The chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

In Narnia, Caspian, a Telmarine Prince, is woken up by his professor, Doctor Cornelius, who informs him that his aunt has just given birth to a son and that his life is now in danger. Doctor Cornelius gives him Queen Susan’s ancient magical horn and instructs him to use it if he is in dire need of help. Knowing that his Uncle Miraz would kill him in order to be king, Caspian flees.

Chased by several Telmarine soldiers, Caspian falls off his horse and encounters two Narnian dwarfs and a talking badger in the woods. One of the dwarfs, Trumpkin, is captured by the soldiers after sacrificing himself to save Caspian, while the other dwarf, Nikabrik, and the badger, Trufflehunter, save Caspian. Not knowing that they are trying to save him, Caspian blows the magical horn, trying to summon help.

In England, the four Pevensie children wait at the Strand tube station for the train to arrive, which will take them to their boarding school. One year has passed in their world after they left Narnia. Just as the train pulls into the station, the walls start sucking in, and the whole station tears apart which transports the Pevensies back in Narnia. There, they discover that Cair Paravel, their castle, had turned into ruins while they were gone.

Meanwhile, Nikabrik and Trufflehunter lead Caspian to the Dancing Lawn, where all the old Narnians have assembled, including the swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep, and a large number of centaurs and minotaurs. There, Caspian convinces them to help him win his throne back so that he can give them back their land.

The Pevensies save a bound and gagged Trumpkin as they spot two Telmarine soldiers who are about to drown him in the ocean. After the dwarf realizes that the four of them are the kings and queens of old, they set off together. On the way, Lucy glimpses Aslan and tries to convince the others that she’s seen him, but only Edmund believes her. After many twists and turns, they eventually encounter Caspian and his troops, who take them to Aslan’s How, a huge underground hall built over the Stone Table. From there, Peter suggests that they attack Miraz’s castle. Lucy suggests waiting for Aslan to give instructions, but Peter decides they have waited for Aslan long enough.

The Narnians succeed in raiding Miraz’s castle, but Peter calls for a retreat when he realizes that if they keep fighting, all will be killed. Peter, Edmund, Susan, Caspian, and half of the Narnians manage to escape before the gate closes, but the rest are trapped and brutally slaughtered.

When they get back to Aslan’s How, Peter and Caspian, who are both guilty and upset over the loss of half their soldiers, have an argument about the attack on the castle, which almost culminates in a swordfight. Later, Nikabrik, along with a hag and a werewolf, draw Caspian aside and tell him that they can help him claim his throne and guarantee Miraz’s death. After Caspian agrees, the hag uses black sorcery to summon the White Witch. From inside a wall of ice, the Witch tries to convince Caspian, who had not realized what Nikabrik’s true intentions were, to give her a drop of his blood in order to set her free. Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin arrive and quickly incapacitate Nikabrik, the wolf, and the hag. There is a tense moment where it appears the Witch seems to have convinced Peter to release her, but Edmund shatters the wall of ice before the Witch can be freed.

As Miraz and his army arrive at Aslan’s How, Caspian suggests that Peter and Miraz duel one-on-one under the condition of surrender, in order to buy Lucy and Susan more time to find Aslan. Miraz is forced to accept, as it would look cowardly to refuse to fight a boy half his age. Susan and Lucy, who are searching for Aslan in the woods, are chased by Telmarine soldiers along the way; Susan sends Lucy off and remains behind to deal with the soldiers, but she is soon rescued by Caspian and the two of them return to the battlesite. Peter and Miraz battle, and Peter eventually is able to wound Miraz, but gives his sword to Caspian to finish him off. Caspian, who cannot bring himself to do it, lets Miraz keep his life, but says that he intends to give Narnia back to its people.

Lord Sopesian suddenly stabs and kills Miraz with one of Susan’s red-feathered arrows and blames the Narnians for shooting Miraz. Sopesian calls the Telmarine army, which is waiting just outside the How, to advance so that they can obliterate the Narnians. The Telmarines unfurl nasty trebuchets which fire a continuous stream of boulders at Aslan’s How and the Narnian army. In an effort to fight back, the Narnians try several tactics, including collapsing underground tunnels underneath the army, and sending griffins overhead with archers in their claws. In one final hope, they charge head on to fight with the Telmarines.

Lucy, meanwhile, has found Aslan in the woods; he awakens the trees that have been in a deep sleep. With the whole forest suddenly against them, Lord Sopesian orders the Telmarines to retreat to the bridge of Beruna, where they are confronted by Lucy and Aslan. Aslan summons the river god, who destroys the bridge and wipes out the majority of the Telmarine army as well as Lord Sopesian; all of the surviving Telmarine soldiers are forced to surrender and hand over their weapons, while the Narnians are honored for fighting well.

