Films and Fiction

How did the second Narnia movie get it all so wrong?

Early in the 2000s, Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings convinced every Hollywood studio that fantasy could sell, starting a mad scrabble to get hold of every book they could and bring it to the screen. Unsurprisingly, Narnia was one of the big names to be put out there, and while the first movie, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, did a goodish job of bringing C.S. Lewis’s world to cinemas, the second installment wasn’t so successful. When released in 2008, Prince Caspian failed to match its predecessor in every way, including box office returns.

To be fair, the move isn’t bad, when looked at as a movie, but as an adaptation of such a famous book, it fails at every turn. One big reason for this is the age of the cast. Unlike the Harry Potter movies which cast young actors then made the first few films as quickly as possible, the Narnia movies cast the four Pevensie children far too old, and then took three years to release the sequel. This meant that at least three were well into their teens by the time Caspian came out, which substantially altered the movie, making it more mature to try and attract an audience of a similar age. This leads to such things as the unnecessary semi-romance between Caspian and Susan, as well as the puerile tension between Peter and Caspian as they struggle to work out who is really in charge. This is not a thing that happened in the book. When Peter returned to Narnia, Caspian was willing to hand everything over to him, but Peter refused, giving the throne to the new king.

There was also the big battle, which took place, of course, at a castle. For some reason, the filmmakers thought it necessary to place a castle attack right in the middle of the movie when there wasn’t one in the book. From every point of view, this was wrong. It was a strategically disastrous plan, and for one thing, the children did not even reach Caspian in the book until Miraz was practically beating down the door of Aslan’s How. There was, however, an ill-fated battle led solely by Caspian, which is only mentioned retrospectively by Lewis, but which led to Caspian calling for help with the Horn. Why this couldn’t have been incorporated I don’t know.

The movie also focused far more on the villains, showing the evil intent behind every meticulously styled beard in the Telmarine nobility. Again, this is not necessary. There is hardly any of this in the book, and it manages quite well without it.

I do give the movie makers some space to move, as I believe Caspian is one of the more sparse books in the series. It doesn’t feature the same wonder as the first trip into Narnia with LWW, nor the adventure of Dawn Treader, or the hardship of the quest in Silver Chair, yet the studio proved that they are not merely padding as they choose to cut out one of the biggest scenes in the book.

Just after Aslan returns and appears to the children, he sends Peter and Edmund to meet Caspian while the girls ride with him on another quest. Aslan arrives at the Telmarine town of Beruna, and immediately begins setting things to rights, tearing down the stone bridge, and travelling through the town, demolishing buildings, punishing wrongdoers, and helping those in need. It is a powerful scene, and one which always comes to life so readily from the page. I long to see it put onscreen, if it can ever be done, as both this movie and the 1980s BBC series omitted it. Perhaps it’s better if it remains in words alone.

To bring the movie together, it really feels like the makers were just being lazy. The reintroduction of the White Witch is pointless and does absolutely nothing to further the story. Surely a hag and a werewolf are interesting enough on their own?

It interesting to see that the trailer states “From C.S. Lewis’ Epic Masterpiece”. This is notable because the Chronicles of Narnia are not what I would call epic, and Prince Caspian certainly isn’t. It does make you wonder if the filmmakers really understood the book or whether they were just hoping to make another ‘epic’ movie, like most fantasy flicks at the time.

I think that all the Narnia movies, including any they make in future, will always suffer. To me, Narnia is a place in the minds of the readers. It is so simply described by Lewis, who gives us just enough to tempt out imagination to fill in the gaps. It is not like Tolkien, who is meticulous in description, rather we’re given the simple prose and allowed to make our own conclusions. Such a thing is difficult to bring to the screen, especially when the filmmakers are trying to rival Lord of the Rings for epic scenes. Perhaps if they understood the source material better, they would be more true to it.

As I say, it’s not a terrible movie. The battles are good, the acting acceptable, and it features more of the excellent work of New Zealand’s Weta Workshop. There is also the inclusion of Warwick Davis, almost always guaranteed to improve a movie. It is considerably better than films such as The Golden Compass and more focused than Eragon, it’s similar to a lot of fantasy movies from the time, and doesn’t disappoint from that point of view. However, as a reader who has loved the world Lewis created, it doesn’t serve as a passable adaptation for me. Perhaps there will never be a true depiction of Narnia onscreen. Perhaps the only way we can ever experience it is to find a world in the back of our own wardrobe.

Thanks for reading!