"Prince Caspian": "Narnia" sequel is darker and less magical

"You might find that Narnia is a more savage place than you remember," says an embittered dwarf in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian." He's speaking to the guilt-ridden Pevensie siblings, accused by Narnians of abandoning the magical kingdom they once ruled 1,300 years before and ...

OK, whoa. Let's do a little catching up.

The Pevensie kids were introduced in 2005's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," based on the first of seven fantasy novels written by beloved author C.S. Lewis. The oldest of the children, Peter (William Moseley), led brother Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and sisters Susan (Anna Popplewell) and little Lucy (Georgie Henley) out of endangered, World War II London to a country estate.

There, the refugees discovered a passage to Narnia, a winter-locked world where a battle for control was under way.

Several fights later, the Pevensies grew up to become adult kings and queens of Narnia. Stumbling back into England, they became kids again, returned at the exact moment they'd left.

In "Prince Caspian," our now-restless young heroes, one year later in London, are called back to Narnia, where 13 centuries have passed. They learn that their disappearance all those years ago led to Narnia's fall and capture by a despotic and, oddly, Spanish-medieval warrior race.

From that race emerges young Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), running from an uncle, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). Miraz is trying to kill Caspian and steal the throne.

Caspian and the Pevensies gather Narnians — fauns, centaurs, gryphons, sword-wielding mice — from both sides of the conflict in the earlier "Wardrobe." Their numbers are few, but they go after Miraz and his overwhelming forces with everything they've got.

OK, we're caught up.

"Prince Caspian" is crackling fun, all right, but it's also a sequel burdened by the things that usually burden second films in long-term movie franchises. Which means it is mostly a series of battle sequences with scarce moments of character development.

That makes the film the exact opposite of the fuller, more emotionally satisfying "Wardrobe," in which Peter and the other Pevensies learned all about Narnia, formed relationships (there's nothing in "Caspian" like Lucy's beautiful friendship with James McAvoy's Mr. Tumnus, the faun) and came to understand their prophesied role as leaders.

There's no similar learning curve for the characters or audience in "Caspian." And, yet, we have to give the film a break. It is a link in a narrative chain, after all (the next "Narnia" movie is scheduled for 2010), and to get from here to where all this is going requires a little dues-paying.

Which is not to say "Caspian" is a bad movie. Far from it.

Director Andrew Adamson, who also helmed "Wardrobe," clearly relishes a return to Narnia with a different set of rules and tools. There's some fine filmmaking going on here, including fight scenes that somehow conjure up the 1950s-'60s era of widescreen epics like "El Cid" (that aforementioned Spanish influence pays off).

Much of the film has a deliberately prosaic, less-magical look than its predecessor, but that's because Miraz has chased a lot of the original magic away. The enchanted, winter-transitioning-to-spring exterior shots of "Wardrobe" give way to a more ordinary, sylvan environment of dappled light and fallen trees. Adamson makes it all quite handsome, in a downbeat way.

Fans who paid attention to the first movie and/or are familiar with Lewis' books know the "Narnia" series, in part, is about keeping faith when things become less familiar. "Caspian" requires a little of that faith.

Tom Keogh: tomwkeogh@yahoo.com