Film Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

How would you like to be ruling a kingdom one day and go back to being a regular school kid the next? Would pretty much suck, right? That's the way the Pevensie siblings feel after returning to England from their first Narnian adventure.

Here's the haps: The Pevensies; Lucy (Georgie Henley), older sis Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Peter (William Moseley) are back in school in our mundane world after ruling Narnia for years. When Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), having no real idea what he's doing, blows Susan's horn, the gang makes a sudden re-entry into Narnia through a subway station (shades of Harry Potter?). Seems that Caspian, the legal heir to the throne of his Telmarine people, has been deposed by his evil uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) who is out to kill him and he needs all the help he can get!

Reclaiming their rightful places in Narnia isn't so easy for the Pevensies since it is 1,300 years later and the few remaining Narnians think of them as only ancient legend. With the aid of centaurs, forest creatures, feisty mice, a badger and the grumpy dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage), the heroes manage to help Caspian grow up, fight battles and re-claim his throne.

I found this second installment in the film version of the Narnia chronicles to be more exciting and just plain fun than the first film. I won't claim to remember if the film sticks closely to the novel or not but it stands quite well on its own with engaging, creative battle sequences and some humorous dialogue as well as tear-inducing dramatic scenes.

It was gratifying to see both Susan and Lucy hold their own in the fights and emerge just as heroic as the guys in the film if not moreso! Mouse Reepicheep is adorable and feisty as voiced by Eddie Izzard and Peter Dinklage is both annoying and endearing as the Red Dwarf Trumpkin. The attempted return of the White Witch and the return of Aslan were satisfying and watching the Pevensies swoop down on a castle astride flying Griffons was just as cool as Harry Potter on his souped-up broom.

Ben Barnes is great eye-candy and does an admirable job of playing the stressed-out heir to a kingdom in the title role but whose idea was it to have all the Telmarines speaking with varying degrees of a Spanish accent? We interviewed Ben and his melodic Brit accent would have been just fine. The themes in the film are plentiful if you choose to look for that sort of thing. I was most fond of the idea that even the smallest creature can be heroic and mighty and that revenge is never a worthy goal.

Overall, "Prince Caspian" is a darker film than its predecessor with a more meaty emotional core and more awesome battle action and you do get the hint of a budding romance between Susan and Caspian as well. For those of us who didn't read or don't remember the books, it's interesting that Edmund leaves his "torch" (flashlight) behind. Wonder if this indicates that the Narnians will discover it and be high-tech the next time the Pevensies visit? Oh well, nice idea, anyway, true or not.

For action, heart, humor and great special effects, 4 out of 5 stars

***

Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.