Looking over my notes preparing to type the full review I noticed one thing is certain; this film is a mess. My other two reviews we able to more or less follow the story along and simply point out the differences between the book and movie versions, but this one can’t do that because the storylines hardly match up at all. Whether the film is dragging parts out, cutting parts short, adding parts, removing parts, or rearranging parts, it is a complete mess as far as trying to match it up to the book. It’s almost a totally different story.
Therefore, this review will have a different format than the other two. I will follow the movie’s chronology and point out the parts that were changed in that order. At that time I will also note how the part differs from the book’s storyline.
The method of explaining changes must be adjusted as well. In the other reviews I could simply go ‘this is different because in the book they do this but in the film they do this’ but I can’t do that here because for most of these changes the issue isn’t so much what actually happens, but how and when because due to the nature of a number of these rearranged plot points major inconsistencies are formed. It would be ridiculously headache inducing to try to divide everything into ‘basic changes’ and then ‘changes due to story reordering’ so I’m not even going to try. I’ll just point them out when I get to them.
Also, I will not be dividing these into ‘minor changes’ and ‘major changes’ as I did in the past, because for this particular review they all more or less melt together in this crazy mess of reordered storylines. Because some of the core events were so twisted around in the movie, things become so incredibly convoluted by the middle of the film that it’s nearly impossible to determine what constitutes a major change as opposed to minor anymore.
I will still give my thoughts on each change after describing it, and whether I feel it’s acceptable or it shouldn’t have been done.
If you’ve read the book then you’ll understand what I mean about how the story changes affect everything else. If you haven’t then I don’t know if my comments will make much sense, but I’ll do my best to elaborate on what I mean at each entry.
Alright, let’s see if we can get through this.
I’ll start right at the beginning. Literally. The very first thing we see in this film is two planets crossing paths. In actuality they’re stars, or they are in the books. They do seem to be planets here though, so that would actually be the first change. But that’s not what I wanted to note, so I’ll let that one pass. What I wanted to comment on was that this was a very effective way to begin the film. As those who have read the book know, these stars meeting is an important plot device. It isn’t elaborated on in the movie, because strictly speaking it’s not necessary to the development, but I thought it was a nice insider thing to provide to people who know the story.
Anyway, now on to the changes. And we get to the first one right away. Immediately after seeing those two stars we see Caspian’s aunt, Prunaprismia. To someone who hasn’t read the book, or someone who doesn’t care too much about details, this quick scene will pass by without much notice, but to me it jumps out every time because her hair is black. It’s supposed to be red.
Now I know there’s going to be someone saying ‘Come on, really? Is hair color that important?’ Well, I say yes. In this instance at least. At other times I would say no. Caspian, for example, is described as having blond hair and in the film he also has black. But I don’t care about that one too much. Prunaprismia’s I do care about though, very strongly, because of the way we know it’s supposed to be red.
In the book, Lewis goes to seemingly painful lengths to let us know her hair color. He literally interrupts himself to tell us. The book says Caspian lived with his uncle Miraz “and his aunt, who had red hair and was called Queen Prunaprismia.” See? Lewis was an elegant writer, yet he awkwardly inserted that random fact in there. It seems clear to me that it must have had a purpose. It must have been important to him for him to make such a point of pointing it out.
And now begins the complicated act of sorting the storyline out.
The book begins with the Pevensies getting pulled into Narnia, then Trumpkin finds them and tells them about Caspian’s background and develops the past that way. I can understand how that wouldn’t make for much of a sensible movie scene though, so it’s understandable that instead we pick up before that, follow Caspian’s past, and then join the kids when they get here.
That’s more or less what the film did, but instead of following all of Caspian’s backstory we’re dropped in the middle.
We begin with Caspian’s aunt giving birth, leading to Caspian fleeing for his life. We missed the parts about him learning of Old Narnia and things like that, but we do know they happened because they were alluded to when Doctor Cornelius wakes him. (“You won’t be watching the stars tonight.”) Only those who have read the book will understand the reference though.
