Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Theatrical Release Date: 2008 05 16 (USA)

UPC: 786936772470

Studio: Walt Disney Video

MPAA Rating: PG   Contains:[Mild Violence, War Violence]

Summary: The adventure continues as producer/director Andrew Adamson teams with screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely to tell the tale of the dashing Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) -- who sets out to defeat a tyrannical king who has overtaken Narnia and secure his rightful place on the throne. One year has passed since the events of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and now the kings and queens of that land have returned to make a shocking discovery. Though by their calendars it has been only 12 months since their last voyage into Narnia, the four children are aghast to realize that 1,300 years have passed in the wondrous alternate universe. The Golden Age of Narnia has come to an end, and now the malevolent King Miraz rules over the land without mercy or compassion. Miraz is determined to ensure that the power stays in his bloodline, even if that means killing his nephew Prince Caspian so that Miraz's own son will be next in line for the throne. Fortunately Prince Caspian has the Narnians on his side, and with a little help from the kings, the queens, and some loyal old friends, he may be able to ensure that peace and prosperity are restored on the once-beautiful realm of Narnia. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Category: Fantasy

Awards: Best Art Direction in a Fantasy Film – Costume Guild Awards

Features: Disc 1:
Circle-Vision Interacting: Creating the Castle Raid
BD-live
Audio commentary with director Andrew Adamson and actors
Disc 2:
The bloopers of Narnia
Deleted scenes
Inside Narnia: The Adventure Returns
Sets of Narnia: A Classic Comes to Life
Big movie comes to a small town
Previsualizing Narnia
Talking Animals and Walking Trees: The Magical World of Narnia
Secrets of the duel
Becoming Trumpkin
Warwick Davis: The Man Behind Nikabrik

Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Format: Blu-ray

Release Date: 12/02/2008

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 2.40:1

Audio: DTS Digital Theater Systems, DD5.1 Dolby Digital 5.1

Runtime: 149 Minutes

Sides: 2

Number of Discs: 2

Language(s) English,French,Spanish

Subtitles: English,French,Spanish

Region: Blu-ray region A (North America, Central America, South America, Japan, Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, Hong Kong, Southeast Asia)

