I went to see Prince Caspian yesterday and here are my thoughts[spoiler warning]:
-The movie was beyond PG IMO. Is that a problem to me? No, not really. I actually liked that this movie was more mature then the previous one. However this maturity should have given the movie a PG-13. I believe I heard that it was kept PG because there was no 300-esque bloodbath sequences, but the truth is, even though there's no blood, the violence is more intense in this compared to the first. Take for example the Minotaur being crushed by the gate after being shot at repeatedly with arrows, or even the thrilling battle of Peter and Miraz. That's some scary crap for a seven yr. old that was taken by an unknowing mother thinking this movie was going to be as "candy and icecream" as the first. I'll also briefly mention another problem that comes up when taking a youngster to this: Susan's...erm...assets. In the scene where everyone's sleeping on the grass you see Anna's cleavage quite a bit, and in one shot that lasts about ten seconds they fill up at least 1/3 of the screen. I realize that they aren't popping out like in a Pg-13 movie, however I don't think momma wants little jimmy exposed at that age.
-Another thing I didn't really care for was Peter's prickishness. I mean it's been awhile since I read the book, but I don't quite remember him being that way.
-And speaking of having not read the book in awhile, I felt it a little hard [only a little] to keep my facts straight about what was going on. A lot was changed from the book, and that's not a problem, It's just that IMO this movie is harder to grasp by non-readers, which is bad if you want to make good earnings at the box office.
-Maybe I'm just weird, but I personally felt that, after being the title character, Prince Caspian was kind of downplayed in comparrison to the Pevensie's. It honestly felt like if Peter had just been wiser and less prickish [in other words a better leader] then Caspian would have been almost unnecessary [except of course for the part where he needs to blow the horn]. When he became king at the end I thought "Does he really deserve that?" Don't get me wrong Caspian has a few good scenes, I just feel like his character wasn't treated well by the script-writer or Adamson.
-My last two quips about the movie are the romance between Susan and Caspian, and the song at the end. The love thing wasn't necessary to begin with, and was completely underplayed [I mean if your going to use a side-plot, USE IT!]. The song at the end was neither good by itself nor was it good playing at the end of the film. It doesn't fit the tone of the movie, and it's just bad anyway.
Ok, so everything above is just negative, so your probably thinking "He didn't enjoy the movie". Tell you the truth in some ways I enjoyed it more than the first, and in others I didn't. I enjoyed the mature themes, Aslan [of course], the acting is good [however the script being acted out I'm not too keen of], and when it comes to special effects, this movie is definitely #1. The CGI doesn't look like CGI, and the job Weta did on the creatures is incredible, they are so lifelike! So all in all I'd have to give it an 8/10 for all of it's merits, and for the sheer fun I had watching it.
Note: Excuse me for the long post, but most movie reviews, good or bad, are notoriously long.
Off-topic Note: Due to reasons above I am actually glad Adamson is leaving the series, and we are getting a fresh face in the director's chair for Dawn Treader.