Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - ***1/2

The Pevensie children have all grown up - that much is certain. Peter has a certain swagger and conceited air about him, Edmund is quieter, more docile, Susan is worthy of being wooed, and that leaves little Lucy, who is more grown up than the others, but is more endearing because she has all the sincerity, faith and charm that the others lack.

This, of course, is only partly what The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is all about. Ben Barnes, who plays Caspian the Tenth, is the quiet, conflicted teenage fugitive who is also the rightful heir to the throne of Narnia, which has been usurped by his scheming, evil uncle, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). Caspian and his uncle belong to a race known as the Telmarines, who occupied Narnia some time in the thirteen hundred years that have passed since the Pevensies ruled the land.

Called back to Narnia by Susan's magical horn as they are about to board a train to back to school, the Pevensies encounter and rescue Trumpkin, a dwarf who has offered to help Caspian take back his throne, from a group of Telmarine soldiers. They then follow the dwarf to a camp in the woods, where Caspian is in the midst of planning his strategy with the hitherto dormant armies of the forests, the centaurs, mice (led by Lewis' legendary character, Reepicheep), badgers, dwarves and other creatures. Despite differences of opinion, particularly between Peter and Caspian, and some dangerous temptations along the way (including the recurrence of the White Witch from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe), everyone unites to battle the Telmarines.

Despite the glut of characters and the rather vast lapse in time, Narnia as a land is as endearing as it was in the first film, and will seem that way even to those not familiar with the books. The main actors (Moseley, Popplewell, Keynes, Henley and Barnes) carry the film well on their young shoulders, and in spite of Barnes' affected accent and predominantly confused expression, he has a grace and wisdom about him that make for a credible prince. The elusive Aslan appears only towards the tail end of the movie, but his absence is not as strongly felt, and his role not as significant in the grand scheme of things. Director Andrew Adamson understands that this is a movie about the coming of age in a time of war, and does not force magic on that experience.

As a family entertainer, Caspian is most certainly a rung above The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe for the sheer visual quality and polish that it brings to the screen. The story itself is brief, and any producer or director who put faithfulness to the books top of mind would have been able to tell that story in less than an hour fairly effortlessly. But Adamson seems to have taken a few leaves out of Peter Jackson's books on Lord of the Rings and whittled those lessons into palatable shape for younger audiences, making for some very clever and truly stunning battle sequences.

Narnia is no Harry Potter, and Disney may already know that it cannot really achieve a cult following for the films, but since they fit Disney's wholesome family film criteria, as long as they are entertaining, I for one, have no complaints.