This summer saw a large number of SciFi/Fantasy films in theaters; most of them were minor to massive hits.  But there were also two really good ones that didn’t do so well because of all the competition.  Speed Racer was one, which I think I already blogged about, and the other was Prince Caspian.

The sad thing about these two movies bombing is that we probably won’t see sequels to them.  I have heard rumors that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader may still be made.  But there will probably never be a Speed Racer 2.

Anyway, I did finally get to see Prince Caspian.  Katie and I had planned to see it in the theaters, but got busy and forgot.  Most people said it was better than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  I would have to agree.  Even with all of it’s faults, I did like TLTWATW.  Prince Caspian was even better, but still not perfect.  Some things were not that clearly explained in the movie, like why a 1,000 years had passed in Narnia and only 1 year had passed on Earth, why Aslan wouldn’t help the same way twice, why Peter and Susan can’t come back, etc.  These issues were touched on, but touched on so lightly that I think the casual viewer would have missed them.

I was pumped for the third Chronicles of Narnia book, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, to be made into a movie.  Basically, the best characters from the first two books re-appear  and a really bad new character is introduced into the story (which leads to one of the most visually rich redemption tales ever).  Speaking of which, the whole tale is just full of visually rich imagery that begs for some Weta Studios magic.  Oh… and there’s also a dragon.  I love dragons.

There is some buzz that the studio behind the movies can now find another backer other than Disney to help make future films… one that might let them come closer to the “vision” that C.S. Lewis had for his books.  I can’t say that the first two movies totally missed that vision – there were some things that could have been improved, but they were still pretty close.  But it would be good to see what would happen with the third movie if they get to move out from under Disney and not have to force so many Disney-isms in to the next installment.  We’ll see.

The main reason I think I want to see the Chronicles of Narnia franchise continue is that I want to see The Final Battle put to film with Weta studios behind it.  Who knows if that will even be possible – the last half of that book is just crazy – but such a rich description of what heaven will be like.

Of course, it would also be great to see The Silver Chair made into a movie.