Blu-ray Movie Reviews

The magical world of C.S. Lewis' beloved fantasy comes to life once again in "Prince Caspian", the second installment of "The Chronicles Of Narnia" series. Join Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy, the mighty and majestic Aslan, friendly new Narnian creatures and Prince Caspian as they lead the Narnians on a remarkable journey to restore peace and glory to their enchanted land.

The first film in this series didn’t thrill me much overall. While I could appreciate the world Lewis created, I didn’t care for some of the acting and the bit too family centric production style the first film incorporated. This follow up was better in most respects for me and toned the film down a bit. The production values are still incredible and the acting improved a bit this second time around. This is still a family adventure film though and doesn’t get overly dark. If you were a fan of the first film I have no doubt that this will be a welcome addition to the series for you. If you didn’t like the first one much I would still recommend giving this one a look, I know I enjoyed it more.

This is easily one of the best HD video presentations I’ve seen from Walt Disney yet for their live action catalog. The image has incredible detail and dimension and almost looks like it was shot digitally. Imagery is razor sharp and the sense of dimensionality is almost without equal at times. The CG still looks slightly off compared to some of the live action, but from a technical standpoint this is truly a reference transfer. Colors have a wonderfully natural balance and the forest and coast provide a gorgeous backdrop throughout the film. Easily one of the best looking discs on the format to date.

Disney has delivered this one in 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and it appears that Disney is starting to move over to DTS with all of their high profile titles. The mix is a great balance of dynamics and soundstage and the 7.1 mix does open up the rear soundstage far more than I was expecting. There are some great panning effects and discrete rear channel use but thankfully it never comes off as gimmicky. Low bass extension is impressive at times and none of the details get lost in the more aggressive action sequences. Dialogue is balanced nicely within the mix and I didn’t notice any signs of strain. An outstanding audio presentation.

This three-disc set is loaded up with some great features and is also BD-Live enabled. Disc one delivers a feature commentary with the director and principle actors from the film. You also get an interactive look at the castle raid sequence that sheds some light on the creative process of the scene and a tour of the set. Disc two is where you’ll find the bulk of the supplements though including a couple production features that take you behind the scenes for production design, creating the film and insight into the creative process. You get to look at the special effects used, the sets and how they created some of the magical creatures from the film. Disc three is a digital copy of the film for portable devices or your home computer. Since this title is BD-Live enabled, Disney includes their movie chat and challenge features allowing you to interact with friends while watching the film. You can also insert pictures into the film while viewing.

Disney has delivered an outstanding package for Prince Caspian. The A/V presentation is one of the best I’ve seen to date and this set has some great extras. This would make a fine addition to any Blu-ray library this holiday season. Highly recommended.