So anyway, now we’re following Caspian in real time, instead of being told what happened in a recap like in the book. Whatever. Let’s continue.
Caspian jumps on his horse and starts out, but his escape is found out and he is chased by several soldiers. In the book he gets away before anyone notices and he’s just riding to get away in distance, but in the film he’s being pursued and actually riding for his life. That’s not too bad of a change I guess, all things considered.
So now he’s riding along, and he doesn’t look where he’s going and hits his head on a branch. Here is another story discrepancy that can make your head spin if you think about it too much.
In the book, the blow knocks Caspian out. When he wakes up he is in the home of the Old Narnians, meets Trumpkin, Nikabrik, and Trufflehunter, and they find out who he is and all that stuff.
In the movie, the blow only knocks him off his horse. He is awake to see the Old Narnians coming to get him, and gets frightened and blows his horn. Susan’s horn, actually. That’s another thing I have to mention. But not now, I’ll finish this thought first.
So he blows his horn and then Trumpkin knocks him out. Then he goes after the pursuing soldiers and gets captured. So when Caspian wakes up, only Nikabrik and Trufflehunter are present.
See what happens? Now everything from here on is different, because Trumpkin is missing. And it gets even more confusing later.
So yeah, the horn. This gets me every time. It isn’t a difference from the book, it’s actually a difference from the first movie. It’s not the same horn! This drives me crazy. Why in the world did they get a new horn? Did they really think people wouldn’t notice? This thing doesn’t even remotely resemble the horn Susan is given in the first film, it’s completely different.
Anyway, so the horn is blown and that calls the kids in. So we switch over to them and follow them now.
They’re at the train station like they should be. I could probably say something about the fight Peter gets in since that isn’t in the book and it’s a result of the attitude he’s developed that also isn’t in the book, but there are so many other things to address that I’m not going to even touch that. Let’s accept it as artistic license and move on.
The kids go into Narnia and figure out where they are and about the time difference and all that stuff. Then they see Trumpkin about to be drowned by two soldiers. This actually happens in the book, so it appears that the mangled storylines are going to be reconciled, but no not really.
He’s being drowned by Miraz’s men, that’s who captured him remember. In the book he avoids Miraz but gets captured by a seneschal who orders him drowned. Miraz still doesn’t know about the Old Narnians yet.
Wait a second, how does Trumpkin show up here? I just said he was with the other two Old Narnians and Caspian, right? More mind twisting story reconstruction.
So in the book the horn isn’t blown until much later. Remember, in the movie it’s blown as soon as the Narnians find Caspian. In the book they realize he’s a friend and organize an army and everything and then blow it and send Trumpkin to Cair Paraval to meet the kids when they come.
Here, it’s just total coincidence that Trumpkin is there to find them at all. He was captured by Miraz’s soldiers and used to shock the Telmarines into believing they had kidnapped Caspian and then ordered to be drowned there.
Ah, here’s another thing. In the book Miraz has already usurped the throne and is acting as king. In the movie he hasn’t done that yet, that’s part of the story. As things progress we see him build a case for the need to make him king because of the Narnian revolt and all that, and then he is crowned during the movie. So this makes things even more confusing.
Anyway, let’s try to continue. This is already more complicated than I anticipated.
So they see Trumpkin about to be drowned. Susan fires two arrows, one into the side of the boat as a warning, and then another into a Telmarine that was about to shoot back. It isn’t conclusively shown what happens to him, but I believe he dies.
So here’s a difference. In the book only one arrow is shot, and no one dies. Susuan makes it a point not to kill them, she simply hits one soldier’s helmet, scaring both of them away.
I guess in the scheme of things this change doesn’t really matter too much.
Trying to convince Trumpkin that they are really the kings and queens of old, Edmund challenges him to a fencing match. In the movie Trumpkin uses Peter’s sword, which of course is much too big for him. In the book they get him a proper sized sword from the treasure chamber so it’s fair.
