Rating: 
Summary: Weak leak in the BBC's Narnia series, but essential
Review: Part I, "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," was spectacularly done; see my review there. If only the budget had been better, it would be a five-star film for all ages.This combination of the next two books in C.S. Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia," however, stumbles over itself often, yet there are plenty of magical, memorable moments to recommend it. Also, it is often way too "talky" for smaller children. Regardless of its shortcomings, with its uneven story-telling and the final half-hour that seems to drag to an end rather than be the glorious climax its subject would seem to demand, no Narnia fan will want to miss it. The tales of young Prince/King Caspian and his search for the talking creatures of Narnia, the war against evil King Miraz to regain the land for the spectacular lion Aslan (a type of Christ), and later the young adult Caspian's search for the seven lost lords of Narnia, provide plenty of excitement and enjoyment and object lessons, told by memorable characters all the way round. One can forgive the choppy pacing and smarmy-cheap BBC special effects, in the end. Certainly one would not want to skip over this to proceed on to "The Silver Chair," the third and final film in the BBC-produced series, although it and tLtWatW are clearly superior.
Rating: 
Summary: Legendary Voyage
Review: Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy return to the magical land of Narnia to help Prince Caspian to defeat the wicked King Miraz (who is also Caspian's uncle). The BBC did a good job of making this second adventure in Narina. Although, you may frown at the low-grade special effects. Edmund, Lucy and Eustace are sent to Narnia to help Caspian (now king of Narnia) to find the seven missing Lords of Narnia in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eustace is Lucy and Edmund's horrible cousin who doesn't like being in Narnia until he sees Aslan.
Rating:
Summary: Legendary Voyage
Review: Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy return to the magical land of Narnia to help Prince Caspian to defeat the wicked King Miraz (who is also Caspian's uncle). The BBC did a good job of making this second adventure in Narina. Although, you may frown at the low-grade special effects. Edmund, Lucy and Eustace are sent to Narnia to help Caspian (now king of Narnia) to find the seven missing Lords of Narnia in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eustace is Lucy and Edmund's horrible cousin who doesn't like being in Narnia until he sees Aslan.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: Preparing for their summer, Lucy, Peter, Susan and Edmund suddenly find themselves summoned back to Narnia. A lot has changed since they were last there, centuries have passed, and many humans of Narnia no longer believe in Aslan, dwarves or talking animals. Among those who do, though, is Prince Caspian, future King of Narnia. Caspian's uncle is trying to kill him, and he needs the children's help. [Color, originally aired in 1989, with a running time of 1 hour.] The second story picks up Lucy and Edmund visiting their cousin Eustace. When the three children are drawn into Narnia, they join an adult King Caspian on his quest to discover the fate of seven of his father's counselors who were banished under the regime of King Miraz. Adventure and lessons await the children and the crew of the Dawn Treader! [Color, originally aired in 1989, with a running time of 2 hours.] These movies (actually three television episodes) appear to be based quite closely on C.S. Lewis's books of the same titles, though I must admit that I haven't read the books for a long time. Overall, I found the acting better in these movies, and the special effects much better. (Also, the character Reepicheep is played by Warwick Davis, the star of the movie Willow.) Once again, I liked the lessons that these movies taught, and the Christian themes that run through it. My children enjoyed watching it (an important consideration), and we all liked discussing it. I think that this is a great family movie, one that I highly recommend to you!
Rating:
Summary: A good middle to the saga of Narnia
Review: The story of Caspian was exceptionally good along with the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but this volume in the series is not as good as the other two. The story is worth the price -- if available and usuals keeps children interested, but is quite different than the books. Overall, the videos for Volume 2 are well worth the price, but be sure to get The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe first. The entire cast of this video is quite interesting. Edmund, Lucy, Susan, and Peter are all joined to meet Prince Caspian as they have aged by several years... unfortunately Susan and Peter are not allowed to return to Narnia after they have rescued Prince Caspian from his uncle.....
