On Hollywood adaptations of classic children's fantasy

[bibliogramma]

Last night we watched the new adaptation of C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian. We were disappointed. There was so much that didn't seem right at all that I had to get the original novel from the shelf and re-read it right away, muttering to myself all along "Why did they move this around?", "Why did they cut this out?" and most importantly, "Why did they put in this freaking raid on the castle sequence that isn't in the original and doesn't make sense in the freaking movie?" It was just all wrong.

On the other hand, the book, Prince Caspian, by C. S. Lewis, was as charming as I remember it from previous multiple readings. The plot makes sense and the story unfolds without needless repetitions. (Aslan is not a Tame Lion, and I hardly think he'd bother telling Lucy in the same way twice that things that things don't happen in the same way twice - a rather amusing bit of irony that can happen all to easily when you hack up parts of a perfectly good plot and mix them in some kind of stew with your own longing for bigger and longer swords.) And the Bacchae fit right in, as Lewis knew full well, understanding that Christianity like many other religions is both Apollonian and Dionysian in nature.

About the only thing the movie did better than the book was having Susan in the middle of the melee doing double duty with short-sword and bow and giving Legolas a run for his princely money and perfectly coiffed hair, rather than just shooting lady-like arrows from afar while the boys grunt and sweat and bleed. (I always thought Lewis gave Susan a raw deal, but there are something that must be understood in the context of the time and culture, even if one must disagree with them.)