The Chronicles of Narnia books have continued to entertain children ever since the first one was published back in 1950. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe told the story of four young siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, who are sent to safety in the English countryside during World War II. During a game of hide and seek, they discover a magical portal in Professor Digory Kirke’s wardrobe which takes them to the magical world of Narnia. From there they eventually come together with lion Aslan and his army to fight the evil White Witch and end the 100 years of winter she has reined over them.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a follow up to the successful 2005 film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Our story has the four Pevensie children arriving back to the world of Nardia. However things have changed, it’s been 1,300 years since they were here last (with time operating different in Narnia then it Earth’s time) and Narnia as they know it is gone. Once again the children find themselves in battle to save Narnia. This time they are here to return the throne to its rightful owner, Prince Caspian. Prince Caspian has fled to the forest of Narnia, after his Uncle Miraz tried to have him murdered so his newly born son could one day rule the throne. Miraz is now King and it is the children, the creatures of Narnia, Prince Caspian and perhaps help from a long lost four-legged friend, to fight and ultimately triumph over evil.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is based on the C.S. Lewis follow-up book and is the second novel in the series (fourth if you go chronological with his later written prequels). Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia novel was published in 1951 and would sadly be the last story staring all four of the Pevensie children. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if the filmmakers stay faithful to the novels with the upcoming inevitable films. None the less, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian has arrived to home video and has come with several edition options and great bonus features.

Disc 1 includes the feature, a commentary track, BD Live bonus material and a new feature called Circle-Vision Interactive. The commentary track with the director and the actors is fun with plenty of humor and insight into their relationship and behind the scenes making of the C.S. Lewis novel. The BD Live was not available at the time of this review but always includes some nice bonus material to download. Finally on disc 1, we have the Circle-Vision Interactive: Creating the Castle Raid. Circle-Vision Interactive is a new feature exclusive to blu-ray and I suspect a new feature exclusive to Disney blu-ray. It’s a unique and interactive way to handle a featurette. The director introduces the feature and then the viewer has an option to click through what is almost an hour of material on the making of the castle raid. It’s an interesting concept that might be too much trouble for the average viewer to want to plow through, if you are one of those people there is an index option to pick and choose in a easier manner.

On disc 2 is where most of the bonus material is found. There’s a blooper reel and about 11 minutes of 10 deleted scenes. Several featurettes including a 5 minute piece on Peter Dinklage becoming Trumpkin, "Secrets of the Duel" that shows the choreography for the battles and another one on how they created the animals and the trees. The best and longest is "Inside Narnia: The Adventure Returns," which goes into the behind the scenes of the making of the film showing everything from all the down time the actors had to endure and how reluctant the director was to even be a part of the sequel. "Sets of Narnia: A Classic Comes to Life" is interesting in that it compares how much effort the filmmakers went into finding sets that matched C.S. Lewis’s original vision.

Still, if you want one more bonus option you have a 3rd disc for your iPod or Windows Media player to watch a copy of the film where ever you go.

The Chronicles of Narnia books are for children whose parents are fans of the Lord of the Rings novels. In fact both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were college friends and watching both of these films and reading their books, you can see why they got along. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a great follow up and a worthwhile sequel for the fans of the Narnia series. The movies captures the feel of the books and are wonderful stories for the whole family.

Comments

Krisi Written by Guest on 2008-12-04 18:09:08 This movie was so it was like the best movie ever made i love you guys for makeing this movie

loved it! Written by Guest on 2008-12-14 04:20:47 amazing movie! saw it while on vacation and i remember the sense of wanting some of the magic brought back, just like the Pevensies! all the actors were great! highights: Castelito (his eyes gave me tha shivers), Warwick Davis and Peter Dinklage were soooo inot their roles that made me forget who they really were, Favino gave some depth to a role i didn't expect to find in such extent there. the new addition: Caspian aka Ben Barnes is PERFECT!!!!!!!! can't wait fot the Voyage of the Dawn Treader! PS I got my copy yesterday...the features are indeed xmas joy!

Write Comment
Name:	Guest
Title:
Comment:
Code:*

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!