Return to Narnia

21-Jun-07 5:19 PM by
Filed under Films; 6 comments.

C. S. Lewis's Prince Caspian, the second book in the Chronicles of Narnia, will be adapted to the silver screen in time for a May 16th, 2008 release, say the IMDb and Wikipedia.

I learned of this upcoming film only from an offhand comment in a completely unrelated blog post. I'm surprised only that I haven't heard more news about it, not that it's in development: with every Harry Potter book making its way to Hollywood, to tap only the first entry in Lewis' classic fantasy series without considering its sequels would've been unnatural. But I'm concerned at the rate of adaptation. The Potter books progressed rather rapidly, with only 18 months or so between each release. There's twice that between the first two Narnia films, which is a long time for its young cast (which is indeed returning for the sequel) to grow up. Kids age faster than adults, if you know what I mean, so I wonder how long this cast will be feasible. OTOH, the cast of the Narnia books is more mutable than the Potter novels. Future sequels will not contain the same characters, so without resorting to recasting, they can still cycle in fresh, young faces as the series progresses.

It's something to look forward to — as if next month's Potter plethora weren't enough. Which series do you prefer?

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6 Responses to “Return to Narnia”

  1. Brandon adds:
    21-Jun-07 10:07 PM

    Both good series, as movies and books. I'd have to say that Narnia was my favorite.

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  2. peterw adds:
    22-Jun-07 10:19 AM

    I didn't read the Narnia books in my younger days (nor since) so I have no "fond memories" to recall. While I enjoyed the Narnia movie, it didn't have the same effect on me that the first Potter movie did. Half way through that movie I was already looking forward to the prospect of a sequel!

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  3. GeneD adds:
    24-Jun-07 3:01 PM

    I read C.S. Lewis' allegorical Chronicles of Narnia back in junior high school, so I have a slight preference for those books. On the other hand, the J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter fantasy novels have been more consistent (if sometimes too long), so upcoming films based on them should be good. I don't really need to see a movie adaptation of The Last Battle…

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  4. Ken Gagne adds:
    25-Jun-07 4:57 PM

    I found the Potter books to be more consistent. Goblet of Fire and The Half-Blood Prince were both fantastic, bridged by the dull Order of the Phoenix. By contrast, not only was The Silver Chair equally dull, but The Last Battle was just frustrating and disappointing, and The Horse and His Boy a bit too tangential. (That's practically half the series!)

    As far as the movies go, it's hard to compare the 4-5 Potter films to Narnia's one. I did like the more fantastical nature of the latter, though.

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  5. dain adds:
    27-Jun-07 1:51 AM

    The Chronicles of Narnia, were the first books I can remember reading. I'm sure there were others, but nothing that burned images in my brain quite as much as these seven books did. While some are more exciting than the others, I find it very difficult to compare these works to something like the Harry Potter books.

    I enjoy them all, but for vastly different reasons.

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  6. Ken Gagne adds:
    31-Jul-07 3:37 PM

    There's a nice interview with Ben Barnes, the title actor of Prince Caspian, and some clips of said film over at Narnia.com.

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