Chocolate and Howling at the Moon

Somehow I was under the impression that I had seen all the new Narnia movies, but I was so so wrong. I had only watched the first one!

I have of course watched all the old BBC films, so maybe that's why I didn't remember I had MORE NARNIA to watch.

So I watched Dawn Treader and Caspian last week! 

WOW was Dawn Treader poorly directed, in comparison. Caspian's director was so much better. I really felt the awe of entering Narnia (Aslan take me away!!) and the pain of leaving it.

Also Peter being beat up by school bullies, miffed that they don't give him the respect he deserves as a king - I feel you, Peter. (Seriously, though, Pevensies in our world having secret skills is second only to never-came-back-and-ruled-Narnia fics in my heart. Shoutout to Burntcopper's fics!)

Caspian is supposed to be THIRTEEN years old, not twenty, but whatever whatever.

The Pevensie actors were good, and Aslan's How was well done. I found Lucy lounging on the Stone Table (!!!) a little offputting... The dwarves were great. Of course Peter Dinklage did a good job, and his relationship with Lucy was sweet. It was cool that Warwick Davis was the misled dwarf since he played Reepicheep in the BBC version.

Having Susan kiss Caspian at the end of the film was not cool. Don't make the subtext into text!! But the song at the end was great.

I do kind of see how people called the film racist. After they found Cair Paravel was in ruins, I caught myself going "Kill all the Spaniards and rebuild Cair Paravel!!!"

I was loling at how Caspian magically lost his Spanish accent in Dawn Treader. Also lol that none of the lost lords had a Spanish accent EITHER.

I feel like Dawn Treader rushed through all the islands with no emotional impact. BBC Dawn Treader Caspian in his billowing white shirt being tied up in ropes as a slave was so formative. Here the slave thing barely happened before there was a boring battle and it was over. And Caspian was never under any real threat of enslavement. 

The duffers island felt like it happened in two minutes. The beauty spell was well done, though.

Lucy actress was great, and Eustace was pretty funny. I liked that dragon Eustace showed that he had changed for the better by pulling the boat along. They SHOULD have put dragon Eustace more to use in the book.

The way the filmmakers changed the story to try to make it more Tolkien-esque was so terrible. What was with the random MAGIC SWORDS??? That was such a fake-ass quest. Like Aslan cares about swords, honestly. And like the Nothingness that was threatening everyone (is this the Neverending Story??) was so pasted on. Each island is supposed to be a discrete challenge on the overall quest for personal growth (and looking for lost lords). There doesn't need to be two other overarching plots of finding magic swords or defeating the evil Nothingness. Adding those things just clutters up the plot. 

But whatever, they're making Silver Chair next! And at the end of Dawn Treader, Eustace's mother calls up the stairs that Jill Pole is here to see him!! They'll probably have to recast Eustace for Silver Chair by now, but that's fine. I am excite!