@narnian78 re Ben Barnes: he had a long history playing child roles and was playing a teenage role on stage in London when he was cast.  Apparently the casting people couldn't find a suitable younger actor to play Caspian as a young teen, and were a bit desperate. As for changing accents, the accents in PC were due to many of the Telmarine actors having accents (English not their first language), so the director made this apply across the board. For VDT, the new director decided against having accents, and everyone sounded much more English, apart from the slave buyers. Ben said he missed it, but it was much easier across the board. 

@Narnian78

How do you think the first two Walden films could have been made better?  The Lion the Witch, and the Wardrobe was quite a good film

What Walden had to do with LWW was to make its production much better than what had gone beforehand, which in the case of the BBC production was only a TV show. And the Walden version really succeeded in doing just that. There were spin-off events, including Sydney's Powerhouse Museum, who had its own LWW display. I didn't see as much of it, as I could have done at the time, because I thought it was only the latest production in a long history of LWW films & at the time, competed against Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004, in the aftermath of Peter Jackson's stunningly successful Lord of the Rings trilogy.  

On the other hand, the Walden production of Prince Caspian, the longest of the three, contrasted sharply with the BBC TV production. In my own DVD library BBC PC is lumped in 2 episodes, overlapped somewhat by the longer BBC VDT, starring Samuel West as Caspian. I first saw Walden PC in a church theatre party, and whilst I enjoyed the film, our local minister didn't think much of it at all. I agree that whilst the boy who played Prince Caspian in the BBC version, seemed ridiculously too young, Ben Barnes seemed much too old to pass for what might have been a 12 to14-year-old Caspian, the same age as Peter. It seemed that the minister wasn't alone in disapproval of the suggested romance between Caspian and Susan. And yes, the battles were too drawn out, when it seems Walden's productions seemed to think that battles and romances were drawcards for successful films. Am I right that Tilda Swinton played the hag in Walden PC as well as a centaur, I heard, as well as the White Witch summoned by the hag? Following on from BBC's Barbara Kellerman's BBC performance of Jadis as the White Witch in LWW, the hag in PC? 

@waggawerewolf27 I suddenly started to doubt myself for a second and had to look it up to check, but thankfully I’m not losing my mind lol, because I was right in thinking it was not Tilda. Apparently the hag was played by a Czech actress named Klára Issová.

@Karisa

Apparently, the hag was played by a Czech actress named Klára Issová.

Yes, that's right, & thank you. The way she moved was rather ritualistic, I thought at the time. I am going to have to go on a binge of watching all these films, again, to catch up. But I still think that there was too much of Jadis in the second & third Walden films, especially in VDT. 

The kissing scene between Caspian and Susan in the movie doesn’t bother me even though it isn’t in the book.  It doesn’t slow down the story very much, and the romance is not explored much further. At the time the Prince Caspian movie was made some people exaggerated it, but I think it was pretty mild compared to most of today’s films. Often today’s movies go much further than that in showing affection between characters.

Did anyone else dislike this movie at first but changed their attitude towards it later?  I had disliked it at the first viewing, but after watching it again it didn’t seem so bad. Years later it left a better impression, but it still is not my favorite of the three films. 

I have found that even though the three Walden films have flaws and imperfections there is always something to like in them. They do look attractive and the acting by the cast is usually quite good. It is very enjoyable to rewatch them even many years after they were made.  🙂

I really need to watch these films again. Add that to the looooong list. 😵 

Thankfully the previous posts have helped jog my memory enough on some points.

Prince Caspian I think I like on the whole, though it went very action movie, perhaps bringing out too much that wasn't in the book. I appreciate that they needed to pad it out a little. I don't mind Caspian being older – it doesn't spoil it for me – but ideally I would have the actor closer to true age. At least Barnes provided some eye candy? 🤪 Really wasn't a fan of the awkward romance. Forced in - really not necessary. Oh yes, and Peter's overall attitude towards Caspian, one of the things that bothered me most. That wasn't my Peter from the books!

Actually I'll stop at that for now and try and come back to this for the other film.

@Narnian78

At the time the Prince Caspian movie was made some people exaggerated it, but I think it was pretty mild compared to most of today’s films. Often today’s movies go much further than that in showing affection between characters.

Quite so. I thought so, myself, back then, as a matter of interest. At the end of LWW adult actors played the four Pevensies, and if Walden had gone on to film the Horse & His Boy, surely, those actors would have been able to play the same characters, again, with no trouble. I believe it was Sophie Winkelman, now Lady Frederick Windsor, played Susan. But for argument's sake, suppose that HHB had been made after all, with all the drama of Rabadash & his alleged ardour for Queen Susan, how might that have changed the depiction of Susan's character in the Prince Caspian movie, I very idly wonder?

On another thread, we were discussing psychological impacts on the Pevensies, at returning to be children after their Narnian adventures. I would have thought that her Tashbaan experiences, would have explained all too well, Susan's hanging back & denial in PC. I would have thought that kissing Prince Caspian or any sort of romantic interaction would terrify her, given she'd gone back to being 13 at most. 

@Narnian78

At the time the Prince Caspian movie was made some people exaggerated it, but I think it was pretty mild compared to most of today’s films. Often today’s movies go much further than that in showing affection between characters.

Quite so. I thought so, myself, back then, as a matter of interest. At the end of LWW adult actors played the four Pevensies, and if Walden had gone on to film the Horse & His Boy, surely, those actors would have been able to play the same characters, again, with no trouble. I believe it was Sophie Winkelman, now Lady Frederick Windsor, played Susan. But for argument's sake, suppose that HHB had been made after all, with all the drama of Rabadash & his alleged ardour for Queen Susan, how might that have changed the depiction of Susan's character in the Prince Caspian movie, I very idly wonder?

On another thread, we were discussing psychological impacts on the Pevensies, at returning to be children after their Narnian adventures. I would have thought that her Tashbaan experiences, would have explained all too well, Susan's hanging back & denial in PC. I would have thought that kissing Prince Caspian or any sort of romantic interaction would terrify her, given she'd gone back to being 13 at most. 

@waggawerewolf27 

It would have bothered me more if the romance between Susan and Caspian had been an extended thing, but it was so brief that it wasn’t much of a distraction from the main story. It may have been a little awkward, but there wasn’t much besides the kiss to slow down the plot. I think all movies adapted from books will make brief additions, and if they only last a minute and there aren’t too many of them (perhaps only one or two) they don’t harm the movie too much. They also should not damage the plot. The extended battle scenes were more of a departure from the book’s main story.  I know that everything cannot be exactly the same as the book, but I do think the movie could have been more faithful while still entertaining audiences. Adding material for longer action scenes should be done sparingly if they are necessary. The long battle scenes added more than the adaptation would have required. I guess it was an attempt to sell more tickets.  C. S. Lewis would probably have been disappointed in the script if he were living today.