The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - A Review

Willian Moseley
Anna Popplewell
Skandar Keynes
Georgie Henley

These names might not be familiar with you, but when we were talking about the Pevensies, they are the actors and actresses that play the Pevensies siblings - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy respectively. Yes, the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve were back! The second movie installation of Narnia is out.

The story began as it ended in The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe, where the Pevensies were back from Narnia to the real world. One Earth-year has passed, but that is equivalent to 1,300 Narnian years. In Narnia, the creatures were almost extinct, and the Telmarines, led by the legendary King Caspian I, has conquered Narnia. Now, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), uncle of Prince Caspian X (Ben Barnes), was the de facto monarch, and was blessed with a newborn baby boy. Since Miraz had his own heir, he was all out kill his own nephew and usurp his throne. With the help of Doctor Cornelius the tutor (Vincent Grass), Prince Caspian had to flee for his life, away from his throne which he rightfully owned. During the pursuit, he blew Queen Susan's horn, summoning the Kings and Queens of old - the Pevensies. magically transported from Earth to Narnia in a train station, the Pevensies found themselves in a realm unknown, or rather the ruined future of narnia they once ruled. Now the Pevensies have to look for the one who summoned them - Prince Caspian, so that the latter could regain his kingdom and restore peace to ten land of Narnia. However, how could they do so, since Narnians are almost extinct and vastly outnumbered by Miraz's army? Do they need to call upon the mystical and mysterious Aslan, the mighty creator of Narnia? How? How would ever he reappear, since he was so remote? Or was he really so?


The first movie was filmed in 2002, and released in 2005. During the release of The Lion, the 'kids' were aged 18, 17, 14, and 10 respectively. Now, three years later... you do the maths. In Caspian, Skandar Keynes' voice obviously broke, and I could hardly recognize Georgie Henley! Wow! That was what "one year" had done to them (The Lion and Caspian was set one Earth-year apart).

Nevertheless, this movie has the Andrew Adamson feel. I mean, both background and environment settings, as well as the atmosphere, are more or less the same. Just like the Chris Columbus feel in the first two Harry Potter movies. Too bad the third installation: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (scheduled to release in 2010), is not going to be directed by Adamson anymore! Which means, The Voyage might appear lousy. And I wonder how much more the "Pevensies" could have changed/grown!

I was watching the movie with my non-Christian colleagues. And, immediately after the movie, one of my colleagues started to ask questions about why the story was set like that. Then I answered: It is simply because it is related to Christianity. Okay, further elaboration of our conversation will lead to spoilers. Nevertheless, later on the same day I realized that the Bible quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 was in a way elaborated in this movie. And, indeed, Christians could quickly relate Aslan to the Lion of Judah!


Of course, being a Disney movie, certain characters that are not deserved to die will not die in the end. Nevertheless, talking about a war between Narnians and Telmarines, it was expected to have body counts and casualties during the battles. And, Disney had all its way to make all animals, particularly the minute ones, "cute"!! Yesss... to those who have watched it, yes, I mean Reepicheep the talking mouse!!

And mind you, Warwick Davis was indeed cast in the movie. He had taken a role totally different from his past roles. No more Willow, no more Leprechaun, no more Professor Flitwick. He's Nikabrik the black-Dwarf, who stood by Prince Caspian, fighting against Miraz, but... not gonna mention here lest spoiler leaks.

A slightly below nine out of ten is my rating. Again, this movie would be one that I would not mind watching more than once.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: A Review

Dr Jones is back! New adventure. New artifact. New villains. But the same old men. Yes, men! Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas!! And, of course, this movie we would see something different - the artifact is not Christ related. Well, Temple of Doom is also NOT Christ related, you may say; but let me tell you - it is very different! Further mentioning of it would become spoilers. Also, introducing the Transformers' fame Shia LeBouf, and Cate Blanchett (LOTR, Babel, Elizabeth) as the villain! Huh!?

