‘Prince Caspian’: Magically mediocre

Liat Nosrati

Missing wonder and glory, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is no match to its prequel.

The film is based on a book by the same title from a series of books by C.S. Lewis.

It has been a year since the Pevensie siblings, Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Peter (William Moseley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell) had their adventures in Narnia. But one year is the equivalent to 1,300 years in Narnian time, and a lot has changed since they’ve been away.

They find that Narnia has become a savage place now ruled by Miraz, the evil king of the Telmarines.

Everything is in ruins, so they set out to find answers.

After a long and boring journey through the woods of Narnia, they come across Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), who ran away from the castle. He is in search of help to win back the throne, which rightfully belongs to him.

The young yet brave Pevensies agree to help Caspian recover his throne, but the Telmarines are always right behind them, ready to kill.

Rated PG, it’s hard to believe any 10-year-old could sit through the entire two hours and 20 minutes; however, adults might enjoy it.

It takes about an hour and a half for the film to get interesting, because most of the film just feels like everyone is still trying to figure things out. Once they do, the real action begins.

Director Andrew Adamson, who also directed the previous film, does not spare those good old sword-fighting scenes.

The action in this film is entertaining, but it just takes a while to get to it.

There are a few new characters in “Prince Caspian,” and the old ones remain. The White Witch makes a brief appearance, as does the lion Aslan. As far as the wardrobe closet goes, there’s no sign of it in this sequel; the Pevensies find another way to transport themselves to Narnia.

The brothers and sisters work well together on screen. Henley, who plays Lucy, has a great ability to capture the scene but other than that, the acting is mediocre. However, after a spew of romantic comedies released in theaters over the past few months, a traditional adventure flick is a nice change of pace.

The good news is there are seven books in “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, which means there are five more opportunities to bring Narnia back to life on the big screen.

The third installment, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” is set to be released May 7, 2010, and the same main actors are cast.

Interesting enough, talking animals can be fun to watch – as long as you have an open mind about it.

C+

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