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"Prince" and Repeat

The world of Narnia - the magical realm that fueled seven C.S. Lewis fantasy novels - has always struck me as something out of a children's story, filled with kitschy, harmless characters and capped by feel-good moralizing. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", the 2005 franchise-starter by director Andrew Adamson, only cemented that theory. The film's CG talking animals and PG battle scenes, along with a daintily-handled Christian allegory, made for a Disney-fied adaptation that went down like a spoonful of sugar. The second installment, "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian", picks up either one year or 1300 years after the first film, depending on who you ask. But not much has changed in this series which continues to feel like "Lord of the Rings" lite.

For the quartet of Pevensie children, it's been a year since they returned from fighting the good fight in "Wardrobe" and they're living in World War II-era London, bickering on a Tube platform. But in Narnia, the last millennium-plus has been very eventful. The magical creatures of Narnia are all but gone, driven to the brink of extinction by the all-too-human Telmarines. One night, the wife of the evil King Miraz delivers a son, spelling trouble for the King's nephew, the heir-in-waiting of the title. Under cover of darkness, the benevolent Doctor Cornelius sneaks Prince Caspian out of the castle with the king's soldiers in pursuit. Cornered in a forest, Caspian blows a magic horn. Meanwhile, back on the Tube platform, the children are suddenly, without warning, transported to Narnia, where they soon discover all is not what they remember.

Yes, British schoolchildren transported to a magical world via a train station. Oh J.K. Rowling, how could you?

It doesn't take long for the children to team up with Prince Caspian and wage an assault on the castle, with the Narnians in tow as their soldiers. This first battle scene - with it's diving, aerial Gryphon rides - is about as close as the film comes to a truly riveting sequence. The effects are, naturally, seamless (with the exception of a cutesy, saber-wielding mouse which brings to mind the Puss in Boots character from the "Shrek" films, which Mr. Adamson also directed). The actual strategy of the battle is a bit fuzzy, and when our heroes fail to dispatch the villain not once but twice, things start to feel like child's play.

The script, by Mr. Adamson and returning co-writers Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, consists mostly of exposition and wisecracks, particularly from Peter Dinklage, who nails every last bit of much-needed sarcasm as a curmudgeonly dwarf. As King Miraz, Italian actor Sergio Castellitto is certainly a more menacing villain than the toothless White Witch from the previous film, though he proves to be equally ineffective. Somehow those wily Pevensie children continue to outsmart him and his vaguely Conquistadorian cohorts.

As for the children themselves, the actresses fare better than their male counterparts. Anna Popplewell appears far more comfortable this time around as Susan, and she wields a mean bow. Young Lucy (Georgie Henley) happily avoids growing into the annoying presence she could have been (she's the one keeping the faith throughout). As their would-be leader, Peter, William Moseley greets every obstacle with the same look of annoyed entitlement. And Edmund (Skandar Keynes) still hasn't gotten over his treasonous transgression from the last film. Meanwhile, Prince Caspian himself (Ben Barnes from "The History Boys") barely registers as much more than hunky poster fodder.

But the fun of Narnia is in the world it creates. And though it never achieves the gravity of Middle Earth (or even Hogwarts, for that matter), it's still a nice place to visit. My hope was that with this second installment - like the "Harry Potter" series - the "Narnia" films might grow up a little. For a short while, "Caspian" delivers. Then, a lion roars, a song plays and it feels less like a movie than a "very special episode" of "Narnia".