and Susan "flirtation"?
A Caspian auditionee said a scene he read seemed to have a "flirtation" between Caspian and Susan. There is also a shot in the latest video where there seems to be some awkwardness between them.

10. Single Combat Location
In the movie, the single combat takes place at a ruined temple outside the How, instead of the "boxing ring" idea in the book.

11. Reepicheep
In the movie, Reep might have white fur. (only an issue because it's Reepicheep)

12. Peter vs. Caspian
There are two shots in the latest video that show Peter having a sword fight with Caspian. We don't know what the reason is.


Well, what do you think of these?

Well, it has been said from the beginning that the Narnia movies were Andrew Adamson's interpretations of the books as he remembered reading them as a child. I am not directly blaming Andrew for any discrepancy in the translation from print to film... He too is an artist of sorts, and needs the freedom to leave his fingerprint on his work. I just hope he realizes the negative feedback he may receive from die-hard Narnia fans, who were fans before Narnia was a multi-million dollar movie project. Fans of the print medium have never been tolerant of deviation in the silver screen adaptions of their favorite works.

Wouldn't it be great if the movie lines were direct quotes from the books?!?! THAT is what we want.

I know, in theory that's what I would want. But I also know that what looks and reads well on the page doesn't always sound as good. I don't mind change for the sake of doing the spirit of the work justice, but we all know that's not the only reason things get changed when books are made into movies.

Actually Andrew Adamson only said he wanted to make a movie of how he remembered LWW which he had read as a kid. I don't believe he said the same of any others, although I'm pretty sure he read them all as a child.

Now, glumPuddle has modestly not mentioned that there are some good issues - several excellent reports that have "issued" from his pen (okay, his keyboard) after his recent visit to the film set.

You can see these in the news section of Narniaweb.



His reports do not leave me too worried! Well done, glumPuddle!

I apologize if my wording in my previous post was a little too heavy. I wasn't deliberately attacking Mr. Adamson. I only meant that when books are made into film, the hardest critics are typically the lovers of the books, and the directors of these movies need to be prepared for this.

There always seem to be some component the readers of the books regard as an essential component, which is drastically changed, or conveniently gets left out of the movie. For the most part, directors seem able to keep the "core" plot intact, but it is always interesting to see what components were sacrificed or altered.

Another thing I personally have with many movie adaptions. When someone is a hog-wild fan of the books, and then the movie comes out, all his friends run to see the movie to see what the big deal is. And when the adaption doesn't adequately seize the true spirit and scope of the story, their friends sort of have a "what's the big deal?" reaction to the movie. Don't misunderstand me, I applaud Walden Media for striving to bring more books to the screen. In fact, I really enjoyed Flaherty's article in about this very thing. But when print to film transitions contain so much dilution, it makes it hard for those of us to state our case that books are eternally a better medium for the transmission of good stories than the screen will ever hope to be.

Take my friend. For years I told him how good LotR was. I told him nearly every facet of narrative art was in the book. Narration, poetry, lyrics, myth... It is all in there. He never read it.

After watching all three movies, his reaction was, "Good story, good special effects, but not really better than any other fantasy movie." When I told him it really cannot be compared to the book, he implored me that there's no way he could read the book now, even if he wanted to. He has walked away, just like 95% of everyone else who's seen the movie, with a profoundly skewed perception of Tolkien's great epic.

At any rate, I will get off my soapbox now. But for my part, I must say all the speculated deviation I am seeing regarding PC is a little disconcerting.

it also just occured to me now that if Peter & co's initial hesitancy to aid the cause in LWW was meant to be to do with realism (an argument i never bought) then whence came the sudden boldness when they thought aslan was dead and all seemed lost?

the defying of impossible odds seems to me an unnecessary aping of LOTR, while the previous reluctance to enter the fray at all also has shades of middle earth about it (Faramir, anyone?) though it didn't ring true there either, since it was a pointless peter jackson revision.

I mentioned somewhere else, but basically I'm going to be taking the movies as visual fanfiction, not as accurate representations of the books. Nothing can come close to the feeling of the books, even if you would include every last detail. So much of the wonder is in your head.

So visual fanfiction it is. It's Andrew Adamson's fanfic that just happens to be a multi-million dollar movie instead of a story on ff.net.