I don’t think I’m alone in feeling that the first Narnia instalment, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was more than a little underwhelming. Box office receipts, nonetheless, told a different story. A sequel was inevitable.
It’s a relief to say that, while not a massive improvement, Prince Caspian is a more enjoyable outing into Narnia. Everything feels a bit more urgent, and the spectacle is more spectacular. The computer effects are better, and the talky bits don’t stretch the patience quite as much.
Director Andrew Adamson claims that the leanest of all the stories proved difficult in the translation to the screen. The result is an increase in action. There is a night-time storming of a castle complete with spectacular birds-eye shots, a battle on a plain as the ground collapses below, a deadly swordfight, battling trees, and a bridge being swept away by a mighty river god.
What this impressive action masks, unfortunately, is some wooden human performances. The youngest Pevensie child, Lucy, manages to scrape though with some charm. But the other three are sanitised Dudley-Do-Rights.
There is also an unusual tone here. It strikes somewhere between appealing to an older audience (surprisingly, the film begins with a woman screaming in childbirth) and a younger audience who can’t handle the sight of blood (there isn’t any). Susan doesn’t hesitate to dispatch enemies with a bow and arrow, but suffers no lasting mental anguish that one might expect for a 16-year-old school kid.
But despite these criticisms and, given that this is an adventure aimed at children, Prince Caspian succeeds as a modestly entertaining wet weather distraction. It’s slickly produced and attractive – if a little passionless and antiseptic – but improves on its predecessor enough to create anticipation for the next instalment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