The story was set in 1957, way after WWII, but in the midst of Cold War. Stalin was of course mentioned in this movie, and this strange "Ukrainian" woman named Irina Spalko (Blanchett) was hired by Stalin to research and attempt to harness psychic powers in order to control the world. In the beginning, they captured Indiana Jones (Ford, of course!) to help them find some sort of mummified body - hoping to get some mind juice out of it for telepathic research I guess... ugh! He escaped. In the later part of the story, Jones was called by this rough teenager Mutt Williams (LeBouf) to save his mom (Karen Allen) and Professor 'Ox' Oxley (John Hurt) from the same person who captured him - Spalko. In the process, Jones and Williams teamed up to solve s clue left by Ox, a clue that led them to the lost Crystal Skull - a treasure known to point to a lost city built of gold and wanted badly by Spalko. But Spalko - crazy for psychic powers - could not have wanted gold? Or could she? Or was she looking for something more? Something that might lie behind the skull itself?

If you have not watched the past movies, you may just wonder who this Marion Ravenwood was, and maybe you'd find it strange when people laughed at scenes such as Jones saving his hat or Jones landing on an enemy truck. And maybe strange to find the old-fashioned method of tracing on a map with red lines and dots whenever Jones traveled on a plane. These scenes are common across all the 4 movies! And Ravenwood was part of the first movie!

And, as usual, Dr Jones cannot die one! Innumerable gunshots were fired on him, but always missed him and left him unscathed. He was left just a few miles from ground zero for atomic bomb test, and a few seconds to escape, yet he survived the deadly furnace of atomic blast (how ah? how ah? Duh... save it, I'm not gonna spoil the fun here!). He and his team fell of three waterfalls, and yet suffered no harm other than getting themselves wet and slightly traumatized (especially Ravenwood).

And not mentioning romance at its fullest! Enough said here.

And, Shia LeBouf - he simply made me recall Jonathan Ke Quan (Ke Huy Quan) and the late River Phoenix. They just simply want a youngster in almost every movie. Anyway, he did have a significant role here, far more significant than Quan.

One amazing thing was (I would rather say, a deliberate goof), a magnetic object was less effective in its magnetic effect when it was covered. Why? It was very clear that the crystal skull was highly magnetic, yet when it was covered, its magnetic effect was not as strong as when it was exposed. Also, about magnetic effects, it seemed to be selectively attracting metals like guns and weapons and only at certain times. It did attract for sure gunpowders and shotgun bullets. It would never attract metal cars. Something that really, really caused me to reduce my rating of the movie due to its fakeness.

I think George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had lost their creativity. Several ideas actually appeared as they were borrowed from other movies. I am not going to mention any here, because I received feedback that the list was enough to spoil the movie, even though it is just the tip of the spoiler iceberg.

Hey, they accidentally exposed the lost Ark of the Covenant (the one in the first movie) during the first fight-and-escape scene! I thought that it might have a slight significance in the movie, until I remembered the title of the movie. Ha!!

Nevertheless, Indiana Jones movies always came with comedic scenes, and Skull is no exception. The trailer had spoilt some. Others include Mutt spreading his legs across two parallelly-running vehicles and having occasional plant from underneath hitting on his private; Mutt initiated a gang fight, making it a diversion for the escape; and, I must say, the Indy hat scenes. :-)

Okay, okay. Too much of a non-spoiler. I would give an eight out of ten. Erm... slightly more than eight. Won't mind watching it again.

Iron Man: A Review

"Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart"
"Heroes Aren't Born. They're Built"

These phrases would sound familiar to you if you have watched Iron Man. Yes, the long awaited Marvel Production movie is out!