Aslan offers the Telmarines the option of remaining in Narnia or leaving for an unknown island on Earth. Lord Glozelle, along with the former-Queen, her family, and a large number of Telmarines, accept the offer. Before the Pevensies depart, Peter and Susan declare, much to Caspian, Edmund, and Lucy’s dismay, that Aslan has told them they will never return to Narnia. Aslan explains that Susan and Peter have gained everything they could possibly gain from their experiences in Narnia and are no longer needed there. Susan and Caspian share a kiss, knowing they will never meet again. The Pevensies then go back to England, leaving Caspian as King of Narnia.

CAst

Pevensies

William Moseley as Peter Pevensie. In a departure from the novel, Peter has a rivalry with Caspian. Moseley explained, “Peter’s got his own issues to deal with, and Caspian’s got his own issues to deal with, and when neither is willing to compromise, there’s bound to be friction. Peter came back to Narnia expecting to be king again and that everyone would do as he said, and Caspian is unwilling to let him take over, so that causes some of it. That’s really what happens. And it’s a lot about humility. I think they both have to learn a certain humility [...] and that’s really what a great king needs is to be humble, to listen to his people, to be willing to compromise, and they start off as these sort of angry teenagers, and become kings at the end.” In real life, the two actors got on well together. Moseley also stated that he identified with Peter, having gone back to school between shooting both films.^[3] He trained for three months in New York City to improve his performance and his physicality.^[4]
Anna Popplewell as Susan Pevensie, the second oldest Pevensie. Adamson convinced Douglas Gresham to have her present during the battles by suggesting her passive role in the novel indicated Lewis’ view of women before he met Joy Gresham. “I think [Lewis] cast women down in the earlier books, but when you look at The Horse and His Boy, it has a strong female character. Doug’s mother was a strong woman.”^[5] Adamson also chose to have her fall for Caspian, because “The kids are growing up. If you look at Ben and you look at Anna, it seems really implausible that they wouldn’t have some feelings for each other.” He knew it had to be “sensitively handled” though,^[6] and ultimately it is not about romance, but “[accepting] the fact that you can have a wondrous experience, enjoy it and move on”.^[7]
Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie, the third oldest Pevensie. Edmund matured during the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, so the writers saw him “as our Han Solo“, “[doing] the right thing” and “probably going to be a little low-key about it”, highlighting the immaturity of his older brother.^[8]
Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie. Henley acknowledged Lucy represents faith in the story, being the youngest and therefore most open minded of the Pevensies.^[4] During filming, Henley’s baby teeth were falling out, so she wore fake teeth to fill in the gaps.^[9]
Telmarines
Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian. Adamson said “Caspian is a coming of age and, to some degree, a loss of innocence story, with Caspian starting out quite naïve, then craving revenge and finally letting go of the vengeance.”^[7] While many readers interpret Caspian as a child, a passage in the novel mentions his age to be near that of Peter’s, so an older actor was sought to match Moseley. Barnes had read the novel as a child, and was cast in two-and-a-half weeks after meeting with the filmmakers. He spent two months in New Zealand horse riding and stunt training to prepare for shooting.^{[10] [11]} Barnes modelled his Spanish accent on Mandy Patinkin’s performance as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride,^[12] though he also had a dialect coach aiding him.^[11] Adamson did not expect to cast a British actor as Caspian, and said Barnes fitted well into the surrogate family of Adamson and the four actors playing the Pevensies.^[13] When cast, Barnes was set to tour with the Royal National Theatre’s production of The History Boys: producer Mark Johnson joked Barnes “probably isn’t the Nation’s favourite actor right now”. Barnes left England without telling the Theatre.^[14] They considered suing him for breach of contract, but decided against it.^[11]
Sergio Castellitto as King Miraz. Castellitto was not familiar with the novel, but his four children had enjoyed the first film. Miraz marks the first time the Italian actor has portrayed a villain, and he found it interesting to “act out a stereotype.” Nonetheless, he also felt that he and Adamson brought depth to the role, explaining Miraz is a soldier, not a coward, and that he takes the throne for his son. He compared the character to King Claudius in Hamlet.^[15]
Pierfrancesco Favino as Lord Glozelle, Miraz’s general,^[15] who intends to have his king killed in combat with Caspian and Peter in order to lead his own attack on the Narnians. Adamson called him “a real Benedict Arnold“.^[7]
Damián Alcázar as Lord Sopespian.^[16] “In some ways Sopespian turns out to be the real bad guy of the film,” Adamson said. “Where it seems that Miraz has the upper hand at the beginning, we see that Sopespian, like Shakespeare’s Iago, is trying to manipulate the situation.”^[7]
Vincent Grass as Doctor Cornelius: Caspian’s mentor,^[17] who is half-dwarf. Adamson compared Caspian and Cornelius’ relationship to Aristotle and Alexander the Great.^[7]
Alicia Borrachero as Queen Prunaprismia.^[18]
