home | downloads | scene listings | non-scene listings | links | advertising details | contact us |
Click here for the graphic version of this page
The distinction between films aimed at an adult or kids’ audience is becoming increasingly blurred. The same film can appeal to both markets in different ways. "Shrek" for example has an attraction for post-modernist, ironic film buffs as well as being a colourful cartoon to delight kids who like slapstick and talking dirty.
Likewise, the second in the Chronicles of Narnia sequence, Prince Caspian is suitable viewing for anyone. If you like JK Rowling, JRR Tolkein and Brideshead Revisited and dislike the reality of seeing heads being bloodily decapitated in battles, you will want to see more of Narnia.
The four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy, exceedingly middle class, and educated privately (natch) are catapulted from waiting for a tube train on July 12th 1941 into Narnia’s parallel universe to a date 1300 years hence. Their previous visit - when they became adored kings and queens - is now a distant memory. Narnia has been invaded by the distinctly Hispanic Telmarines led by evil King Miraz. They have conquered the somewhat fey woodland creatures of Narnia - a collection of badgers, mice and mythical centaurs. Mira’s nephew, prince Caspian, is threatened with assassination but escapes to find solace with the Narnians. In conjunction with the Pevensies - a cross between The Famous Five and Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, the defeat of the Telmarines is plotted. Aslan, the Christ -like lion from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, intervenes at the last moment to ensure a happy ending, using tree and water power to ensnare the Telmarines. Caspian becomes king of Narnia.
In the interval, we see the usual CIG battles, medieval siege engines, arrows and doubleheader axes decimate a swathe of extras. There is duel between Miraz and Peter, with Miraz being stabbed by a follower who doubts his leadership. Tilde Swanson as the Ice Queen has a cameo role in tempting Peter and Caspian to make a strategic bargain with the dark forces but fails. The plot is very straightforward with such an obvious clash between good and evil. The bad guys are essentially foreigners - looking uncannily like Spanish conquistadors but speaking with strong Italian accents. The Narnian population is essentially soft and cuddly animals with a cheeky little mouse, heroic in battle, voiced by Eddie Izzard.
The reference to the date in WW2 would not have been lost on the original readership. The Nazi-Soviet Pact showed that communism was not to be trusted and core British values needed to be proclaimed. So the clean-cut children are heroes all. Susan is an expert with the bow and arrow, Peter and Edmund in medieval armour are mini versions of Henry V. This film, coincidently, was a war time propaganda effort too. Lucy is so good and in a state of grace that she sees the vision of Aslan before everybody else. Edmund who turned a little bad in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is now firmly on the side of good. The failed sortie of the Telmarines castle could be seen as a reference to the retreat from Dunkirk.
This a film about moving on, letting go of past experiences mirroring the fact of growing up and perhaps a search for the holy grail? At the end of the film the Pevensies and Telmarines are provides with a passage back to earth. The utopia of Narnia is not for mere mortals and neither is heaven.
For grown ups, Ben Barnes who plays Prince Caspian is the pin-up boy - dark brooding good looks, doublet and sword action man playing a stereotypical Prince Charming. The ranks of centaurs - half men, half horse - provide a parade of manly chests and a homoerotic moment for some. In a sense, Susan and Lucy are honorary boys - allowed to fight off evil in the spirit of jolly adventures which were familiar in school stories from the 1940s and 50s. A world in which chaps with the stiffest of upper lips took a pop at Johnny Foreigner. For the politically correct, there may be a problem in relating to the dwarf characters - one good and one evil. They provide a dry streak of humour in an otherwise solemn film.
This is a film to see if you want to recall childhood reading of classic fiction. But the resonances of traditional Christian morality may mean more to an adult audience when they revisit the story. We perhaps retreat into the comfort zone of a fantasy world of evil forests, werewolves, grotesques and talking furry animals when our current world causes despair - urban knifings, environmental disasters or a broken heart. Bitching gay queens who would adore Tilde Swanson’s Ice Queen would get their comeuppance here.
Sometimes there is a need for seeing a child-centred film with an upbeat ending. Fairy stories don’t have to have the bitter twistedness of a Hans Christian Anderson tale. But perhaps the relentless message of goodness can get a littler wearisome - and there are five more in the series to come.
In terms of fantasy fiction, Mervyn Peake’s Gormanghast provides a much more meaty diet than the canapés of Narnia. Sometimes we do prefer bad boys.
Nick Tyldesley
Stories from the magazine this month:
Related pages:
Click here for the graphic version of this page
home | downloads | scene listings | non-scene listings | links | advertising details | contact us |
visitors since 1 Aug 03