The fourth book in the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was one of my favorites when I was a kid. Maybe it’s because it is more complex and serious than it’s predecessor.

In this book, it has only been a year later for the children, but it has been over 1300 years in Narnia time. The peaceful land they left is no more. The castle is in disrepair and deserted. Rather quickly, they meet Prince Caspian who explains that they’ve arrived in the middle of a war for Narnia. Together with Caspian and Aslan, they must save Narnia from the evil King Miraz who wishes to seize the throne.

Andrew Adamson is back, who wrote and directed both films. I have high hopes for the film version, despite not liking the first film. It is still rated PG, so I wouldn’t expect too much violence. Still, it can’t be as bad as Speed Racer since I really like the novel.

Prince Caspian hits theaters Friday, May 16th.

Watch an interview with the director on SciFi Wire.

I’m probably the only one excited about The Golden Compass dvd release from yesterday. I’m a sucker for fantasy movies, but seriously the fantastical world of the movie intrigued me.

Since the movie ends abruptly, it enticed me to read all three books. In my opinion, a movie that encourages book sales can’t be all bad, right? And it did after all win an Oscar for best special effects. The effects of the daemons were superb as was the rendering of the compass itself. Everything looked vibrant and pretty realistic.

Pajiba’s Phillip Stephens said it had all “the essentials: great, complex characters and a fully realized world are in fine form.” I completely agree and gonna hope against hope that they make the sequels, especially since The Subtle Knife has a much stronger story than The Golden Compass novel.

There are rumblings of re-shoots and technical difficulties for Where the Wild Things Are. Some test audiences suggested that the film was too dark for children, so much so that parents had to leave the screening early. The rumors have increased ever since test footage leaked onto the internet. Even Spike Jonze himself has made a statement regarding the leak! It’s been pushed back to 2009, but otherwise no official statement has been made.

I understand that special f/x take a long time, especially for a fantasy film. It’s not like you use footage from a basic Canon ZR and After Effects for this project. There’s months of post-production where the initial footage is mapped and augmented to create a fantastical finished product. I’m sure if you watched a early scene from The Golden Compass, a viewer wouldn’t be too impressed.

I don’t care how, but I hope Jonze can pull everything together and keep his overall vision. Forget the kids, make a movie for adults, especially since we’re the ones who cherish the book. An more mature tone of the film could be risky for Warner Bros, but maybe it better suits the tone of the film.