Movie Review: 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian'

Much has changed since the cupboard quietly creaked open for 2005's rather wooden The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. As well as the notable absence of the teak-stained gateway to Narnia, the Pevensie children are this time summoned back to a very different world from the faun-filled landscape of Andrew Adamson's original.

The good news though is that Prince Caspian slashes away the memory of that successful yet bland start by dropping the religious allegories, darkening the tone (something of a prerequisite for sequels to kids' films these days) and upping the comedy and acting chops.

Stepping to the forefront is newcomer Ben Barnes as Caspian, who exudes the required good looks of a would-be king even as he struggles with a faux-Spanish accent. He is, however, a square jawed fulcrum on which to hang the film's admittedly slight plot. Set around 1,000 years after Wardrobe in a world in which all Narnians have been driven away by the militaristic Telmarines, they go into hiding and await the return of their monarchs from the land of Finchley.

Barnes is aided by a much improved quartet of kids who have matured in the intervening years. Both Anna Popplewell and William Moseley were barely passable first time out but have developed beyond their dumbfounded looks and "stick up the back" pronunciations to achieve an acceptable level of acting prowess. Skandar Keynes' Edmund also has more to do than scowl this time round and his rapport with Wardrobe's shining light Henley provides the only believable relationship in the film (James McAvoy's Tumnus is sorely missed).

It's down to the non-human – and for that read CGI, or caked in make-up – to supply Caspian with its real pulse. Peter Dinklage is fantastic as grumpy dwarf Trumpkin. Perhaps a little clichéd as far as dwarfs go, his addition dilutes the overtly serious dialogue spouted by the young actors and raises a smile on each occasion. Add to the menagerie Eddie Izzard's feisty turn as swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep, a rodent who would need more than a lump of cheese and wire frame to bring him down, and you have the light-heartedness missing from the over-earnest original.

The quality control improvement also applies to Adamson's direction with the blinding palette of the first film replaced with the weather worn look of a slightly grim alternate world. It's the sign of a film-maker much more comfortable with the huge set-pieces and borderless canvas that Lewis's imagination provides.

What the movie does lack however is a real sense of threat, not just because of the bloodless harmlessness of the choreographed battles but mainly thanks to the absence of a real villain. Gone is Tilda Swinton's perfectly cast and performed White Witch only to be replaced with King Miraz, a political tyrant whose cowardice means he barely rises above pantomime villain.

A step in the right direction before Michael Apted takes us on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 2010, Prince Caspian is enjoyable enough to make that a journey worth anticipating.

Three stars