ROTTEN TOMATOES: Exclusive: Ben Barnes Talks Prince Caspian Comments

Exclusive: Ben Barnes Talks Prince Caspian

by Joe Utichi | March 25, 2008

Summary

Narnia's newest member sits down with RT to tell us more about Prince Caspian - the film and the character - and what we can expect from the series as it continues. Back to Article

(21-40 of 44 posts) | Reply

Kimmycat24 writes:
on Mar 26 2008 07:36 AM

Great Interview! I loved the "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe". I am looking forward to "Prince Caspian". I have all of the "Narnia" books as well as the "Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy in my collection. I first read these books when I was 10 years old and have been a fan every since. Yes, there are Christian elements in C.S. Lewis's books but the same can be said of J.R.R. Tolkein. I thought the battle scenes in the first "Narnia" movie were very good. IMO you don't need to have a lot of blood and gore to have a good battle scene. It is unfair to compare "Narnia" with "The Lord of the Rings". While they are similar in their themes of good overcoming evil and the courage to overcome obstacles, they arrive at different conclusions. I happen to find the characters in "Narnia" quite interesting. The character Tumnus the Faun is my favorite in the first "Narnia movie. His character is conflicted about turning Lucy Penvensie into the White Witch. He attempts to abduct her but then changes his mind and instead helps her to escape. Of course he is caught and punished later. The themes of family, frendship, and loyalty are a subtext in "Narnia". I know these books are geared to children but as an adult I find them refreshing.

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polycube writes:
on Mar 26 2008 11:55 AM

In reply to this comment (#1652535)
thelawnwrangler,

I saw the movie as just a movie. An escape, and a product.

But since you brought up race, what's with the lack of diversity in Narnia?

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arendr writes:
on Mar 26 2008 12:38 PM

It's common knowledge that the lion in Narnia is meant as a Christ figure. That's how the character was written.

Honestly, though, the first one was pretty bad. I suppose kids might have enjoyed it, but the effects/CG were poor and the cinematography bland and uninspired. Those are both necessary elements of a fine fantasy picture. Overall, it felt cheap and rushed.

The mini-series version I watched as a kid was far superior to the new one.

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Merlin235 writes:
on Mar 26 2008 01:03 PM

arendr -
Haha, oh man, the bbc version? Is that the version you're talking about? That is hilarious, I remember seeing those as a kid. I don't know though, saying that grown men dressed as beavers is superior to the cgi in the newer version might be stretching it a bit.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 26 2008 01:36 PM

In reply to this comment (#1654035)
haha, maybe it's just in retrospect then. I haven't seen it since I was a young 'un.

I don't remember the beavers though.

But the CGI beaver in the new one was awful.

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vaodsi writes:
on Mar 26 2008 01:40 PM

Where's the racial diversity in LOTR?

please NOT the racial card.... the racial card (in this situation) is so pathetic.

wouldn't it be retarded to have a black lucy, an asian edmund, a cherokee susan, and a white peter?
lame!
AND THAT'S THE ONLY WAY TO PUT IN RACIAL STUFF cause they're the only HUMANS in Narnia, and lets not forget that the white witch is a narnia version of white-power HITLER!

please... not the racist card. don't get me started.......

(Read horse and his boy and last battle to find HUMAN races in narnia other than english boys and girls)

(Reply to this)

Sputnik99 writes:
on Mar 26 2008 02:12 PM

In reply to this comment (#1653555)
Kissman,

I thought about mentioning the first 2 Star Wars prequels, but I didn't want to sound repetitive with Star Wars movies. They aren't old.

It is hard to find a PG movie nowadays with any action in it, I'll give you that. But IMO, movies going PG-13 is often just used as an advertising tool, not necessarily a truthful guage of the movie's intensity.

'Nuff said.

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arendr writes:
on Mar 26 2008 02:35 PM

Racial diversity?

Narnia is in a closet in England. It's not a portal to the Mekong Delta.

And Lord of the Rings is meant as a myth for the native people of England.

Whoever brought that up should do a little research.

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Kimmycat24 writes:
on Mar 27 2008 06:38 AM

In reply to this comment (#1654051)
Bringing up the race card is so ignorant. I am a Black woman and I loved the "Narnia" books since I was a child and I really enjoyed the first movie. I am sick of all this "diversity" nonsense. I could care less about the race of the characters as long as a good story is being told. Look at the time and the context of when the story was written. Characters of different races just wouldn't work. There are a lot of non-human and half-human characters like fauns, centaurs, griffins, wolves, and dwarves in "Narnia". Yes, a people need to do their research before they make such stupid comments.

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vaodsi writes:
on Mar 27 2008 09:12 PM

In reply to this comment (#1655231)
KimmyCat24..... I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

live long and prosper!

