Prince Caspian

View books by Ernie Malik.

Back to Narnia - Rated

One of the few fantasy movies that was good enough to deserve a sequel was "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe," and the second Chronicle of Narnia is due to show very soon.

But in case you're simply dying to catch a few glimpses of what's in store, Ernie Malik's "Prince Caspian: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion" gives a pretty clear picture of the movie's quality. We get background information, actor interviews, and intricate studies of everything from the CGI to the costumes, the weapons to the color of Miraz' beard.

It begins at the beginning -- the adaptation of C.S. Lewis' novel into a script, the visualizations, editing, and choosing appropriate locations for shooting (in three different countries). There's a lot of detailed recounting of how they shot this scene, or the impact of that scene -- and quite a few interesting plot developments are given away along the road.

There's also studies of the four original actors from the first movie, complete with relaxed interviews about their goals and thoughts on their characters. And then there's the new cast -- Ben Barnes gets several pages on working with the Pevensie actors and on his new role as the heroic young prince, as does Sergio Castellito as the villainous Miraz. There's also Peter Dinklage as the grumpy Trumpkin, Warwick Davis as the far grumpier Binabrik, and a variety of other colorful side characters.

And then it's into the creation and details of the cinematic Narnia -- production design of castles, caves and clearings, intricate costumes (including the Sardinian-Spanish flavor of the Telmarine clothes), musical scores, action choreography, cinematography, and creating the widespread CGI necessary to bring Narnia's inhabitants to life. There's an entire chapter from Weta Workshop on the evolving Narnian and Telmarine armor and weapons -- and the final touch is an afterword by Ben Barnes about his experiences.

Basically, Ernie Malik's guide answers just about any behind-the-scenes questions that a person could have about the upcoming "Prince Caspian" movie, without giving away too much of the plot. In fact, it's best to know what the story is beforehand, lest the bittersweet flavor of some character storylines hint at whether they'll be returning.

And Malik has a very pleasant style, able to transform the slow-paced, dull work of filming into a conversational "you are there" series of anecdotes. He includes bits of relevant information as well, such as the crush that Susan and Caspian seem to have going on, the river god, the ruins of the once-proud palace, and the gathering of Narnia's hidden peoples deep in the woods.

And you can really feel the enthusiasm and dedication of the people who worked on this movie, just by the amount of effort put into making it feel as realistic as a fantasy movie can be. For example, Barnes got the role of Caspian partly because they were able to work a Mediterranean look into his makeup and hair, while Richard Taylor gave a lot of thought to how Narnia's "look" would have evolved over the centuries.

The one disappointment, honestly, is Reepicheep. He's one of the most memorable characters from the Lewis series, and he only gets a few pages at the end. I wanted less concept art and more photos to show how they're pulling off a swashbuckling mouse.

Fortunately the rest of the book doesn't have that trouble -- it's overflowing with photographs. We've got Caspian cornered by dwarves, surrounded by "centaurs" and "fauns in green tights, Miraz's masked army, New Zealand's gorgeous rivers, Peter's stunt riding, and the climactic fights. There's also plenty of concept art, clay models, makeup-trailer shots, big hulking stand-ins, and a lot of men running around in bright green tights.

"Prince Caspian: The Official Illustrated Movie Companion" gives a pretty clear picture of the care and intricate work put into the forthcoming movie. An excellent behind-the-scenes guide.