C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe may have a significant following but only diehards and bookworms have made their way through all seven volumes of The Chronicles Of Narnia. Unlike, say, Harry Potter, brand recognition varies from book to book. And, unlike its chronological predecessor, you don’t see 1951’s Prince Caspian: The Return To Narnia making too many Greatest English Novel lists.
Andrew Adamson and his crew have done sterling work to make this sequel function on its own terms. The Pevensie children’s second trip to Narnia – 1300 years later in Narnian chronology – belts along as if it’s using the same compressed time scheme as its literary source.
Whoosh. The ration book ragamuffins are whisked off to the magical kingdom. Thump. They soon encounter the oppression of ruling tyrant Miraz and join forces with cute celebrity voiced talking animals. Bang. The children run into Miraz’ nephew Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), the rightful heir and heartthrob to the kingdom.
Vast battles against a stately New Zealand landscape quickly ensue.
The film has performed stoically, rather than spectacularly in the US since its release last month. But if there is a sense of tedium surrounding this title, it is not the fault of the movie which marks a significant improvement on the original in terms of plot, spectacle and characterisation. Even the monsters are impressively scary.
Unhappily for the franchise and for fantasy films everywhere, there are only so many times you can gasp at Kiwi scenery or swoon for CG hordes of mythological creatures. Prince Caspian may compensate for this familiarity with a winning sense of adventure but that may not be enough to spark the public imagination.