Read my other Narnian reviews here: Magician’s Nephew, Lion Witch Wardrobe, Horse and Boy.

Once upon a time, little Emily went to a packed theater in Japan to finally see the movie all her friends in America had seen three months ago. Her life would be forever changed.

A dramatic story, but technically not inaccurate. I am still writing the fanfiction the Prince Caspian movie inspired me to write in 2013. (If you’re interested, my FanFiction.net blurb: “Two hearts. Two worlds. Two children. When Susan leaves Narnia the second time, she leaves much more than a lover behind and carries a great secret with her. Will her life ever be whole again? Caspian/Susan. Movie canon, not book. Begins during Prince Caspian.”)

The book, obviously, is very different. Except… is it?

Full disclosure: I’ve loved this movie so much for so long that this review will be more of a movie/book comparison than a true review. You have been warned.

Prince Caspian

C.S. Lewis

One year has passed since the Pevensie children returned to our world from their reigns as kings and queens in Narnia. At a train station, they are suddenly pulled back — to a dethroned young prince and a very changed Narnia facing grave new threats.

I’m totally judging a book by its movie, sorry

For all the fan criticism I heard about when the movie first came out, Prince Caspian in film actually changed very little from what I can see. The main differences were story order and the ages of the main characters. Of course, the actors aged between movies, so the characters would have to be aged up to account for that. And the timeline and plot order in the book would not have translated well to modern screen.

The sibling dynamic is better in the books I think. The individual characterization of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, including the ways they’ve changed and grown since LWW. The movie prioritized the action and drama over characters, which I think is where most changes and viewer/reader criticisms stem from.

It’s very fascinating to watch the Pevensies return to such a changed Narnia. Here are four kids, simultaneously both adults and children while feeling not quite like either, with ancient, sometimes-shaky reputations in a world that remembers them as differently as they remember it.

The rivalry between Peter and Caspian seems to have been completely invented for the movie. I personally think this is partly due to their being aged up into angsty teenagers on the cusp of manhood, and partly for the on-screen drama. Whether you like that or not, it does seem to me to make more sense than keeping the Pevensies as the front-and-center heroes of a story titled “Prince Caspian,” which is how the book felt.

The mandatory modern analysis

Was Prince Caspian sexist? I don’t recall noticing anything particular. I’ll note that I am very biased in favor of this one Narnia book.

We see a lot more of Lucy and Peter than Edmund or Susan, I think, which makes sense narratively – Peter being the one who fights Miraz, and Lucy being the one who sees Aslan and still has the most faith in him and Narnia. The book sticks to the siblings’ original characterization and doesn’t wedge them into any assigned gender roles. Susan beats the DLF in archery and Edmund beats him at sword fighting, so they do get their times to shine — and again, not gendered. The “girls don’t have maps in their heads” “because we have stuff in them” exchange feels more like classic “boys vs girls” childish sibling banter than any sexist statement by the author.

Was the book racist? This one pretty much falls in the same boat as LWW (in other words: basically no). The Telmarines’ race is ambiguous, just descended from “South Sea pirates” – could be Spanish, Pacific Islander, other Oceania race, but probably not white, which is worth noting. Telmarines as a whole are not depicted as bad or good, but as individuals (Miraz and his advisers as bad guys vs. Caspian and his father as good guys). They’re not defined by their race; it’s hardly even described. Conclusion: neither any progressive nor offensive racial messages here.

My Suspian shipping soap box

If anyone is mad at me for shipping Susan and Caspian, they can bite me. Whether you look at the books or the movies, the two are the same age. I only ship the 17/18-ish-year-old movie characters, but you can’t tell me that there is zero possibility these two royal 13-year-olds, one of whom (Susan) was known for courting many royal princely suitors, might have possibly been a thing when they got older. If you want to complain that Ben Barnes was too old for Anna Popplewell, I won’t argue, but the same-aged fictional characters go well together and, as I and my fanfic readers see it, have great chemistry.

You can join us in the imaginary feels and fun here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9342877/1/Heart-Torn-in-Two