Nathan Southern

The makers of Prince Caspian -- the second installment in Walden Media's adaptation of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series -- faced a daunting challenge in bringing this one to the screen. Whereas the first and third books in the series (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, respectively) lend themselves effortlessly to filmization, the same cannot be said of Caspian, which Lewis structured with comparatively greater narrative complexity, a richer philosophical element, and less visual splendor than the preceding or successive installments. (It cannot be a coincidence that after the blockbuster success of Wardrobe, the producers initially skipped book two and announced the production of the visually rich and ripe Treader.) On a rudimentary level, the ease of this tale, as it unfurls onscreen, functions as a barometer of the filmmakers' success in making Lewis' temporally fractured story digestible for contemporary audiences by streamlining it. From the first scene, never once does the motion picture feel less than wholly transparent. The lucidity of the narrative serves the film beautifully, by setting up greater emotional involvement and immediacy, particularly for younger viewers. A two-and-half-hour feature that could have easily become bogged down in mythically laden background material and endless, tedious battle sequences instead whisks audience members along on a gripping and magnetizing journey, from opening frames to epilogue. And yet, paradoxically, if the film suffers from an overarching flaw or weakness, that weakness also lies in the picture's simplicity: even as writer/director Andrew Adamson and co-screenwriters Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus score points for clarity, emotional involvement, and story construction (the sequencing is brilliantly done -- it pulls us into the central conflicts at the core of Narnia even before the Pevensie children make their first appearances), it would be difficult to imagine a more thematically shallow or two-dimensional tale. One keeps hoping for Adamson and co. to plumb deeper, to add philosophical layers and thematic weight, ? la Lewis, which isn't, of course, incompatible with the demand for narrative ease. That never happens. The younger set won't mind or even notice, though it will inevitably restrict the demographics by lessening the film's appeal for depth-hungry teens and adults. For much of its duration, Caspian (like its predecessor) also cries out for some sort of visual awe -- an apocalyptic element to push it ahead of, for example, The Lord of the Rings series or The Golden Compass, and the sort of jaw-droppers that classic screen fantasies such as The Neverending Story and Jason and the Argonauts handed us in spades. Fortunately, Adamson does give us that in the concluding sequence, with an arresting visual surprise that will not be disclosed here but that does leave a memorable impression (and that neatly foreshadows Dawn Treader). Even given that bravura concluding sequence, though, this film, and the Narnia series as a whole, runs the same risk as all early 21st century screen fantasies: that of falling prey to the impersonality of super-advanced CGI work. In pre-CGI films like The Neverending Story, one always sensed the handiwork behind each of the creatures, and the fact that so many were tactile (as opposed to being casually thrown up on the screen with computer graphics) gave them an element of plausibility and credibility that Aslan and Reepicheep the Mouse (for example) fully lack. The best of those creations also sported anthropomorphic personalities sadly missing here despite Liam Neeson's stellar vocal work on Aslan. Walden hasn't quite figured out how to bring those elements into play -- and they may be the very missing elements holding the series back from masterpiece status. Yet the cast here shines throughout. As the vile King Miraz, Sergio Castellitto represents an inspired choice (he brings under one roof hundreds of nightmarish visions of evil sages and kings from one's darkest fantasies). Similarly, Ben Barnes radiates nobility and warmth as Caspian, and as the four Pevensie children -- Susan, Peter, Edmund, and Lucy -- Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley make welcome onscreen surrogates for our adventures. Particularly laudable is the fact that none of these kids look all that glamorous, polished, or surreally beautiful, but suggest average and unremarkable Britons. Scattered weaknesses aside, Caspian represents something of a pleasant surprise. It may leave some viewers wanting more, but if approached sans expectation, it feels breezily enjoyable and adequately exciting. Younger viewers, in particular (especially those under the age of 13) will find themselves rapturously swept up in the gestalt of the tale. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mark Johnson  Producer 
Harry Gregson-Williams  Composer (Music Score) 
Andrew Adamson  Director 
Andrew Adamson  Producer 
Andrew Adamson  Screenwriter 
Philip Steuer  Producer 
David Strangmuller  Director 
Stephen Barton  Composer (Music Score) 
Lisbeth Scott  Composer (Music Score) 
Christopher Markus  Screenwriter 
Stephen McFeely  Screenwriter 
Hugh Marsh  Composer (Music Score) 
Mohammed "Mo" Sobhy  Screenwriter 
Perry Moore  Executive Producer 
Halli Cauthery  Composer (Music Score) 
Peter Seager  Screenwriter 
Georgie Henley  Actor 
Skandar Keynes  Actor 
William Moseley  Actor 
Anna Popplewell  Actor 
Ben Barnes  Actor 
Sergio Castellitto  Actor 
Peter Dinklage  Actor 
Pierfrancesco Favino  Actor 
Liam Neeson  Actor 
Vincent Grass  Actor 
Warwick Davis  Actor 
Damián Alcázar  Actor 
Alicia Borrachero  Actor 
Cornell John  Actor 
Tilda Swinton  Actor 
Simon Andreu  Actor 
Pedja Bjelac  Actor 
David Bowles  Actor 
Juan Diego Montoya Garcia  Actor 
Douglas Gresham  Actor 
Ash Jones  Actor 
Klara Issova  Actor 
Sim Evan-Jones  Actor 
Shane Rangi  Actor 
David Walliams  Actor 
Curtis Matthew  Actor 
Mana Davis  Actor 
Winham Hammond  Actor 
Hana Frejkova  Actor 
Kristyna Madericova  Actor 
Lucie Solarova  Actor 
Karolína Matouskova  Actor 
Alina Phelan  Actor 
Joseph Moore  Actor 
Isaac Bell  Actor 
Lejla Abbasova  Actor 
Ephraim Goldin  Actor 
Yemi A. D.  Actor 
Carlos Dasilva  Actor 
Gomez Sandoval  Actor 
Jan Filipensky  Actor 
David Mottl  Actor 
Michaela Dvorska  Actor 
John Bach  Actor 
Jack Walley  Actor 
Marcus O'Donovan  Actor 
Adam Valdez  Actor 
Ken Stott  Actor 
Harry Gregson-Williams  Actor 
Sim Evan-Jones  Actor 
Eddie Izzard  Actor 

Country: USA