Last night we finally watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The final battle was good. The movie otherwise sucked. Maybe if I weren’t so familiar with the books I would have enjoyed it more, but my mom, not familiar with the books, didn’t enjoy it either for the same reason I found myself not enjoying it. Entirely too much violence and killing for a PG-13 movie based on a (Christian) book for kids.

Yes, the big war in Narnia is the central thread running through the book version, but it wasn’t the only thing going on in that book. The movie chose to focus entirely on the build-up to the final battle and any bit of violence they could find in the book or make up whole-cloth out of thin air. Who needs character development, plot points, or a storyline at all resembling the book upon which it is based, so long as you have children and fanciful CG characters hacking and slashing their enemies for just about the entire movie?

Seriously can’t recommend this movie at all, especially if you ever read the books and liked them. It’s a lot like the re-imagining of Star Trek, with the characters and locations all having the same names but not being the same characters or locations, but this is supposed to be a film adaptation of the book … not a re-imagining of it. Therefore, two thumbs down. Total fail that left me totally disappointed.