As with my review of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, since Prince Caspian was adapted into a movie by Disney, I have to give both the book and movie a review. While I will admit that the Prince Caspian is my favorite adaptation because it seems more serious than the first movie, it wasn’t the best adaptation in terms of the actual lore. In fact, thus far, I think that it might be the movie that strays farthest from the original book. While I can of course give some grace to the directors since obviously there are some things that would’ve been hard to translate well into a movie, I still think they took a few too many liberties with the story.
#1: What the heck happened to Edmund
In the book, Edmund was somewhere around 10 or 11-years-old, maybe 12 at most. Meanwhile, in the movie, he for some reason looked like he’s 15 or 16. I realize that The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe was filmed a few years before Prince Caspian so that would make sense, but still, it bugs me a bit. This isn’t really a problem with the movie per-say, more a pet peeve of mine.
#2: Susan is now Phyllis
What was with the weird, random love interest that wasn’t in the book? I realize that it could be the directors kind-of showing how Susan is growing up and growing further away from Narnia, but C.S. Lewis was never interested in showing that. He was more interested in getting into the story, which was something I really enjoyed. Honestly, the whole Phyllis non-sense shouldn’t have been in the movie.
#3: Caspian
Caspian was not a vengeful, brooding dude like we see in the movie. While he does want to take the throne back, it’s simply to take it out of Miraz’s hands and restore Narnia. Meanwhile, in the movie, while they do a good job of presenting Caspian’s backstory, escape with the help of Dr. Cornelius, meeting with Trufflehunter, Nikabrik, and Trumpkin, etc. in every other way they totally misrepresented him.
First of all, he didn’t wait until Peter and the rest got to Narnia to start fighting. He didn’t blow the horn when he was being chased. He only blew it after a ton of discussion about it at Aslan’s Howe when it was clear that his army was losing. He was completely competant as a leader and only needed Peter’s help when things started getting really bad. In fact, in the book, the first time he met Peter was when the werewolf and hag started attacking him, Cornelius, and Trufflehunter.
Secondly, he wasn’t impulsive. While Caspian did spare Miraz when Peter offered him the chance of killing him during the duel, he did not lead an attack on the Telmarine castle to try to save Cornelius and kill his uncle. Cornelius had been smart enough to get out of the palace by himself and didn’t need Caspian’s help. That entire scene was made up purely for the sake of screen time and the addition of teenage angst.
#3: The Susan and Caspian romance
Susan didn’t know Caspian long enough to ever fall in love with him, nor did he know her enough. That was simply added for the “Aww! Cute!” comments. What actually happens in terms of lovey-dovey ships is Caspian gets married to Ramandu’s daughter at the end of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, not Susan.
#4: The boys saw Aslan
In the movie, Edmund and Peter wonder why they didn’t get to see Aslan when Lucy did. However, the books versions of Peter and Edmund actually did see him once they started believing what Lucy was saying. While the books encourage a somewhat childlike faith when it came to the older characters believing in Aslan, the movies seemingly got rid of that for the sake of more teen angst.
In conclusion, while the movie was good, it bastardized the book for the sake of more views. The book was much better and didn’t waste time on things that were unecessary.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
I totally agree! There is no romance between Susan and Caspian in the book. You should listen to the audio version by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. They did a really good job of sticking to the books.
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