The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Determined to finish off some kind of movie series today, I threw on the next Narnia movie subtitled Prince Caspian. This film picks up one year after the events of the first film. However, it was established in the first Narnia that time moves much faster in Narnia compared to our world. Hours, even days in the magical world of Narnia pass by as mere seconds here. This means that after a full year, hundreds of years have passed in Narnia and everything has changed, and Narnia needs saving once more. Hit the jump for my impressions.


The main difference in Narnia, is that a large group of humans have settled in, and after hundreds of years have established a large kingdom. Prince Caspian is the rightful successor to the throne of their many families, but with his father being dead, and his uncle finally getting a son of his own, plots to kill him are put in place and he is forced to flee. It's been so long in fact that the humans believe the Narnians (talking animals, dwarfs, minotaurs etc) to all be extinct, and in some cases, to be nothing more than myth. It doesn't take Caspian long to run into some dwarfs while fleeing ever deeper into the deepest forests. It is then that he blows a horn to call for help, and it summons the 4 children from England directly into Narnia. Let the battles commence!

Prince Caspian and several Narnians are ready for war

The first thing I noticed, besides the far better story in my opinion, were the far improved graphics on the creatures. There seemed to be more practical effects on the mythical beasts, and the CG seemed to be reserved for the talking animals and things that couldn't be created with simple make-up or prosthetics on actors. This worked far better as far as I was concerned. Also the actual CG itself was really quite good and blended much better with the scenes and, to put it simply, fit in.

Computer effects are much improved making many of the creatures look much more believable

The characters and actors also seemed better all around. The little girl that was a bit of a weak point in the first film has grown up a bit and is far better than she was. It probably helped that there were no forced emotional scenes in this movie, but I could understand if that meant that some viewers feel there is less range emotionally overall in the story. I thought Prince Caspian was played quite well by Ben Barnes. I look forward to his further work in the franchise. Lastly, I want to mention the main dwarf who is played by Peter Dinklage. He was possibly my favorite character in the whole film, and he stole every scene he was in for me with is gruff attitude.

Peter Dinklage brings Trumpkin to life completely. He's also got a wicked beard!

The action of the fighting and the wars were excellent just like the first movie. Actually, I think I could even say it was better. It's a close call to be honest. But by far the final conflict comes to a much larger, cooler ending that in the first.

I'd say this is a pretty easy one to recommend, especially if you've seen the first Narnia movie. They do reference some things that happened in the first film without any other context, assuming you know what they're referring to. So seeing the first one will definitely help in those moments. Also, if you're a fan of fantasy, or even if you just really liked the Lord of the Rings movies, you'll probably really like this entry into the fantasy genre. Check it out, you won't regret it.