The release of the latest film in Disney's Chronicles of Narnia series, Prince Caspian, was a cause of some joy in my household. At least as far as this movie fan was concerned. Whilst I certainly was not bowled over by the first of the Narnia movies, Prince Caspian is a story I find really quite enjoyable.
It is its story however that clearly has caused problems for the production team. Simply it has a very linear structure and lacks the incident of the earlier film. Andrew Adamson, who returns as director, seems to grasp this issue and the screenplay is quite liberal with the original text, moving the two threads of story to run parallel to each other.
He and the other screenwriters have also added more action to the story, writing in a petulant streak for the High King Peter that results in a big battle sequence before the final encounter with Miraz. By and large the additions work and provide a much needed boost in the second half of the film.
I am not quite so positive however on the issue of the first half. Whilst the opening with Caspian escaping from his Uncle's assassins works nicely as an intro, the scenes in which the four Pevensie kids discover they are in Narnia drag far too uncomfortably. Yes, they are delighted to have returned to their old stomping grounds but tracking shots of them playing in the sand feel twee and totally out of pace with the action occurring elsewhere.
Also, the Pevensie kids are decidedly out of sorts. Peter has become even more smug and full of himself than before whilst Susan is now swept up into a vaguely disturbing romance with Ben Barnes' Caspian.
Fortunately we have the actors playing Edmund and Lucy, both of whom are excellent and seen far too little. The quality of these two actors gives me great hope for the next film in the sequence, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, where they will play a central role.
The supporting cast are all quite good and there is an interesting Conquistador theme to the Telmarines costuming and accents, presumably making the Narnians into Aztecs. It's an unorthodox approach to those characters that mostly works. Occasionally the accents would distract me but it did help me get some sense of a culture - a pleasing change to the bland portrayals in the novel.
Sergio Castellitto makes for a pleasing villain, the scheming Miraz (later King). Key aspects of his character become more pronounced in this script, his cowardice being emphasised. He is a villain because of his attitude, not because of his competency - rising to the top because of his ambition. He and Ben Barnes spark well off each other and I found him more interesting and more layered than I had expected.
Did I adore Prince Caspian as much as I hoped? Really I didn't. It is a beautiful, textured film but at key moments I was uninvolved and unexcited.
However I certainly enjoyed it more than I expected. Whilst the first film had been fun, the structural issues this film had to resolve had already made me uneasy. Whilst change to the story would be necessary for it to work as a film I did worry whether those changes would fit comfortably alongside the original text. For the most part they did.
If the next film can continue the darker feel of this story (and given that it deals with slavery, greed and selfishness that ought not to be difficult) then I think this series could well improve further. There is certainly much to build on here.