Simon Andreu as Lord Scythley.^[19]
Predrag Bjelac as Lord Donnon.^[20]
Narnians
Liam Neeson as the voice of the lion Aslan. Aslan is “more parental here, [he] lets the kids, well, make their own mistakes”.^[7] Aslan’s entrance was filmed like a dream sequence to emphasize his messianic nature, and not make it reflect badly on his absence when Narnia is in turmoil.^[21]
Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin, a cynical red dwarf. Dinklage was Adamson and Johnson’s first choice, having seen him in The Station Agent.^[14] He accepted because “often, you get the hero and the villain and not much in between. Trumpkin is in between. He is not a lovable Snow White dwarf. Audiences appreciate these cynical characters. It helps parents and adults to go along with the journey.”^[22] Dinklage’s prosthetics took three hours to apply. On his first day of filming, he was bitten by sand flies and fell into a river. “We were lucky that he returned after his first day!” recalled Johnson.^[14]
Warwick Davis as Nikabrik, a black dwarf. He is descendant of Ginarrbrik, who served the White Witch, and bears one of his rings, which was passed down from each generation.^[23] Mark Johnson acknowledged casting Davis as the treacherous Nikabrik was casting against type:^[14] Berger covered all his face bar his eyelids in prosthetics, to allow Davis to ward off the audience’s perceptions of him.^[24] Davis feared filming in the Czech Republic, because the grass is filled with ticks, so he put elastic bands to hold his trousers against his legs.^[25]
Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep, a swashbuckling mouse.^[26] Adamson credits Izzard for making the role his own; beforehand, the director was approaching the character similar to Puss in Boots in Shrek 2.^[27] Izzard approached Reepicheep as less camp and more of a bloodthirsty assassin with a sense of honour (a cross between Mad Max and William the Conqueror): Izzard interpreted Reepicheep as someone whose family was killed by the Telmarines.^[24] The Narnia series were some of the few books Izzard read as a child, and he cherished them.^[28] When discussing Reepicheep to the animators, Adamson told them to rent as many Errol Flynn films as possible.^[14]
Ken Stott as the voice of Trufflehunter the badger.^[29] Adamson called Trufflehunter “a walking and talking Narnian library [who is] totally old-school”.^[7]
David Walliams as the voice of the Bulgy Bear.^[30]
Klara Issova as a hag who attempts to resurrect the White Witch.^[24]
Cornell John as Glenstorm the Centaur.^[31] Adamson had seen John perform in Porgy and Bess in London, and liked his long face.^[24] In an interview, Cornell John put the age of Glenstorm at 170 earth years. ^[32]
Lejla Abbasová as Windmane (Glenstorm’s wife).^[24]
Yemi Akinyemi as Ironhoof (Glenstorm’s son).^[33]
Carlos Da Silva as Suncloud (Glenstorm’s son).^[33]
Ephraim Goldin as Rainstone (Glenstorm’s son).
Gomez Mussenden, son of costume designer Isis Mussenden, plays Lightning Bolt, a child Centaur.^[34]
Jan Pavel Filipensky as Wimbleweather the giant.^[33]
Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, whose ghost appears as the hag and werewolf attempt to resurrect her. Swinton and her two sons also cameoed towards the film’s end as centaurs.^[35]
Shane Rangi as Asterius, an elderly minotaur who aids Caspian. Rangi also stood in for Aslan, the Bulgy Bear, the Werewolf, another Minotaur, and the Wild Bear on set.^[36] Rangi played General Otmin in the previous film, and he was able to see more in the redesigned animatronic minotaur heads, though “in order to make the eye line straight and correct, you’ve actually got to hold your head down, so your view is only about a foot and a half in front of you, which still makes it a little bit hard”. The costumes were still very hot, reducing him to a “walking waterfall”. Although a head sculpt of Aslan was used to stand in for the character on the first film, Rangi had to portray the character on set because Lucy interacts with him more.^[37]
Douglas Gresham cameos as a Telmarine crier.^[38]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i’ve watched this film yesterday june 9 ,08

and i really really like it… the breath taking scene’s , the sad part, it all delighted me..especially when peter attack the telmarine’s castle .. because of his restlessness half of narnian’s died.. i do cry when the gate close and trapped narnian’s its like there’s no hope.. this film is such a great film unexpected events occurs great great grea…. not to mention its soundtrack. at the end of the film when i heard this song.. i recognized the voice , it was sang by regina spektor.. and i tell to my self.. i gotta find this song.. and yea. i got it.

The call by regina spektor lyrics

It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder
‘Til it was a battle cry
I’ll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye

Just because everything’s changing
Doesn’t mean it’s never been this way before
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war

Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
You’ll come back when it’s over
No need to say goodbye

You’ll come back when it’s over
No need to say goodbye

Now we’re back to the beginning
It’s just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can’t feel it too
Doesn’t mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
‘Til they’re before your eyes
You’ll cone back
When they call you
No need to say goodbye

You’ll come back
When they call you
No need to say goodbye

*just wanna thank my friend for the treat in the cinema*

~ by cuteasian16 on June 9, 2008.