In the movie after Edmund wins Trumpkin is already convinced. In the book he also has an archery match with Susan and is shown the healing power of Lucy’s cordial before he believes them.
For the sake of moving the movie along, these changes are okay.
Then we see Miraz throw Doctor Cornelius in prison. In the book, Cornelius escapes the castle some time after Caspian had left and joins up with him and the army later. This change is part of yet another story change that comes into play later on, so in light of that I guess it’s acceptable.
Trumpkin mentions that the trees don’t move anymore because they retreated too far into themselves, and that he thinks Aslan abandoned them. In the book he doesn’t believe the trees are alive or about Aslan because he’s never witnessed either. This is definitely a change in character from the book, but I don’t have much of a problem with it.
In the movie, the Ford of Beruna is, well, just that. It’s still a ford. The army builds the bridge across during the film. In the book, it was a ford in the time of the Pevensies, but has since become Beruna’s Bridge with a permanent crossing built, not just a makeshift bridge for the army to cross. This change is rather minor. There is another one concerning the bridge though that I’ll address when we get there.
And now we get even further into the convoluted plot rearranging.
In the book, the journey of Trumpkin and the kids takes several days. During the first night Lucy tries to wake the trees, but can’t. She goes back to sleep and the next morning they continue on. They come to a cliff and don’t know how to proceed. Then Lucy sees Aslan and says he wants them to follow him, but they don’t because no one else saw him. They go another way and run into a small party of soldiers and have to go back. Night falls again and this time the trees do wake. Lucy sees Aslan again and speaks with him, he tells her about things never happening the same way twice and that she must follow him now even if the others won’t. She wakes everyone up and gets them to come, follows Aslan, and discovers a hidden path that takes the where they need to go. At the end Aslan becomes visible to everyone.
In the movie, the journey only takes one day, so things are combined. But they’re combined in a confusing way.
The first night is bypassed completely, and they start off with reaching the cliff. Lucy sees Aslan but can’t convince the others and they go another way. They have to turn back because they run into Miraz’s soldiers building that bridge. Lucy walks toward where she saw Aslan before and discovers the hidden path. They follow it and then night falls. Then both nights are combined into one, but in reverse order. Lucy sees the moving trees and then finds Aslan. He tells her things never happen the same way twice, but then a stick snaps and she wakes up. It was only a dream. She goes up to a tree and then tries to wake it.
This never sat right with me, because it’s not supposed to be a dream. She really met Aslan there. And then of course in the movie the rest of it is completely dropped. There’s no Aslan telling her to follow because he’s not leading them anywhere. They’re still on their own at this point. Aslan doesn’t show up until much later, another rearranged story part.
Then they finally meet up with Caspian and the army. But that too is different. In the book they find the camp because Aslan leads them to it. But like I just explained, Aslan isn’t in the movie yet, so the way they find Caspian is by just happening to cross paths with him in the woods. Pretty lucky timing.
And now yet again we have a major story change. Is your head spinning yet?
In the book, Edmund and Peter go into the camp to meet Caspian and make plans, but Lucy and Susan stay with Aslan and go off and do other things, including finding Caspian’s nurse who was banished by Miraz. I always found this side story of the adventures of Aslan and the girls rather interesting with all its random occurrences like the man turning into a tree and the kids turning into pigs, but all that was left out of the movie completely. The nurse part was left out because, well the nurse herself was left out. And everything else was left out because, remember, Aslan isn’t here yet. So the girls go into the camp too and everyone is together for the next good chunk of the film. Very different from the book.
So they go and meet Caspian. And now begins another side story that isn’t in the book; the tension between Caspian and Peter. It begins with their very first meeting and escalates throughout the film. A definite hostility between them about who is in charge. This is the complete opposite of the book, where Peter tells Caspian “I haven’t come to take your place, you know, but to put you into it.”
