Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian: Bringing Back the Magic

The first thing I noticed about The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is how old the Pevensie children looked. I know. Child actors grow up. Kids become adolescents become adults. If there is any doubt, all you have to do is watch the Harry Potter movies in chronological order.

But when Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley) appear for the first time in Prince Caspian, what struck me was something more than the changed appearance of its actors. If the Pevensies are supposed to have grown into adults in Narnia before returning home and then aged another year in the “real world” before returning to Narnia soon after Prince Caspian’s opening scenes, what I saw in their eyes made me believe that it was true. Gone is childhood naiveté and in its place is the acknowledgment of the much more complicated reality that surrounds them. Although each of them still cherishes the land of Narnia they have left behind, in each of them is also a recognition of the greater world of which they are a part. And as the newest Narnian adventure unfolded, it was that very necessity to reconcile the magical world of Narnia with the unmagical world of reality that pulled me in the most.

The story of Prince Caspian is about a kingdom in ruins, a magic that has died, and a rightful heir who has been denied his throne. For at least the first ten minutes of the movie, all is dark. Rooms are dark, the sky is dark, and the deeds in motion are dark. Although the movie begins with the first breath of a new life, the action quickly moves to the plotted assassination of the rightful heir to the Telmarine throne, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes). When Caspian flees the castle to save his life, he stumbles into a world he thought no longer existed. And when he calls out for rescue on Susan’s horn, Caspian suddenly finds himself surrounded by the magical world of Narnia believed to have been made extinct by the many Telmarine kings before him.

The thing is, even though it is not extinct, the Narnia that Caspian finds is decidedly different from the one Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy left behind thousands of years before. When Caspian’s call brings them back, it only takes one misguided attempt to talk to a bear and one trip through a grove of silent, motionless trees for the children to see the same. And as they join forces with Prince Caspian and the remaining Narnians, it becomes their mission to both restore Caspian to his throne and bring magic back to a world now overrun with darkness.

Whether the The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or Prince Caspian is better is a question that will probably be debated among even The Chronicles of Narnia’s greatest fans. When it comes to the acting ability of its main players, its action sequences, and its special effects, Caspian definitely surpasses its predecessor. For those like me who are less drawn in by stories of fantasy and more by those of reality, Caspian’s increased element of human struggle is one that will pull you in more than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

If you are a small child like several of those at the screening I attended, however, that very shift towards a grittier, more human reality may make its battles a bit too real to watch. And in terms of the message that went along with that reality, I have to say that the first film did a bit better job of communicating it more through story and character than the slightly preachy feeling dialog of the second. But regardless of which of the movie’s strengths may pull you in and which of its weakness may turn you off, the story that is told in Prince Caspian and the way it is delivered is still one I believe will make a connection with many and be enjoyed by almost as diverse an audience as the first.

Going into The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, like many people, I pretty much had its story pegged. Aslan is Jesus, and it is about his sacrifice and resurrection to deliver us from the bondage of our sins. But going into Prince Caspian, and even as I walked away from it, I must admit I wasn’t exactly sure what its story was supposed to be about. Its pieces were there, but my question was, what did they mean when I put them together?

World of darkness, bears that don’t talk, trees that don’t sing. “You get treated like a dumb animal long enough, that’s what you become,” says “Dear Little Friend” Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) upon the Pevensies’ return to the vastly changed world of Narnia… So, we do live in a world of sin and darkness, and the effect of that reality is nothing other than life-draining. Sounds about right.

Aslan remains mysteriously absent for much of the movie and doesn’t step in to save things until significant losses have already been incurred. “Things were never meant to happen the same way twice,” he tells Lucy… Okay, God isn’t going to keep coming and dying for us every time we get into a mess. Got it.

Lucy sees Aslan. No one else does. “I’m not going to jump off a cliff after someone who doesn’t exist,” says Peter… God may not be physically among us anymore, but he’s still here. I can see that.

“Maybe we’re the ones who need to prove ourselves to him,” says Lucy just before she leaves to find Aslan and call upon his help… Hmmm: free will, journey to be taken, life-giving power not so much making us wait as waiting for us to reach out for it. Interesting.
If The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is the story of Christ’s sacrifice for us long ago, as I see it, Prince Caspian is the story of God’s existence in our lives now. Yes, Christ’s sacrifice may have saved us from eternal bondage to Satan (the White Witch), but that does not mean that our lives here and now will be free of struggle or complication. At times, it may seem that our world is completely devoid of any of the light or magic we associate with the existence of God, but that does not mean God is not here.

As much as our lives may be filled with ugly and complicated realities, it still remains that we are spiritual beings living in a spiritual world. And while the spirit of God may not be quite as blatantly present as a gigantic lion, in the gentle whisper of a breeze, in the energizing beat of a song, in the comforting embrace of a lover, and in the encouraging words of a friend, the spirit of God is still very much alive in our world today.