The story revolved around a super-genius named Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), who inherited from his late father a multi-million worth company that manufactured weapons for US Defense. During his trip to Afghanistan to test his killer weapon, the Jericho, he was assaulted and captured by a terrorist group named The Ten Rings. In the process of escaping, he built himself a metal armor suit super-powered by his Ark Reactor, enabling him to power up the suit and at the same time power up a magnetic coil that would stop shrapnel fragments from entering his heart (due to an injury sustained from the assault). After he was rescued and transported back to US, he decided to shut down the weapons manufacturing plant, and dedicated himself to perfecting his metal armor suit. A series of happenings threw him into action in the suit, hence Iron Man was born. His direction and determination had pissed off certain people, and out of deceit, unleashed was the villainous Iron Monger, much bigger and more powerful, rivaling Iron Man. Who would eventually win - the smart guy in red/golden suit or the mammoth machine?


I didn't read any Marvel comics, so frankly speaking, I did not know anything about Iron Man before the movie. However, after watching the movie, I did find it awesome, amazing, and brilliant! Not mentioning comedic.

The movie was so action-packed that the 2:06-long movie appears passing by very fast. Nevertheless, the action was coupled with funny scenes that made this movie interesting. The funniest part that I found is when Stark tried the flight system of Mark 2 (code name for his experimental prototype silver suit). "3-2-1-go!" He ricocheted to the wall behind him, hitting on it some 10 feet above ground and fell. As he landed, Dummy (his worker robot) sprayed on him as if he has caught fire.


Also, another funny scene was when he ended his later-perfected flight with Mark 2. However, as he powered off the suit on the roof of his house, the armor was so heavy that it crashed open the concrete roof, down one floor with a grand piano, and another with a sports car. What an extravagant experiment! Haha!!

And, Pat, truly, Burger King's there. They publicized it!!

The poignant scene was when Stark realized that the weapons that he manufactured eventually did harm to humankind. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them," he said. That was when he decided to call an end to the weapons manufacturing division.

One scene I found gruesome - much to D's disbelief and retort - was when the Ark Reactor to Stark's heart was detached revealing a hole in his chest, and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) had to dig her hand into the hole where the heart was supposed to be. Of course I know it was fake, but I just couldn't bear the imagination of me having a hole in my own chest - a vivid picture in my mind during that particular scene.


Robert Downey Jr had portrayed very well as Stark / Iron Man. I was actually very skeptical about him, after starring as the ***SPOILER*** villain in U.S. Marshalls, serious-and-not-very-funny investigator in Zodiac, and another villain in The Shaggy Dog (he was indeed funny in this one though). However, in Iron Man, he was humorous, glamorous, and romantic... but also, lonely. After watching this movie, I felt that Downey fit the role quite well.

I would give a nine (out of ten) for this. And, I am looking forward to its sequel - I'm sure there would be. Which Marvel's superhero movie blockbuster did not have sequels?

And, if you are really watching it in cinema, wait till the end credits are over. If the cinema personnel chases you out, spend the end-credit-rolling time arguing with him - yell at him, "I pay for every second of the movie!" You'll indeed get paid off.

Three Kingdoms: A Review

I’m a thoroughbred Chinese who is not well-versed in Chinese (hence dubbed as banana* by many), yet I always love to know more about China, her history and her literature. I am also amazed at how wise and clever ancient Chinese are, especially those who lived in the era of Three Kingdoms (三国时代). That is why I love reading Romance of The Three Kingdoms (三国演义). I think I still have the English Translated Comic version of the ever famous Chinese literature (in 10 volumes).

The story, or rather, the history of the Three Kingdoms was set in between 220AD and 280AD, where the Han Dynasty (汉朝) was fallen and broken into many small kingdoms. Eventually, three great superpowers, namely Wei (魏), Shu (蜀), and Wu (吴), respectively led by three great conquerors Cao Cao (曹操), Liu Bei (刘备), and Sun Quan (孙权), maintained. The literature outlines how these there superpowers came into power, how the leaders were led by their super-wise advisors, how the kingdoms were locked in a stalemate position, and how they were eventually fell into the Kingdom of Jin (晋). It is one of China's Dark Ages, between Han and Jin Dynasties.