(Reply to this)

bina26 writes:
on Apr 01 2008 05:15 PM

In reply to this comment (#1656558)
Lewis was writing in early-20th century Britain which was pretty racially-homogenous... the Pevensie kids were white because they were 1940s-English, and Narnia was first colonised by (white) English humans, who were presumably the ancestors of all the 'native' Narnian humans (cf. Magician's Nephew). The Calormenes in The Horse and His Boy aren't exactly sympathetically portrayed, but I don't think they're ever actually described as non-white (in fact, a Narnian kid is brought up as Calormene and nobody seems to notice anything different about him) - though Lewis almost certainly drew from his perceptions of certain Earthly cultures in describing them...

So yeah Kimmycat24 I agree, people should know what they're talking about first. And I loved the bbc version at the time - can remember asking my mum how she could be sure it wasn't a real lion - but went back and re-watched it and the effects are AWFUL. It was like re-visiting the cartoon version of LoTR (anyone remember that?) having remembered it as way better than the films... I think the kid cast in this Narnia film were just brilliant though.

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Daniel Foster writes:
on Apr 01 2008 06:22 PM

I agree PG battle scenes suck and the first ones battl was both corny and bad hopefully this one will have people dieing for once.

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Shawnt2 writes:
on Apr 02 2008 05:24 AM

In reply to this comment (#1664927)
""The Calormenes in The Horse and His Boy aren't exactly sympathetically portrayed, but I don't think they're ever actually described as non-white ""

There were numerous times, in the "Last Battle" at least, where the Calormenes were referred to as "Darkies" so I don't agree with this.

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Shawnt2 writes:
on Apr 02 2008 05:31 AM

In reply to this comment (#1664927)
Also, to add, the god that the Calormenes workshipped was Tash. The word Tash is Turkish for Stone. I also came across a Middle Eastern figure in mythology that was named Tash. I don't have my books near me, but my point is, these characters were definitely Middle Eastern in origin.

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Trufflehunter writes:
on Apr 02 2008 06:14 AM

While the Calormenes could have very well gotten their roots from Middle Eastern culture, they were definitely not from the Middle East. They were actually from a place called Calormen, (which happens to not even be a part of this world). ;-)

You must also remember that not all of the Calormenes were evil. They just happened to have some evil rulers. Most of the Calormenes were quite nice.

Anyway, I fail to see how this has anything to do with the article.

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dsence writes:
on Apr 02 2008 06:23 AM

In reply to this comment (#1665547)
Wow Shawnt2, thats pretty ****ing cool. Such a strong point; I too wish I could take the LWW movie seriously, but without Calmorenes of Middle Eastern origin, I think me and you are out of luck! To make up for the lack of a racially diverse british fantasy movie adaptation from the 1940's, perhaps in Caspian they'll have some East-Asian Pygmie crossbreeds butt-****ing each other In front of Susie Pevensie's long lost African-half sister transvestite with a possible politically correct Irish accent and a dead siamese twin sticking out of her neck.

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Shawnt2 writes:
on Apr 02 2008 06:54 AM

In reply to this comment (#1665565)
"perhaps in Caspian they'll have some East-Asian Pygmie crossbreeds butt-****ing each other In front of Susie Pevensie's long lost African-half sister transvestite with a possible politically correct Irish accent and a dead siamese twin sticking out of her neck."

Oh we can only hope! This would really set a nice atmosphere for the movies.

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Crenshaw writes:
on Apr 02 2008 07:35 AM

Will you nerds shut up...it's a frickin' kids' book.

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Kimmycat24 writes:
on Apr 02 2008 08:40 AM

In reply to this comment (#1664927)
I do remember the Calmorenes from a the book "A Horse and His Boy". I vaguely remember they were called "Darkies". I don't think it was meant as a slur. Their culture did seem like it had some Middle Eastern parallels but the Calmorenes were a seperate Narnian race. I agree that the Calmorenes seemed nice for the most part except for their evil rulers.

I watched the BBC version Of "The Chroinicles of Narnia" on PBS (Public Television). While I loved it then, I now realize how clumsy and antiquated the special effects are by today's standards. My fiance is from the UK and saw the BBC version too. He said he loved it back then too but now thought it looked really awful. He was commenting to me about it a couple of weeks ago after we saw the latest "Prince Caspian" trailer. Of course special effects have improved greatly since then. They had an awful "Narnia" cartoon version back in the 1970's here in the US but I can't remember what network it showed on. I didn't like the Rankin-Bass movie version of the Hobbit very much either. IMHO the LOTR movies were much better.

(Reply to this)

Kimmycat24 writes:
on Apr 02 2008 08:48 AM

In reply to this comment (#1664927)
Oh, I forgot to add that I agree with you about the casting of the children in the first Narnia. The casting was fantastic. My favorite is actress Georgie Henley who playes Lucy Pevensie. I saw an interview with both her and James McAvoy(who played Mr.Tumnus the Faun)on YouTube when the movie first came out. They were giving each other high fives and joking during the whole interview. She was absolutely charming as Lucy.

(Reply to this)

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