I don’t think this change to Peter’s character was necessary, it just makes him seem like a jerk.
And now another story change. Actually it’s kind of a continuation of the last one. In the book, Peter and Edmund arrive just in time to break up the ritual of calling up the White Witch. In the movie, that doesn’t happen until much later. In the struggle that ensues after it, Nikabrik is killed, so in the movie he is obviously alive much longer than he should be.
I don’t know how to label this change, because I’m loosing track at this point. I would lean toward disappointing, except that I can understand why it was moved because of all the storyline mangling going on. So I don’t know, maybe let it be. It’s just so messed up I can’t tell anymore.
Then we get a scene that isn’t in the book at all. Miraz comes to check on the progress of the bridge and is informed that Caspian’s army has raided them. It took me several viewings to understand what this scene was about. Mainly because nothing much is said, the meaning is all implied so you have to be able to interpret it. I finally figured it out though.
Miraz asks Glozelle how many men were killed in the raid. He says none were, Caspian came during the night and they never noticed. Miraz asks Glozelle why he has injuries then. Glozelle gives him a confused look as if to say ‘Huh? I don’t have any injuries.’ Miraz strikes him and gives a look as if to say ‘You do now.’ then asks again how many men were killed. Glozelle looks over his shoulder and sees three soldiers standing behind him and replies “three” and Miraz leaves.
Maybe I’m just slow, because now that I get it it’s pretty clear, but it sure took me a long time to understand what was going on here.
See, remember I said Miraz’s usurping the throne happens during the movie, not before like it does in the book. Well, this is the tipping point for that. Ever since capturing Trumpkin at the beginning of the film Miraz has been creating a false image of dangerous Narnians that need wiped out, Narnians that can only be wiped out if the army is united behind a king. Namely, himself. This is his final push. Glozelle was telling the truth, Caspian harmed no one in his raid. But Miraz needed a different story, so he struck Glozelle to make it look like he had been in a fight, then nonverbally instructed him to kill three of his own men. It would be blamed on the Narnians, and when the people saw how dangerous they were they would finally consent to have Miraz crowned.
Back at Caspian’s camp, the kids are shown the Stone Table. Now none of this should be happening, because like I said the girls aren’t supposed to be there in the first place, but as long as they are there they might as well make the most of it. And they did. I have to give a nod to the filmmakers for one little thing here that I thought was really neat.
The kids see the Stone Table and realize where they are. Lucy sees the carving of Aslan on the wall, turns to Susan and says “He must know what he’s doing.”
This is a clever reference to the first film that I thought was very touching. It recalls when Lucy and Susan were crying after Aslan was killed on the Stone Table and Susan says to Lucy “He must have known what he was doing.”
Only people who had seen the first film would have caught the deeper meaning of the line, but I thought it was a very nice touch.
And now something else that isn’t in the book at all. Peter decides to attack Miraz’s castle.
They go in and rescue Doctor Cornelius from the prison, but then Caspian abandons the plan to confront Miraz for killing his father. This throws the timing off and the castle soldiers are made aware of their presence. Instead of calling the attack off, Peter continues and it backfires terribly, causing the Narnians to lose many of their soldiers.
This reinforces the side story of the tension between Peter and Caspian through an argument about whether Peter should have ordered the attack in the first place, Caspian should have kept to the plan once inside, or Peter should have called it off when things went wrong.
From a movie standpoint, this was done very well. It made the friction between Peter and Caspian clear, and was an exciting scene that became very dramatic and sad at the end. So it was well done, but still I don’t know how necessary it was to add such a major event that wasn’t present at all in the book. The only thing that really made it necessary was the rescuing of Doctor Cornelius, and that could have been resolved by simply having him escape like he does in the book. I don’t know. Mixed feelings on that one.
And now we finally get to the White Witch ritual. Remember, this should have been done a long time ago. But I can understand why it was moved here in light of the new battle scene. Nikabrik waits to introduce the idea until the attack fails, because Caspian would be more willing to go along with it now that it seems they’re losing hope.
