Ranpitsu

Despite the success of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series, it was unrealistic to expect Prince Caspian to exceed its predecessor as blockbuster franchises normally don’t maintain interest. Beyond The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Caspian’s literary source was not as popular as what propelled Rings and Potter. Storywise, Lord of the Rings was designed as a trilogy while Potter had the recurring school year and coming-of-age themes. With Narnia, Caspian’s just another adventure as the first movie had a complete journey. That’s how the picture was marketed as well, as no strong villain or new high stakes were presented, and the Prince Caspian character took center stage with no context or reason to care shown for those who haven’t read the books.

What’s more, it’s been two and a half years since the first Narnia, whereas Rings and Potter made audiences wait only a year for their second adventures. In that time, the fantasy genre has suffered from a glut of movies seemingly all made out of ticky-tacky to the uninitiated (The Golden Compass, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Bridge to Terabithia, etc.), and Prince Caspian looked the same, replete with its computer-generated battles and anthropomorphized animals.