Rating: 
Summary: SO! SO! STUPID
Review: These two books come to life are better than the first attempt, with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Perhaps because special effects are less called for in these two books, the poor quality of the movie effects is less visible than it was in the first movie. But there are definite improvements too. The costumes look much more real- I don't think that's a person in a badger costume, I think that's a rather large badger, albeit still primitively done. It helped that in some cases they used shorter people in this movie. The centaur is superbly done, as a computer is actually used, planting a human body over a horse. There is thankfully very little of the rather silly drawings on the film that were so common-place in the first movie. And it is always a challenge to do a movie on water. With such a low budget, I was thinking they would not be able to do a convincing Dawn Treader. But it is very convincing, and very like the book's description of a small boat that can service 40 men. The children's acting, while good in the first movie, has also improved. And the new actor, playing Eustace, greatly adds, as you feel he is a total prig, but then also feel his deep emotions as he becomes a dragon and changes through his whole being. While most of the sets look like they are some place in England, frankly, in Lewis' mind, they probably were someplace in England. That's how he writes most of his books, from his imagination growing up, and what he had seen. The main draw back to the movie is less authenticity and faithfulness to the texts. It happens when you put two books into one 2 hour movie. There are major sections of Prince Caspian missing, and parts that feel rushed and unexplained, leaving the first half somewhat more boring. The climatic scenes in which Aslan makes everything in Narnia set right again are missing- but again, this would have required a bigger budget to create, with trees winding over bridges and tearing them down. There is no explanation of how the humans came to dominate Narnia, or where they go afterward (as there was in the book). Some of the best theological bits from Dawn Treader are missing- as when Lucy eavesdrops on her sister, and learns from Aslan that no man is given to know what might have been. Or when Aslan has to dig his claws into Eustace the Dragon to remove the skin that Eustace can't remove himself. Two longer movies could have made these adaptations even better.
Rating:
Summary: An Improvement over the Last
Review: These two books come to life are better than the first attempt, with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Perhaps because special effects are less called for in these two books, the poor quality of the movie effects is less visible than it was in the first movie. But there are definite improvements too. The costumes look much more real- I don't think that's a person in a badger costume, I think that's a rather large badger, albeit still primitively done. It helped that in some cases they used shorter people in this movie. The centaur is superbly done, as a computer is actually used, planting a human body over a horse. There is thankfully very little of the rather silly drawings on the film that were so common-place in the first movie. And it is always a challenge to do a movie on water. With such a low budget, I was thinking they would not be able to do a convincing Dawn Treader. But it is very convincing, and very like the book's description of a small boat that can service 40 men. The children's acting, while good in the first movie, has also improved. And the new actor, playing Eustace, greatly adds, as you feel he is a total prig, but then also feel his deep emotions as he becomes a dragon and changes through his whole being. While most of the sets look like they are some place in England, frankly, in Lewis' mind, they probably were someplace in England. That's how he writes most of his books, from his imagination growing up, and what he had seen. The main draw back to the movie is less authenticity and faithfulness to the texts. It happens when you put two books into one 2 hour movie. There are major sections of Prince Caspian missing, and parts that feel rushed and unexplained, leaving the first half somewhat more boring. The climatic scenes in which Aslan makes everything in Narnia set right again are missing- but again, this would have required a bigger budget to create, with trees winding over bridges and tearing them down. There is no explanation of how the humans came to dominate Narnia, or where they go afterward (as there was in the book). Some of the best theological bits from Dawn Treader are missing- as when Lucy eavesdrops on her sister, and learns from Aslan that no man is given to know what might have been. Or when Aslan has to dig his claws into Eustace the Dragon to remove the skin that Eustace can't remove himself. Two longer movies could have made these adaptations even better.
Rating: 
Summary: The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian ~1990~
Review: This is the worst of the BBC "chronicles of Narnia"
trilogy. While the story of Prince Caspian is worth
almost 4 stars, the dawn treader story is boring and
done poorly. I understand that this film is 13 years
old, made for TV and for children, but the scene with
the dragon is so badly done. I would have liked the BBC
to elaborate more on "prince caspian", but I understand
they had to inlcude the "dawn treader" because we are
introduced to one of the main characters from "the silver chair".
I liked "the lion witch and the wardrobe" and "the silver chair", but they will cost almost the same seperatly as the complete triology boxed set. I think older fans(13+) should
skip this film, but younger fans(12 and younger) may like it.
Rating:
Summary: The Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian ~1990~
Review: This is the worst of the BBC "chronicles of Narnia"
trilogy. While the story of Prince Caspian is worth
almost 4 stars, the dawn treader story is boring and
done poorly. I understand that this film is 13 years
old, made for TV and for children, but the scene with
the dragon is so badly done. I would have liked the BBC
to elaborate more on "prince caspian", but I understand
they had to inlcude the "dawn treader" because we are
introduced to one of the main characters from "the silver chair".
I liked "the lion witch and the wardrobe" and "the silver chair", but they will cost almost the same seperatly as the complete triology boxed set. I think older fans(13+) should
skip this film, but younger fans(12 and younger) may like it.
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