I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

(The following are the notes I made on the bus on the way to Meg's house yesterday, because going straight from "Prince Caspian" to a Supernatural marathon seemed like a good idea at the time.)

According to the bus clock, it is 2:43. Two hours and forty-three minutes ago, the lights went dim and the previews started. And then...

And then!

Peter Jackson is a man who has changed my life in many ways. I've made friends, argued with tenured professors and spent the week in a haunted castle because of what his movies did for my second favourite series of books.

Until today, I never realized what he'd done for my favourite.

"The Two Towers" is an excellent movie, but I will never forget staying up all night re-reading the book after I saw it. For a while, I was annoyed. But then I grew to understand how much goes into a movie like this when the book itself has almost no forward movement. It's not making something from nothing, but it's pretty darn close.

"Prince Caspian", which happens almost entirely in flashback or from the point of view of characters not present at the time, presented similar problems. And the movie? Well...the movie was fantastic.

WHAT A BEGINNING! I really enjoyed it, and I can totally understand the choice to make it that way. It got the plot going and it was SO NERVE WRACKING. I was a little miffed that they took almost all of Trumpkin's coolness away from him, but, again, I understand the necessity of doing so.

In addition, I really enjoyed the portrayal of the Telmarines, particularly Prunaprisma. I am not sure why they all had to be Eastern European, but their style and bearing was wonderful, and I totally bought their redemption at the end, which is equally important.

I was slightly nervous when I saw seven lords in Miraz' council chamber, but it all turned out okay, so I was worried over nothing. It's a bit like the "My mother's name is Helen" from the first movie in that it was close enough to make me nervous, but in the grand scheme of things had no bearing on anything else in the story.

(Most of what I thought about the non-battle parts of the story are in the character section below)

I am still not sure how I feel about the Night Raid. And believe, I haven't thought about much else since then. Especially given how long the Final Battle dragged on for, I am not sure what the Night Raid was all about, besides a time filler. I mean, yeah they had to set up Caspian getting desperate but...I really had trouble with the Peter/Caspian rivalry thing. It rang really hollow for me.

Also, it was stupid. And I hate stupid. (Even if the cat part was hilarious)

The Night Raid did bring us to the Witch, obviously, and that was an excellent scene so as a plot point, I get it and as a battle I enjoyed it...but it isn't sitting right with me just yet, perhaps because they cut out an actual battle to insert it, and it was that battle that messed with Caspian's confidence level.

The Challenge I enjoyed very much. I liked that, even though it was never said, I knew that Sopesian was egging Miraz on, and that abhominable is spelt with an h. I really liked Edmund taking control of the situation the way that he did.

The actual duel was well done, but I missed the by-play from the spectators and that made it seem very long. I didn't mind the bit with Caspian so much, because Sopesian made up for it, and I laughed very inappropriately at the Bear when he was sucking his paws. It was effective.

(Doesn't the whole "what happens if we die?" belong to Eustace and Jill in "The Last Battle"? I seem to recall one of them ending the conversation with "Or being smashed up on a British rail train", but I don't remember how the rest of it went and my books aren't here.)

The Final Battle was pretty awesome. Even taking into account WETA's pathological need for catapults, I didn't see Caspian's plan coming. And it was stupendous (and plausible, because we know the How is full of tunnels). Peter and Susan looked a little awkward in slow-mo, and it did drag a bit, but for the most part I very much enjoyed it.

When I was little, Lucy was always my favourite. For the most part, she still is, but these movies have really gutted her. Peter totally had a point when he said that she was lucky. Everything seems to be handed to her in this portrayal, and she never has to work for it and she never gets into trouble. All of her character moments get cut out of the movie. Aslan never really gets angry with the others (not even after Peter got lots of people KILLED), but he's actually growled at Lucy. Twice: when she heals Edmund and when she complains about no one having believed her. In the movies, she's one dimensional and, deprived of Susan's company, really seems like a kid, magic or no, where the others get to grow up a little.

Hopefully when the attention is more focused in "Dawn Treader", she'll get to keep her good scenes...like the shouting match at Deathwater and the bit with the spell book.

When did Edmund get so cool? I mean...really? I always felt badly for him in "Wardrobe" and he was sort of pompous in "Horse", but all of a sudden he's just awesome. He's good at things, he's smart and thinks quickly (the catapults at Cair Paravel, the Night Raid, in the tent with Miraz...), and he totally took out the Witch. About all I could wish for would be a better showing of his support for Lucy and to see Skandar Keynes face light up when Edmund finally sees Aslan. "Well done", indeed!

Oh, Peter! I am not sure how he's gone from being a capable, smart person to a whiney, entitled little boy, but it sure made for good (if somewhat repetitive) watching! At least he has motivations, which is more than can be said for his character in the book (not that there's anything wrong with Book Peter, obviously...he'd be boring on screen though). I was impressed with Mossley's acting, even though I can only handle so much teenage angst.

If they were a little mean to Susan in "Wardrobe", they were super nice to her here! She wasn't nasty, cold, mean, selfish or whiney at all! She was just a little insecure and very...sad. I cried like a baby from her scene in the courtyard to the end (also, I really want that dress!). My heart was in pieces!

I am confused with how this Susan becomes the Susan of "The Last Battle" though. azarsuerte posted a link about how she thinks it happened (and I pretty much agree with her), but now that she's bled for Narnia (for, we can assume, the first time. "Queen Susan doesn't ride to the wars", after all), I don't know how she gets there.

Of all the deviations from the text, the one that feels the most uncomfortable for me is the whole Caspian/Susan thing. This is, I think, for two reasons. One, I was about five when I read the books and I understood Susan to be about 13 and Two, THEY SHARE NO DIALOGUE. Seriously, they barely have scenes in common. I can honestly say, were it not for the internet, it never would have crossed my mind. I totally covered my eyes when she kissed him, did a full body cringe for Lucy's follow-up line and have been denying it ever since.

I wonder how they'll deal with Ramandu's Daughter now...

Some Bullet Points To End With

1. Reepicheep was awesome. I am glad he got almost all of his scenes verbatim.

2. Would it really have cost them that much to fly John Rhys Davies in for a couple of days and record him yelling "Release my chains!"?

3. I am going to have to explain the difference between Ents and Trees to all of my family. Again.

4. I wish they hadn't butchered Lucy's part so much. The others all got good moments in spite of it, but hers were almost totally gone.

5. I CANNOT BELIEVE THE NIGHT RAID ENDED LIKE THAT. IN A DISNEY MOVIE.

6. Liam Neeson is my hero.

7. I like to think that, after this, Diggory decided they all needed to talk and introduced them to Polly and, one day, Susan's friends asked her why she spent so much time with her family and she stopped going. And she told herself that she was learning to live in the real world, but her problem was that she didn't know what the real world was.

8. OMG I LOVE THESE STORIES!!!

9. and 10, actually: "I've left my new torch in Narnia!"


I am leaving this unlocked in case anyone is linking these things somewhere.