Sunday, January 08, 2006

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Recently I decided to start rereading The Chronicles of Narnia, in part because the movie was coming out at the time, of course. If anyone reading this actually hasn’t read the books, go! Read! Put down the computer, and slowly back away… er, yes. You’re not too old to read them. I wonder… I may have read them more times than any other books. Anyway, I’ve read the first two (no, not The Magician’s Nephew and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian! I’m reading them in the proper order!) so far, and don’t have a lot to say – I mean, since all of you have read them as well. There were a few quotes in Prince Caspian I particularly enjoyed this time around. A serious one: “‘Aslan,’ said Lucy, ‘you’re bigger.’
‘That is because you are older, little one,’ answered he.
‘Not because you are?’
‘I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.’”

And then a couple amusing ones: “‘Yes,’ said the Bear. ‘But it was always a right of the bears to supply one marshal of the lists.’
‘Don’t let him,’ whispered Trumpkin to Peter. ‘He’s a good creature, but he’ll shame us all. He’ll go to sleep and he will suck his paws. In front of the enemy too.’
‘I can’t help that,’ said Peter. ‘Because he’s quite right. The Bears had that privilege. I can’t imagine how it has been remembered all these years, when so many other things have been forgotten.’
‘Please, your Majesty,’ said the Bear.
‘It is your right,’ said Peter. ‘And you shall be one of the marshals. But you must remember not to suck your paws.’
‘Of course not,’ said the Bear in a very shocked voice.
‘Why, you’re doing it this minute!’ bellowed Trumpkin.”

And: “You can’t help feeling stronger when you look at a place where you won a glorious victory not to mention a kingdom, hundreds of years ago.” I’ve certainly always found that to be the case.

As for the movie, I quite enjoyed it. There were only a couple things that really bugged me, which isn’t bad. If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie (then why are you still here?) or if you’ve read the book but haven’t seen the movie yet and don’t want to know any details about the movie ahead of time; Spoiler! (The rest of you, scroll down.)












I think the one thing that bugged me the most was when the Beavers were talking to the children, and they said that the winter spell was breaking because of the hope the children had brought. What the heck?! The spell broke because Aslan was moving! The children had no power in themselves! A few other things were a bit annoying, but there are serious Theological Ramifications here!

Ok, now that’s off my chest, I feel better. Good night, all.

2 comments :

luminarumbra said...

I remember that part annoying me, too! Prettymuch every other change they made was within reason (and I really liked the changes they made with Peter and Susan... I thought they brought out their characters more) but that one is unforgivable!

Rachel said...

The music bugged me more than anything else. It didn't fit! At all! I liked it fine for itself, but it wasn't good enough for my beloved Narnia. I think you'll be able to tell very easily in future years when the movie was made just by hearing the music. There's no reason to date a good movie like that!