The film opens in the thick of night, with a scream ringing out from the bed chamber of a dark and ominous looking castle, setting the scene for a much gloomier follow-up to Wardrobe. In fact, the first few minutes of the film are so gloomy - and gripping - that you almost forget you are watching a Disney movie made for children. It also signals that director Andrew Adamson is far readier to flex his directorial muscles with Prince Caspian than he was with Wardrobe and take considerable leeway with CS Lewis' book.
Thankfully, all the main points of the plot remain. One year after their last visit, the four Pevensie children first introduced in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) - find themselves magically transported from their ordinary London lives and back to the fantastical world of Narnia. Only it's 1,300 years later in Narnia time and the enchanted land is almost unrecognisable to them.
Their beloved castle, Cair Paravel, is in ruins and the friendly talking animals have disappeared, forced into hiding in the woods when the human race, the Telmarines, invaded. The only hope for Narnia now lies in the four children and the rightful King of Narnia, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), whom they must restore to the throne by conquering over his evil uncle General Miraz.
Relative newcomer Barnes puts in a rather dashing turn as the Hispanic-accented prince, and his addition not only refreshes the dynamic of the characters but also prevents the film from feeling formulaic.
The battle scenes, meanwhile, have been stylishly executed by director Andrew Adamson for the big screen, and this is where Prince Caspian trumps the first Narnia instalment. Wardrobe's somewhat lacklustre action scenes have given way to far more tactically satisfying and thrilling battles that still retain their child-friendliness. The result is a much more nuanced and consistent film.
Yet Wardrobe's shortfall in sophisticated action was made up for by its great moral story-telling and it is this aspect that could have been developed more fully in Prince Caspian. It is not that the film is void of Lewis' spiritual themes or some of the more touching moments from the book. It is rather that Prince Caspian lacks those all important quiet moments of dialogue that would have strengthened its moral message and given the film the capacity to truly teach some lasting lessons.
