Prince Caspian: An Open Letter to Disney Execs!
An Open Letter to Disney Executives:
Calling Prince Caspian the most boring book of the Chronicles of Narnia series is like referring to the slowest rocket or the smallest NFL lineman: maybe not quite to the standard set by C.S. Lewis in the other books, but still an exhilarating ride. I wish I could say the same for Andrew Adamson’s movie adaptation.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely grateful that you have provided the green light for the first three Narnia films (with tentative plans for the remaining four), there are just a few things about the most recent outing that give me pause as to the direction of the franchise.
Primary among these is this: when one of the greats of 20th century literature hands you a story, don’t mess around with it. As the works of Milton or Chaucer or Byron do not need “tweaking,” neither do those of Tolkien and Lewis. Learn to trust the Master’s hand. Adamson’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe stayed fairly true to the book, and I commend him for that, but he veered dramatically from Lewis’ narrative in the 2nd installment.
I always felt that these books could be turned into sweeping epics on the silver screen, and the cinematography found in the first two movies has borne that out. It’s time the screenplay matched the visuals. Use Lewis’ words whenever possible.
One of the reasons that LOTR was so successful was because the movies were so true to Tolkien’s original story. Now I know that there were things that Peter Jackson could not fit into the 3 films, but it was truly remarkable just how much he did manage to fit in there. For an example of how much movies can diverge from the book that inspired them look no further than The Jurassic Park series. Much of the details of the 2nd movie were things from the 1st book that could not be squeezed into the 1st movie. Much of the 2nd book was left unexplored. That’s the norm. And in that context, what Jackson accomplished was astonishing.
But it’s not just that Adamson, by his own admission, tried to create a war epic where none was to be found. It is not that he changed the story; it is how he changed it that is so irksome.
You see, each of the Chronicles hammers home a particular moral (with decidedly theological overtones.)
That is what the books are.
And they are still wildly popular.
If that bothers you, get over it.
A USA Today article even referred to Americans United for Separation of Church and State complaining about the Christian symbolism in the stories. First of all: what does this have to do with the separation of church and state? This group’s opposition to films made by private citizens tips their hand, revealing that their true objective is not defense of a constitutional principle, but that it is opposing Christianity at every turn. But that is an article for another day. My point is this: separating the theological undercurrent from the Narnia tales would be like re-telling LOTR without the One Ring.
In the case of Prince Caspian, the story is built on the premise that when the children show back up in Narnia, nearly 1500 years of Narnian time have elapsed since their adventures in the LW&W. In the intervening time not only had the people they had once known all passed from the scene ages ago, but the buildings they were familiar with had all crumbled. Unfortunately, they were soon to discover, so had the belief system of the good folks of Narnia. The creatures of Narnia no longer believed that any of the adventures of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy had really taken place. Even worse, they no longer believed Aslan really existed either. Sure, they gave lip-service to these things, but their conviction was about as convincing as Ben Barnes’s accent. The whole story is built around this moral: just because something happened centuries ago doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen at all.
The rest of the story was just a means to that end.
Only this is no longer the central theme of the movie. Rather, Adamson turns it into a quite unremarkable retelling of the storming of the Bastille. The rabble overthrowing the tyrant. Cue the arrows. Lessons about faith are an afterthought.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: you are going to have to change a few things to fit in the context of a 90 minute movie, I get that. Just don’t change the central theme of that particular book.
The fans of the franchise will reward you for that decision.
I promise.
Additionally, I truly wish that you would show the faith in the series that New Line did LOTR by allowing them to be filmed in rapid succession (and in some cases simultaneously), and be released in back-to-back years like LOTR or the Harry Potter Series. At the current pace, Georgie Henley will be in her early 20s by the time she could reprise her role of Lucy in The Last Battle.
Oh, and while you’re at it, please move the release dates back to the holiday season.
These movies are quintessential holiday movies. They are drawn from beloved books many of us read as children, and therefore bring back warm memories of our youth. The stories just have a family/holiday feel to them. December releases didn’t exactly hurt LOTR and LW&W either.
Ken decided to publish this in honor of the DVD release of Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian on December 2, 2008. This is not a review of the DVD but rather a series of thoughts organized in an open letter format to bring up valid thoughts on the themes and style of the film. These are Ken’s sole thoughts and may not reflect the thoughts and views of the entire Fused Film staff. - Fused Film Staff
