PRINCE CASPIAN will delight any person who liked the first film. This time- Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are called back to Narnia 1300 years later by a magical horn blown by prince Caspian. The four siblings had a year pass in England since then and arrive to a Narnia completely different as the Narnians are in hiding after human invaders took the land for their own. Prince Caspian is seeking to claim the crown rightfully his. However, his uncle wants his newborn son to be king and he must have Caspian dead even if it means destroying the surviving creatures of Narnia in the process to do it.

PRINCE CASPIAN is the second Narnia film. It centers on the humans more than the creatures of Narnia. This film is more their story. Peter, Susan, Edmond, and Lucy see the effects of what happened after they left. Peter feels the blame and wants the Narnians to have their land back while Prince Caspian wants humans and Narnians to live together in peace. Peter does fail and butts heads with Prince Caspian. The closest the film gets to the sacrifice of Aslan in the first one comes down to two scenes- the attempted resurrection of the White Witch and the climatic sword duel. Aslan does sometimes feel too much like a dues ex machina, but his small part does play a pivotal role in the events of the film. I do wish Peter and Susan would figure in future Narnia films since Edmond and Lucy are my least favorite characters despite finding Lucy to be a little charming and innocent. The events in the film do play out differently than the first one. It all goes back to the words that Aslan says- nothing happens the same way twice.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
DISC 1- audio commentary by Director Andrew Adamson and the actors. Andrew has fun and the cast is at ease with him as they recount stories about the production

DISC 2-
The ten deleted scenes are interesting to watch even though they either don't add anything new and/or slow down the film (includes audio intros by the director). The bloopers are a riot.

The big thing on the second disc are the several making-of featurettes-
INSIDE NARNIA: THE ADVENTURE RETURNS- a behind-the-scenes look at all the work that went into making the film from the diverse cast, the locations (that had ticks in one and at the mercy of the weather), the special effects, Andrew's decision to make the sequel (he wanted to work with the main cast again), and more
SETS OF NARNIA: A CLASSIC COMES TO LIE- see how the set designers created the sets without much description to go on in the novel and even improved on a couple of things.
BIG MOVIE COMES TO A SMALL TOWN- the extensive prep that went into securing the rights to film on the Soca River near Boca, Slovenia, the work that went into building teh bridge (they even fixed a problem that the town wanted to fix with the river), the history of the Soca valley, what the cast and crew did when they were in Boca, the production work when they were there for two weeks, and worries that the bridge might be torn apart when it rained on July 4th.
PREVISUALING NARNIA- the story was worked on in part by previzing several scenes.
SECRETS OF THE DUEL- the extensive work that went into filming the duel

TALKING ANIMALS AND WALKING TREES: THE MAGICAL WORLD OF NARNIA- promo fluff featurette as the crew recount their favorite Narnia animal in addition to mentioning the role of animals and nature in the Narnia series.
BECOMING TRUMPKIN- having a certain actor in mind for the role and the work that went into creating the make-up for the chaarcter.
WARWICK DAVIS: THE MAN BEHIND NIKABRIK- a day in the life of Warrick Davis as he prepares and plays Nikabrik during the course of 15 hours.

DISC 3 includes a digital copy of the film. Still can live without the digital copy.

FINAL ANALYSIS: PRINCE CASPIAN is full of interesting extras on the 3-Disc Collector's Edition. Definitely worth checking out if you want to see how the film was made in addition to watching a fun movie.

this DVD review is (c)11-26-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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