However, since it was moved here instead of happening before Peter and Edmund show up like it is in the book, there are some changes made.
In the book, they don’t actually call up the Witch’s ghost, they only talk about doing it. Then Caspian refuses and a skirmish ensues, and that’s when Peter, Edmund, and Trumpkin make their entrance. They kill the enemies and then introduce themselves and things continue from there.
In the movie, the White Witch is successfully called up, but not brought back. She almost is, but then Peter pushes Caspian away and that’s when the skirmish breaks out. While everyone else is fighting, Peter is now the one being tempted to bring the Witch back, but Edmund breaks it up. And now Nikabrik is dead.
Once again, very hard to label because of the extreme story changes. I guess the move is acceptable in the new timeline, and I guess the inclusion of Peter was understandable based on this new attitude he has in this movie.
And now Peter challenges Miraz to a duel. In the book, remember, Lucy and Susan are still gone. No one knows what’s happening with them, the duel is to buy time. In the movie, the duel is still to buy time, but not because the girls are out with Aslan, because they have to go find him. As Peter prepares to do battle, Lucy and Susan set out on a horse. They are attacked and Susan gets off so Lucy can get away. Caspian rescues Susan and brings her back to the camp. Lucy goes on her way and eventually finds Aslan.
This change, again, is more or less acceptable in the new storyline. Of course none of this should have been necessary since the girls were already with Aslan, but since in the film they weren’t it makes sense that they would go out to find him.
The conspiracy of Lord Sopespian and Lord Glozelle (or General Glozelle as he is called in the film) against Miraz is less obvious in the movie than it is in the book, but if you know it’s going on then you can see it at work when Miraz accepts Peter’s challenge.
There were a few changes made to how the duel ended.
In the book, Miraz is killed before the duel ends. He trips and Peter, being honorable, waits for him to rise. But Glozelle and Sopespian rush up and Glozelle stabs him with his sword, then yells to the Telmarines that Peter had “stabbed him in the back while he lay helpless” and then a battle breaks out between the armies.
In the movie, the duel actually ends. Miraz surrenders to Peter to be killed, but Peter hands the sword to Caspian. Caspian seems to be about to kill him to avenge his father, but decides not to, making for an emotional scene about how Caspian is different than Miraz. Whatever. Not in the book, but it’s okay.
Then Sopespian comes up to Miraz and stabs him with an arrow. He calls to the Telmarines that the Narnians had shot him. Then the battle begins.
I find this change acceptable, and even agree with it. It makes much more sense to use and arrow and say they shot him from afar. I always thought that they would have been able to see whether or not Peter stabbed him while he was laying there, that didn’t make much sense to me.
Now we go back to Lucy and she finally finds Aslan. The two of them have the conversation that should have taken place way back at the first meeting, except that this is their first meeting. The other one was a dream, remember. Acceptable maybe, I don’t know. All this timeline dicing is too confusing for me.
Aslan wakes the trees and they go off to help in the battle. The book describes them as treelike people, but in the movie they’re just trees that walk on their roots. So not accurate, but I think acceptable really. I don’t know how else the filmmakers would have done it, the book has a description but it’s not very detailed. I probably wouldn’t have known what to do with them either.
And now another thing I must praise the filmmakers for. This is something I just noticed this last time watching. Well, I probably noticed it before too, but this time it really struck me.
During the attack on Miraz’s castle, Peter’s battle cry was “For Narnia!”
That was when he had that attitude of wanting to do it all on his own.
Now, in the second battle, when he sees the trees coming he realizes he’s been wrong.
Now, his battle cry is “For Aslan!”
I’m sure this change was intentional by the filmmakers, and it was done very cleverly. It displays the inner change in Peter’s character from when the film began. And as a bonus, it also seems to echo the first film when Peter’s cry combined the two; “For Narnia, and for Aslan!” Very well done, that really touched me.
