'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' Film Review

With the film success of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings from New Line Cinema and its sequels, as well as C. S Lewis's first book, 'The Chronicles of Narnia', Disney is primed to establish a great franchise with the next installment in the series, 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.' With the main cast and the voice of Liam Neesam as the voice of Aslan back, as well as the creatures and CGI effects, there's enough adventures and suspense for the entire family to enjoy.

Remaining close to the book material, the story does have a few tweaks in the film. Set in Narnia some 1300 years later, Narnia is now run by humans, and the birth of a son to King Miraz (Castellito) has endangered the life to the rightful heir of Narnia, his nephew Prince Caspian (Barnes). Aided by his trusted friend Dr. Cornelius (Grass) and given an instrument to use only when desperately needed, a horn, Caspian narrowly escapes the clutches of Miraz's men and enters the forest of Narnia seeking safety. While in the forest and to his amazement, Caspian encounters some Narnian dwarves. When the men are closing in on him and Caspian is knocked off his horse, he blows his horn before, not knowing what awaits him.

Meanwhile, back in London, and realistically a year later from their last trip to Narnia, the Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy (Moseley, Popplewell, Keynes, and Henley) have been reluctant to settle back to civilian life after spending 15 years in fantasy land when one day while standing on the train platform, they are transported back 'home' to a different place and time in Narnia. It seems that the horn that Prince Caspian had blown has brought the 'old kings and queens of Narnia' back and while they are thrilled to be 'home' again, a lot has changed since they left. Their castle, Cair Paravel, is now in ruins but through a hidden door, they are able to retrieve their old clothing and weapons. After saving the life of a dwarf named Trumpkin (Dinklage), they are told what happened when they left and how the creatures of Narnia were left for tyranny by the new rulers, the Telmarines, which includes the ancestors of Prince Caspian.

With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz's tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.

Gone from 'Prince Caspian' is the heavy use of religious tones that was in the first film. The film is darker and adult-themed, yet still has the battles and creatures and fun to entertain a younger audience. In place of the White Witch, so marvelously played by Tilda Swinton, we have a villain who doesn't yield the same force but Sergio Castellitto as Miraz is more dimensional than Swinton was. Each of the kids are now grown and bring change to the characters, with Moseley as King Peter showing more confidence in himself than in the previous film. As Prince Caspian, Barnes has the looks and charms of a king from any 'Disney' film, and Eddie Izzard is just delightful as the voice of the swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep.

While the film is just as absorbing as the first 'Narnia' at over two hours, you will find that the battles sequences are more developed, more dramatic, and more action packed with special effects. As quoted by Aslan, 'Things never happen the same way twice', but if you are looking for a new adventure and a little bit of magic, then you can't wrong from see 'Prince Caspian.