"Prince Caspian" (2008) -- Initial Thoughts

Just got home from Prince Caspian, and I have this to say: If your small child gets frightened by a scary battle and starts wailing, "I don't like it! I'm scared!" then for the love of Mike, take him out of the theater!!!!! Do not tell him to shush and make him stay in his seat. You are an unfit parent and I hope someday, someone straps you to a chair and dangles scorpions in your face.

As for the movie, I think I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it. In fact, I think I liked it better than The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. We didn't have to go through all the "introduce the world and its concepts" stuff, we just jumped straight into the action. And the plot felt more... unified. It gets two Warheads, though, for slowing down partway through and getting a little too much in love with faceless warriors building bridges and marching around.

Also, Edmund (Skander Keynes) doesn't do anything horrifically stupid in this one. In fact, he gets to save the day at one point. (Also helps that he's starting to be rather dashing -- by the time Dawn Treader comes out, we could have a hot young star on our hands.) Peter is still nice, but getting a bit stolid in his old age, lol. And Susan is pouty and annoying as always, plus she looks like someone's botoxed her lips. Lucy is still wonderful, but not quite as utterly charming as she was in the first movie.

They did get WETA to do more than just the armor and weaponry this time, but they also got four or five other FX companies as well. Sigh. Will they never learn?