Posted on 05/17/2008 3:52:14 AM PDT by paudio
HOLLYWOOD seems to have concluded that war movies don't sell. But "Prince Caspian" seems likely to prove the opposite.
"Caspian," the new Narnia film from Walden Media based on the CS Lewis classic, is expected to do quite well. The secret: It's not anti-war.
Flicks like "Stop-Loss," "Lions for Lambs," "In the Valley of Elah" and "Rendition" have bombed because they're painfully anti-war - and the heavy-handed ideology makes for artistic as well as commercial failure.
"Caspian" is a fantasy, of course - but also a war story. Indeed, it's the tale of a just war: Prince Caspian's fight to return Narnia to its natural, Aslan-given order by driving the tyrant Miraz from power and bringing back and restoring the rights of talking animals, fauns, dwarves and other magical beings.
The tale is full of military events, councils, knights. Aslan gives a great war cry to summon and inspire his troops ("The Lion Roars"). Miraz is defeated in single combat, after which "full battle" is joined.
In fact, "Caspian" is centered on the theme of Mars, god of war.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Don't be fooled with the genre. Yes, it is a fantasy movie, but it's also a Christian, war, and dramatic movie!
Thanks for the post. My son and I saw it yesterday afternoon, and loved it. You describe it well, and the contrast with LWW. So glad we saw it, & highly recommend it!
I’m looking forward to it! Love C.S. Lewis!
I saw it yesterday with my kids. You’re correct, a very powerful message about faith in the face of hopeless odds- specifically, faith in a seemingly absent Savior, even when things fall apart.
I read the series several times as a kid, but it’s been so long that I don’t remember them very clearly. It was great to be reminded of Lewis’s genius.
I saw it last night and liked it. I didn’t like the song at the end, but otherwise, it was really well done and the kids all clapped at the end of it.
The liberal press was all over this, saying it sucked, that nobody should go watch it.
My guess: The first Narnia movie took them by complete surprise, that awful Golden Compass (that nobody saw) was their riposte, and now they want the second flick to fail so they can claim GC’s failure was due to anything BUT the original material it’s based off of.
From what I hear, it is an excellent film, and I plan to go see it soon.
Yahoo news put out an article stating that kids should not attend due to extreme violence...True???
I believe there are two songs at the end. I dont really care about the 1st, but the very last one, This is Home by Switchfoot is great. What I like is not exactly the music but the lyrics. It fits well with the movie. Oh yeah, one other message from the movie is this: live your life in the world where you are now with lessons you learned from Narnia. Peter seems to have hangover about Narnia in the one year he lives in London. He doesn't live in his own world (that's why now the fighting scene really makes sense), and Aslan reminds him about it at the end.
It’s not ‘extreme’, but yes, it might be a bit tense for little kids.
Liberal reviewer on CH. 5 (Bangor, Maine) shrugged his shoulders and said it was too bad that it just was not that good and gave it a “5 out of 10” rating.
Going to surely see it now!
The other message, if I recall correctly, that “Prince Caspian “ delivers is simple and just as powerful:
Never be afraid to fight for what is right, even against what seems to be overwhelming odds - because with the help of Divine Providence, you *can* win.
Such a contrast between that and some of the groupthink garbage that’s been coming out of Hollyweird lately, the stuff that tries to insulate kids against the reality of the world, or those that attempt to terrorize kids into doing what is popular instead of what is right. I think here is a good time to quote C.S. Lewis’ thoughts on that sort of “kid proofing the world”:
“Those who say that children must not be frightened may mean two things. They may mean (1) that we must not do anything likely to give the child those haunting, disabling, pathological fears against which ordinary courage is helpless: in fact, phobias. His mind must, if possible, be kept clear of things he can’t bear to think of. Or they may mean (2) that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil. If they mean the first I agree with them: but not if they mean the second. The second would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the…atomic bomb. Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.”
Sounds like just what we need at this time.
Yeah, we’re seeing the same suppression techniques that they tried against “The Passion”.
That didn’t work out so well for them last time - especially since there’s no end of adults who *will* take their kids (or like me, go by ourselves) to see this movie. Disney somehow managed to not screw up a precious childhood memory for millions.
This is the *only* thing I could think of that would allow Disney to stave off the Harry Potter juggernaut - because, while interesting and engaging, Rowling can’t hold a candle to Lewis. Lewis’ works all teach lessons in addition to being great literature. Rowling’s stuff teaches no lessons and isn’t nearly as good.
Of course not. Please don’t take advice from Yahoo news.
Rowling wishes she was in the same league as Tolkein and Lewis. All she’s doing is filling a humanist niche in the genre, and making a buck along the way.
In 100 years, people will still be reading the inklings, and Rowling will be forgotten.
Note: Yahoo is calling Prince Caspian’s violence ‘extreme’, yes. Note that they also called 300’s violence a mere ‘graphic’ and Passion Of The Christ’s violence ‘unbelievably disgusting’ (iirc).
You might want to avoid Yahoo for extreme bias.
Thanks for the recommendation of Prince Caspian.
What age child would be appropriate to take to this movie?
And I do need to know if there is much “bloodshed” or not....I won’t take a child to see that kind of stuff.
The rest of what you describe sounds tremendous.
How Disney managed to do this movie without messing it up - well that’s a miracle right there.
Cannot wait to see it.
And there’s nothing wrong with that, since, after all, that’s exactly what her original goals were for the series.
But it’s not great literature. And the series isn’t exactly great children’s lit, either. I mean, basically the entire thing is how things just get progressively worse and worse for Potter & Co and in the end they sort of pull it all out.
It’s good stuff, but it’s not *great* stuff.
If they are old enough to read and actually comprehend the book, I can’t imagine that the movie would be too much more graphic. My guess - 10-14 years old, same as the book.
I saw it yesterday too. I think that it stays faithful to the books themes(I am rereading the book to check it out.
Extreme violence? No. Many battle scenes, and they do not shrink from what has to be done in war(kill the enemy without a second thought) which I found refreshing(too many times movies try to disarm the bad guy, etc.)
I also like that it shows the imperfection of the heroes(temptation to using evil power to winning the good fight, pride, etc.).
Great movie that needs to be supported. I will go see it again.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.