The movie Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon (三国之见龙卸甲) revolved around a warrior named Zhao Zilong / Zhao Yun (赵子龙 / 赵云) (played by Andy Lau), who boldly served with his loyalty to his Shu Kingdom, with the hope of re-uniting China and eventually returning to his hometown of Chang Shan. He befriended a senior warrior Luo Ping'an (罗平安) (played by Sammo Hung), with whom they were sworn as brothers. In a very short time, Zilong rose to be a prominent warrior, and because of his bravery, Liu Bei (played by dunno-who :-P) named him one of the five great warriors of Shu Kingdom. However, after decades of fighting, the seemingly neverending war had persisted even after a new Shu King (son of Liu Bei) was enthroned. In his final battle, he has to face the ruthless Cao Ying (曹营) (played by Maggie Q), granddaughter of the Wei Tyrant Cao Cao (played by Damian Lau). As smart and bold as he was, he had yet to face the most unexpected, that placed him on a thin line of victory and defeat. Would he be able to fulfill his destiny? What would he eventually earn in all his battles?


My part of the review. Being so much detached from the story, I forgot that Zilong came from the Kingdom of Shu, so I thought the story was deviated from the history. Later did I recall that Zilong is always known as that young warrior of Shu Kingdom, bold and vigilant, who won every battle he led. The marvelous thing was, Andy Lau in his mid-40’s was cast as Zilong (he was supposed to very young, in his 20’s when he began his expedition). At the end of the story, Zilong was in his 60's, played by the mid-40's Andy Lau too. *Shrugs* Well, if Andy could play the boy who grew tremendously fast in Wait Till You're Older (童梦奇缘), he could play Zilong with no problem.

Anyway, the story was so much revolved in Zilong that many main characters were played down. That included the loyalist Guan Yu / Guan Yunchang (关羽 / 关云长), the wise strategist Zhuge Liang / Kong Ming (诸葛亮 / 孔明), the next-to-clever advisor to Wu kingdom Zhou Yu (周瑜), the tyrannic maniac Cao Cao, and many others. Also, many interesting plots, like Burning of Ships, Arrow Capturing in the Mist, and Empty City Ruse were not included. Also, it portrayed Zilong as if he was invincible when he was young - he defied the entire army of Cao when he went out to save the son of his master Liu Bei. Wallau! Amazzzzzing!!!


A new character (never in history nor literature) was introduced, and that's none other than Ping'an. Well, he's seemingly not important in the story, but in the movie, he was given an important role to portray. And tell you what, I felt that Sammo Hung was deprived of action (martial arts action that is) in this movie. How sad...

Next, I must admit that I am sick of Maggie Q acting as villain again. Other than Mission: Impossible III, I couldn't think of any movie that she played as a good person. No, I don't think her portrayal as a seducer in the Hong Kong production Magic Kitchen (魔幻厨房) is considered good.

Anyway, being a fan of Romance, I like the war action scenes and plots. It is acceptable that this movie only lasts for 1:42 since it is a story of one man, though I would expect them to make another parallel story, maybe then evolving other interesting characters, like those I mentioned above. ** I would grade the movie 6.5 out of 10.
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While searching for suitable cliparts for Romance, I happen to bump into this version of Chinese Chess. So hilarious!!! Hahahahahaha!!! But wait, why are there two flags on each side? Additional chess pieces?? Hahahahahahahah!!!

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* Banana is a nickname for any Chinese who is not well-versed in the mainstream Chinese language (Mandarin), but educated and hence substantially fluent in English. The nickname is given because a banana has yellow skin (Chinese is yellow-skinned), but white inside (with a mind and character saturated by Western/Caucasian culture).

** I actually forgot that there is another movie under production. It's none other than John Woo's Red Cliff (赤壁)! Starring Takeshi Kaneshiro as Zhuge Liang and Tony Leung as Zhou Yu, I guess this movie would depict a more complete account in Romance. Looking forward to watching it in cinema!!!