Review: Prince Caspian

We saw Prince Caspian last night – you do likewise.

(That’s the review.)

My wife organized an expedition of mothers with a jillion kids who all enjoyed it immensely.

Scenery, special efffects, wonderful.

For SCA/history geeks; the arms and armor were functional-looking (except for a breast plate on the villian which looked a tad short to cover the abdomen.) None of this fantasy/parade armor you see in Xena and a lot of knock-offs.

Combat scenes were pretty good. (Except for Susan using her bow to whup bad guys at close range. A bow is too light and fragile to be effective as a contact weapon, especially against armored men.)

The young actors have matured nicely, and this is evidently the last we’re going to see of Peter and Susan. (We’re going to miss Susan. I look forward to seeing what the young actress does in the future.)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is already in pre-production.

I have read the whole series, but have trouble remembering the details of the books. Unlike Tolkien, reading it once may be good enough for me.

I do know things about how it’s going to turn out – and that I am forbidden to discuss until my wife has read them or seen all the movies. That could be next month or ten years from now.

I tend to agree with the reviewer who said the movie may be better than the book. We’ll see about the next ones.

C.S. Lewis’ fiction is kind of hit-and-miss with me. When I read the Out of the Silent Planet trilogy I loved the wonderful images of the river valleys and high plains of Malacandra (Mars) and the floating islands of Perelandra (Venus), while disliking the “planetary distances are God’s quarantine regluations” philosophy.

Though I’ve read the third book in the trilogy, That Hideous Strength several times, I can’t remember more than a few words of it.

My wife and I both read and enjoyed Surprised by Joy and like it very much. I think I may try to get ahold of A Grief Observed soon.

And perhaps I’ll buy my lady a DVD of Shadowlands. There are worse gift ideas for your Significant Other.