The story was a lot tighter in the LotR movies, too, even given how long they all were.

I liked "Caspian" as a book, but I think it's easily the least cinematic of the books, because so much of it is politicking and backstory. So I can forgive them, a little, for making a mediocre movie out of it. "Dawn Treader", however, is *highly* cinematic, so they have no excuse for screwing it up. ;)