| Print |

Written by Adrienne Jones Friday, 16 May 2008 06:54

A lot of films aimed at children (even older ones) can leave adults adrift. Prince Caspian, however, is not one of those.

I imagine it may be difficult to get back to living a normal life after having a years-long adventure in a magical land, but the Pevensie siblings have managed well.

In the year (on Earth) that passed since they first met Aslan the lion and fought the White Witch for control of the magical world of Narnia, Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Peter (William Moseley) and Susan (Anna Popplewell) have gone about their lives in London as dutiful schoolchildren.

However, when Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) loses Narnia's throne to his devious uncle, he flees into the woods of Narnia and finds himself surrounded by magical creatures thought to be extinct. Blowing Susan's now-ancient horn to call for help, he unwittingly summons the former kings and queens of Narnia—the Pevensies.

But Narnian life is much different from what the Pevensies remember. Over 1,300 years have gone by in their kingdom without them, and the world is much less whimsical, and much more grim.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian does a good job of reintroducing us to the siblings and bringing them into a new story. And since the filmmakers had to deal less with back story and introducing odd Narnian creatures, they could really let the battles take center stage.

All of the fighting takes place on an epic scale. There are midnight raids, grand one-on-one swordfights, and flying gryphons clutching bow-and-arrow-wielding dwarves. Every conflict looks amazingly real, even with computer-generated lions, tigers and bears running around. And a river becoming anthropomorphic to help Caspian and the siblings turned out to be one of the best effects I've seen on film.

A lot of films aimed at children (even older ones) can leave adults adrift. Prince Caspian, however, is not one of those. The filmmakers managed to craft another production that will pull kids into the fantasy while keeping adults interested. Parents may not be enthralled by the story, but there's so much eye candy, they certainly won't be bored. | Adrienne Jones