Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/prince-caspian

Comment #1640

2008-06-19T14:34:49Z

Good point. A storm, like a battle, is something that can be expressed in a few paragraphs yet requires a disproportionate amount of screen time.

Comment #1639

2008-06-19T13:51:55Z

The boat storm and the dragon scenes should be able to take up an hour or so, and we are only halfway through the book.

Comment #1638

2008-06-19T11:40:42Z

I've just re-(re-re-re-re-...)read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and am curious as to how they will render it in movie form, since it has not one battle. :)

I realized, as I was waking up this morning, that one thing that has bothered me about the renditions of both The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Ringsis that they illustrate so well how much easier it is to create believable villains than believable heroes. The White Witch comes across quite well as beautiful, terrible, and very impressive. Miraz is credible, understandable, and also impressive. Aslan, however, comes across as a tame lion rather than the wise, intelligent, fearsome, powerful being who inspires both great terror and greater love -- which the book expresses exceptionally well. Peter and Caspian come off as petulant, squabbling adolescents rather than as a knight and a king, on the one hand, and as one on his way to becoming both, on the other. Meaning, of course, the chivalric ideal of knight and king, not the way they so often worked out in this world. Perhaps the movie-makers were intending to be more realistic, from a 21st century point of view, but doing so strips the book of its greatest power.

Comment #1637

2008-06-06T13:24:31Z

True.

Comment #1636

2008-06-03T00:48:18Z

I think one problem is how to give a movie battle equally short shrift as you can give it in a book. It just wouldn't work.

Comment #1635

2008-06-02T21:28:45Z

We just started into this series, and I noted that the "inspiration" for the battle scenes in the first movie were drawn from a half-paragraph in the book.

We are now reading Prince Caspian, and since we are starting into the second chapter of a battle, it makes sense that the movie is almost entirely battle scenes... urm...

Comment #1634

2008-05-31T14:45:05Z

Another blog writer whose posts I often enjoy is John C. Wright, and in the spirit of fairness I'll link to his review of Prince Caspian. He loved the movie, so don't just take my word for its worth, even though when he says, "it captures the soul of the book," I have to wonder if he and I read the same book. It just shows that a great book can mean very different things to different people.

My favorite part of his post, however, is one of the comments that follows: Different Take by "ibookworm." He articulates well one of my greatest complaints about movies made from books, particularly this one and The Lord of the Rings. I encourage you to read ibookworm's entire analysis of what Prince Caspian, the movie, did to the character of Peter. The heart of a story is its characters. It is through the characters that the audience experiences the world of the story. Therefore one must be very careful, when adapting great works of literature to the screen, not to change the characters, or one changes the story.

Comment #1633

2008-05-24T13:03:47Z

Thanks, Tom. It's good to know Overstreet saw the same movie I did. :)

Comment #1632

2008-05-24T01:23:50Z

Yes, much in agreement. Just finished reading a well written review and conversation by Jeffrey Overstreet. Check it out, along with his Litany of Reviews.