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Darker than the original NARNIA adventure, this new tale brings the original young foursome back to Narnia, a land that is now unrecognizable from the world they once ruled. Writer/director Andrew Adamson, along with fellow writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, stay faithful to C.S. Lewis’ original text, giving fans a faithful screen adaptation just like THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. With more battles, the epic scale is heightened, but this doesn’t mean there are not any new internal battles for the original characters, which are the most intriguing parts of the second installment in the series.

Centuries after the Pevensie siblings left Narnia to return to England, the magic realm has been taken over by the Telmarines, who have forced the Narnians to live in secret in the woods. Prince Caspian the X (Ben Barnes, STARDUST) is the rightful heir to the throne, but his scheming uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto, ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES) has his eyes on ruling the kingdom. Caspian flees for his life into the forest, where a scuffle with Miraz’s men results in dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage, THE STATION AGENT) being taken prisoner and Caspian taken in by dwarf Nikabrik (Warwick Davis, WILLOW) and talking badger Trufflehunter (Ken Scott, CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR). During the fight, Caspian uses an ancient horn, which summons former kings and queens Peter (William Moseley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) back to Narnia.

Once the Pevensie children are reunited with the Narnians, Peter becomes arrogant, trying to show his power over the rookie ruler Caspian. He is the first to disregard Lucy’s claims that she has seen the magical lion Aslan (voiced by Liam Neeson) in the woods. Peter decides to rally the Narnia troupes, including Minotaur Glenstorm (Cornell John, KAENA) and swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep (Eddie Izzard, OCEAN’S TWELVE), to steal weapons and attack the castle at night. Miraz’s iron hold on power begins to worry Lord Glozelle (Pierfrancesco Favino, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM).

The struggle between Peter and Caspian to prove their worth is the most interesting element of this new tale. While Caspian is a fairly bland character and Barnes’ performance is less than captivating, Moseley brings a dark edge to Peter that is different from his performance in the first film. He emerges as an interesting mix between teenage angst and bitterness, brought on by once ruling a mighty kingdom and then forced to live as a child again back in the real world. Popplewell’s Susan also deals with issues of growing older and leaving behind the magic of Narnia, while Lucy faithfully retains her optimism. While he’s often shoved to the sides, Peter has same nice moments, proving that he has matured from the first film. Standouts in the new characters include Dinklage’s grumpy dwarf and Izzard’s mighty mouse. The funniest moment comes when Reepicheep and his fellow mice encounter a cat during their siege on the castle.

While the effects where great in the original NARNIA, they’re only better in the sequel. Trufflehunter is an amazing CG creation, which I wish had a bigger role like the Beavers in the first film. Adamson proves again that he can forge wonderful battles, especially the closing fight. While there are structural problems to the story, one cannot blame the filmmakers for problems with the source material. The ending turns out to be anticlimactic, but there is enough spectacle that the viewer can just sit back and enjoy the eye candy. Adamson has done the best that can be done to bring the two NARNIA stories, featuring the four Pevensie kids, to the screen. For the DAWN TREADER, we get Michael Apted as the director, so we will have to wait to see if the series holds up under new leadership. As it stands, C.S. Lewis’ epic tales have been brought to the screen with respect and wonder.

Trivia Note… Warwick Davis, who plays dark dwarf Nikabrik, isn’t a rookie to the world of Narnia — he gave a wonderful performance as Reepicheep in the BBC version of THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER.