Did they read the book?

This afternoon I went to see the recently released Prince Caspian, after having finished reading the book just a few hours before.

I don't believe that I've wanted to walk out of a movie in the past ten years, but today I very much wanted to, and would have if there weren't people sitting on either side of me whom I would have to disturb upon my exit.

For those who have not read C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian, the movie will probably be rather enjoyable, though there not a few scenes that seem very like something from such movies as The Lord of the Rings (all three of them) and Gladiator (a couple of others also came to mind at the time that now escape me, and I don't see many movies).

For those who have recently read Prince Caspian, I expect the film will prove quite disappointing. It seems that at least half of the film has been made up. Peter and Caspian were turned into rivals, Peter seems to have become an arrogant jerk, and Caspian and Lucy apparently had a thing for each other. The little of the movie that resembled the book was rearranged in such a way (chronologically) so as to make those scenes not quite recognizable.

I left the movie theatre very disappointed indeed.

I very much enjoyed the film The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and was very much looking forward to seeing Prince Caspian. My favorite of Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia has always been The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. After seeing Walden Media's adaptation of Prince Caspian, I'm not sure I'll bother to see their future adaptation of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.