Wardrobians report on PC--Warning! Spoilers allowed!

[Dan65802]

[Pete]

Wow! I saw the movie last night (because I won tickets to a preview screening - I saw it with both my sisters & my brother-in-law). I'll start with the negatives. Of course, there were things I rolled my eyes at and I thought were totally unnecessary, and there were in-between things that I didn't particularly like but I was "ok" with, and there was lots that I loved. Ok so here goes:

The things I didn't like, one of them was that infamous kiss. I didn't think it was necessary. That said, I'm glad at how they did it, instead of making a whole soppy romance, presenting it as "just a crush" sort of thing, I can live with that.

Whilst I expect Peter would have struggled after coming back from Narnia the first time, I wasn't taken with the scene of him in the fight at the train station. I think it would have been more book-like to for him to be resigned to the fact that he can't do anything to get back to Narnia - like Peter was portrayed at the beginning of the BBC series, when they were sitting at the station and someone talked about Narnia, Peters said "talk about something else." - that seems more to me like how Peter would have responded.

I wasn't keen on the fact that Susan was involved in the battles either. Yeah, I understand that Adamson doesn't want his daughters to think they have to sit at home doing knitting when they grew up - but Susan the Gentle isn't the female in the Narnia books, and at least two of the others are involved in battles at some stage. So I was a bit disappointed with that, but I can live with it again...

Hmm...okay, the raid. Well, surprise, surprise, I wasn't disappointed at all that the Pevensies met up with Caspian before they met Aslan. And I wasn't disappointed about the night raid. I would have loved it even more if those two aspects had been more in line with the books, but as I said, I was ok with this change. I've always felt that part of the reason for being "too old" to come back to Narnia was because of lacking faith and trust in Aslan. In the book, Susan's fear and lack of faith is very obvious, Peter on the other hand, there's only a couple of very minor hints at - like when they're at the gorge where Lucy sees Aslan and Peter leads them the other way. This movie, and this change, brought that to aspect of Peter in PC to life more and for this reason I really don't have an issue with this scenes. In my opinion, the change of Peter from the book to the screen in this movie is similar to the change of Landon Carter in the book A Walk to Remember to the Landon Carter of the movie of the same name. I thought it worked very well. My only disappointments about it were how Peter was at the beginning of the movie (in that fight), and secondly, he wasn't repentent enough at the end of the movie, there was no "I'm so glad, and so sorry, I've been leading them wrongly since we started."

I found the change with the hag and werewolf very powerful, and as others have also said, I'm so glad that it was Edmund who put an end to the scheme to bring back the White Witch - that was powerful! And for the same reasons as I've stated above, I didn't have an issue with Peter being tempted by her also.

Wow! Lucy - what can I say, she was every bit as good as she was in the first movie. Well done, Georgie!

Of course I absolutely loved Aslan in the movie, and I thought that the scenes with him in this movie are even more powerful than the scenes in LW&W (the movie!) - barring only the execution and the resurrection of Aslan scenes.

I feel that Andrew Adamson, Doug Gresham (etc...) did a great job bringing this film to life, and in many regards I felt that they did a great job stealing past those watchful dragons and those stain-glass windows to capture the heart of the story, regardless of the changes from the book.

Now I'm looking forward to the next time I see it, and I'm looking forward to seeing (in two years) The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!

[Larry W.]

Focus on the Family wasn't word for word in its drama, but it was very close. I often thought while I was listening to it that the scripts used for the radio programs would have made great plays. And the actors did so well that even though you couldn't see them they created an amazing atmosphere. The picture of the story was in your mind instead of on the screen.

So why were Susan and Lucy fighting in the "Castle Raid" scene? Didn't Aslan himself tell Lucy in LWW (the book) that it was an ugly thing when women fight in wars? If Adamson were accurately following the book he would have avoided putting them in a situation like that. It's true that no excessive violence was shown, but having young girls fight in adult battles can be disturbing for children, and it since that was not part of the book Prince Caspian it wasn't even necessary to include it in the film. Girls fighting wars isn't desirable as entertainment. Lewis believed in medieval chivalry, in which the knight does the fighting and the lady is protected. However, it would be necessary to have Jill's archery in The Last Battle, should a movie of that book ever be made.

Larry W.

[Shadowland Dweller]

[Danman]

I don't know if this is exactly the right place to respond, but I thought I'd post here anyway.

When Caspian and Peter are both standing there bewitched by the witch inside the How and Edmund comes up behind and shatters the ice... What does he say? I couldn't catch it last night in the theater.

Overall I was impressed with the film. Ok Susan and Caspian is a bit much, but I don't think it went way overboard. I mean, they didn't have a three minute conversation about how much they loved each other or whatever.

I gotta say I wasn't happy about Peter's attitude. I understood it. I even understood why they put it in there... perhaps as an explanation for why he couldn't see Aslan. BUT, I think there might have been a short spot where he and Aslan come to terms or he appologizes or confesses his pride and arrogance. Especially after his comment about "waiting long enough for Aslan" and then committing half his army to death with that fool attack on the castle. Grrrr.

I also thought the roar at Trumpkin at the end wasn't well enough explained. Just that he didn't see Aslan before... is that a reason for Aslan to roar at him? I think they might have thrown in a line or three about the DLF not believing in Him. But for those of us that know the story, the scene was sufficient as it was.

Despite all that, there were several times that I got goose-bumps at how awesome the filming was. Aslan's roar was amazing. The train vanishing into thin air as Narnia appeared (at the beginning) was way cool. FINALLY, I have a better understanding of the trees and how they move. Though I always imagined them with bodies or spirits that could actually leave the tree itself (like the flower petal ladies). But Lewis did describe them as 'wading through the dirt' at one point.

I think they added or changed about a good 40% to the movie. But the plot and story were still there. I didn't go in expecting it to be exactly like the book. I was dissapointed with Peter's attitude, as I've said. But overall, I loved the movie.

I may be alone in that. I know there are several purists here and some were quite upset about Susan and Caspian, etc. I guess I was just thrilled to see one of my favorite stories make it to the big screen. The creatures and scenery alone made it worth it. Helped to put it more clearly in my mind.

[Pete]

[Shadowland Dweller]

[Dan65802]

[Shadowland Dweller]

[Messenger_of_Eden]

Regarding the hag-and-werewolf scene, I don't get the beaked face of the hag-creature. I always thought a hag was just a little old witch--I picture the old Apple Lady in Snow White. And I missed her dialogue, the way the hag was so sappily-flattering: "Pardon your worshipful majesty.." and all. The creature they created to "be" the "hag" was pretty grotesque, and played the role well enough, but it was so different from what I have always imagined that I found it too distracting in the scene and for me, it detracted from it.

[Pete]

The creature they had as the hag in this movie was entirely consistant with the hags they had in the previous movie, if they suddenly changed the way hags looked between movies, it might be a bit odd, wouldn't it? Just a thought...

[glumPuddle]

[LordRhoop]

[Messenger_of_Eden]

[Kanakaberaka]