ViewGuide

Created Jun 16, 2008 06:04AM PST • Edited Jun 16, 2008 06:04AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Very Good 3.5

   Having been unimpressed by the first Narnia movie, I went into this one with fairly low expectations, and was rewarded for it. The main problem I had with the first one was that the kids seemed to gain battle-winning sword skills in absolutely no time. Prince Caspian fixes this problem, if only by the virtue of being set later, but it made the movie much more believable (hah) and enjoyable. The special effects were definitely “kicked up a notch”, and the scope seemed much larger, even though battles were physically smaller than in the first film. I will say this: as a rule, any battle that has TREES and WATER kicking that much ass is pretty awesome in my books.

   Where the movie fails is by somehow making a kids movie so long and dense and still skipping over the details. For the life of me, other than the titular Prince and the five returning characters, I cannot name a single person, dwarf, animal or centaur in this entire movie (one of them was a general maybe?) On top of that, the necessity for their return is never obvious, and what should be gaps in their knowledge are routinely filled without explanation… Little complaints, I suppose, but it was distracting enough to keep me from enjoying a movie with Peter Dinklage and Eddie Izzard as much as I should have.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   No complaints. Maybe I’m just easier to impress these days, since child actors used to tick me off… Perhaps british kids don’t?

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

6. Female Stars Very Good 3.5

7. Female Costars Very Good 3.5

8. Male Costars Very Good 3.5

10. Film

    Very Good 3.5

    The movie was very visually impressive, and I actually noticed myself really enjoying the score several times. The story could have been trimmed down a bit, or at least become more detail oriented. As it stands, it felt messy and strung together in a way that barely approximates a movie…

11. Direction OK 2.5

12. Play Good 3.0

13. Music Great 4.0

14. Visuals Really Great 4.5
15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.5

    A little kissy-kissy, and some fully tame sword battles.

17. Sex Innocent 1.5

18. Violence Fierce 2.0

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Fantasy 4.5

    I shouldn’t have to explain this one…

22. Circumstantial Fantasy 4.5

23. Biological Fantasy 4.5

24. Physical Fantasy 4.5