I saw Prince Caspian on Monday, and I sincerely hoped for the best. Really, I did. I was slightly disappointed by The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe for minor deviances from the book, but all in all it was pretty faithful and thus palatable. Not so much with Prince Caspian.

I guess the big problem comes in the fact that I don’t see the Chronicles of Narnia as “nice stories.” They’re powerful depictions of Christian truths, and as such they can’t be directly adapted by Hollywood, who seems to want to have nothing to do with traditional values.

In order to get on with the story more quickly, Prince Caspian makes some early changes to the book, which are certainly understandable and not really objectionable. But quite rapidly the movie degrades: it’s all about the girl power. Susan is transformed from a doubting yet proper girl into a butt-kicking Amazon warrior. Puh-lease! Rather than the “High King Peter” leading, she often overshadows him, and doesn’t hesitate to jump into battle, even though Aslan has discouraged her and Lucy from doing so (“You must use the bow only in great need, for I do not mean you to fight in the battle…battles are ugly when women fight”). To say that gender roles have been modernized in this book would be an understatement.

Speaking of Aslan, he is almost entirely removed from the plot, despite being the central theme around which the book revolves. (But again, it seems as if Hollywood cannot handle having such a strong Christ figure!)

Finally, Susan kisses Caspian at the end of the movie, despite knowing she’ll never see him again. Is this the moral we’re left with? Forget about protecting hearts and guarding purity, if you can grab a quick rise from some one-time-only intimacy, go for it?!?

The Bottom Line: Watching Prince Caspian was like seeing an old friend be horribly mutilated. It just hurt too much to watch the solid morals of the book die to Hollywood values and sensationalism. I’m the kind of guy who enjoys about any movie out there…but I just plain didn’t like Prince Caspian. Lisa and I both agreed: when we have children, they will not be watching this movie, at least not until they’ve read the books (multiple times!) and are old enough to discern the seriously lacking values set forth in this movie.