After some battle scenes, the armies end up at the bridge they made at Beruna. Aslan shows up and wakes the river god, who destroys the bridge as the Telmarine army is trying to cross. In the book, the bridge is already destroyed when they get there, causing them to surrender when they hit the dead end. Also, in the book the river god doesn’t destroy the bridge himself, he asks Aslan to help him.
And one other thing, in the movie Lord Sopespian is killed here, on the bridge. In the book, he was killed back in the battle after the duel. In fact he was actually the very fist to be killed.
All three of these changes are acceptable in the new way the story develops.
An interesting change was made to Reepicheep’s cure.
In the movie, Reepicheep is brought up and Lucy gives him one drop of the cordial and he heals. In the book, it says that she had to put a drop on each of his wounds, which took some time since there were so many.
This is another change I actually agree with. The book seems to contradict itself. When Father Christmas gave Lucy the cordial he said only a few drops would restore someone who was hurt. I don’t interpret that to mean one drop on every single wound, I believe it would mean a few drops in the mouth and that would help everything at once. But maybe it depends on the severity of the wounds. The book does say Reepicheep was more dead than alive. Whatever the case, the change to one drop was certainly understandable and acceptable for purposes of not stalling the scene.
On the same subject, when Aslan gives Reepicheep back his tail in the movie he only says it’s because of “the love of your people” but in the book he also says “for the kindness your people showed me long ago when you ate away the cords that bound me on the Stone Table” which I always thought was a nice reference to have included there, so I’m sorry it was left out.
And then Trumpkin meets Aslan for the first time. Of course this should have happened long ago, but as we keep remembering, that part of the story was changed.
In the book, Aslan throws Trumpkin up in the air to startle him. In the movie, he just roars. Works for me.
When Aslan makes the offer to send the Telmarines back to their original land, General Glozelle is the first to accept, followed by Prunaprismia. This doesn’t happen in the book, the first to accept is just some random Telmarine. In fact, we don’t know what ever happens to either Glozelle of Prunaprismia. After they play their parts in the story they are never mentioned again. It can be supposed, perhaps, that Glozelle was killed somewhere in the battle after the duel, but I’m not sure since the book mentions Sopespian by name and never says anything about Glozelle. And Prunaprismia completely disappears after Caspian leaves at the beginning. So I guess this was an acceptable way to wrap that up for the film.
In the book, the kids had to change back into their school clothes before going home. In the movie, they just go thought the door and their clothes change back themselves.
Once more, a change I actually agree with. In all the other stories clothes were changed automatically when going to and from Narnia, I never understood why this one was any different.
And finally, the big one. The kiss. In the book, there is no mention of any attraction between Susan and Caspian or vice versa, but in the movie it’s a growing side story through everything that culminates in an emotional goodbye where Susan and Caspian kiss. That’s really an extreme addition to drop in out of nowhere. I think it can be somewhat rationalized by remembering that Susan is the one that eventually falls away from Narnia, so it’s not entirely out of character that she would be the one to do something like that, although that’s a bit of a stretch. I don’t think the filmmakers had any business putting that in there; it wasn’t necessary.
And I have one more thought to close with. Not a change, this is actually something that was kept the same.
Both the book and movie end with Edmund exclaiming that he left his flashlight in Narnia.
In the book we don’t know where he last had it, but in the movie we do. The last time we saw it was during the attack on Miraz’s castle. He stuck it in a door so soldiers wouldn’t be able to open it. This explains why it got left behind, he wouldn’t have gone back for it in the haste to retreat. But it doesn’t explain something else. In Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the movie, not the book), Caspian gives Edmund his flashlight back saying he kept it for him. But how did he get it if it was left at the castle? Yes it became Caspian’s castle after he became king, but I doubt it would have still been there.
I’m definitely over thinking it, but still it’s interesting.
*scoffs at Chandler*
I couldn't agree more! 
Uhh... If that makes any sense. So thanks.
