The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Prince Caspian, the second entry in the Chronicles of Narnia series, is a glorious medieval war movie.

Like the finest fantasy epics, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian invites us into a rich realm and, at two-plus hours, holds us there for a goodly spell.

A triumphant return trip to Narnia that for pure imagination and spectacle ought to have your heart racing even more the second time around. It’s a visually stunning film, perfect summer entertainment for any age, young or old.

The setting is darker and the adventure more grown-up as the Pevensie siblings return in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

The scenery -- mostly New Zealand -- is gorgeous, and for a change the battle scenes give a sense of tactics.

Director Andrew Adamson has scored another triumph by digging deep into the darker, more spiritually challenging direction in which C.S. Lewis took the second of his seven-book series.

One of the rare sequels to better its predecessor, although it takes a long time for the new movie to roar as loudly as its familiar lion.

Sure, it's a big-budget spectacle. But it's also the kind of grandly old-fashioned entertainment we don't get enough of anymore.

A muscular fantasy epic that marks a filmmaking improvement if not a leap in dramatic inspiration over 2005's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

You never know when somebody's going to go through an awkward stage, but these kids have only grown more photogenic with time.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is bigger, bolder, louder and (a minute) longer than its predecessor. Whether that makes it any better depends solely on what you go to the movies for.

The only standard by which The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is inferior to its predecessor, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, is in its story.

I was shocked to see Caspian has a PG rating, but I guess a decapitation, not to mention extensive battlefield sequences, are all fun and games if portrayed bloodlessly.

Another classic saga of deeds dastardly and swashes buckled, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian doesn't quite equal the first film.

This vivid and gorgeously mounted screen adaptation of Caspian's tale should satisfy the cravings of most adventure-fantasy aficionados as well as the Narnia faithful.

While the more mature actors and creatures and CGI effects tend to upstage the younger performers, nothing could be sweeter than Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie, the youngest sibling, whose poise and pluck carry the day.

Prince Caspian sets the stage for the next Narnia adaptation, but it feels complete -- not as if someone hit the pause button, as with The Golden Compass.

If you and your children enjoyed your first visit to Narnia, you'll be satisfied by the second trip.

Director Andrew Adamson, who also helmed Wardrobe, clearly relishes a return to Narnia with a different set of rules and tools.

The ambitious sequel to 2005's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is bigger, brasher, more magical and funnier than the first.

If Caspian has a fault, it's that viewers familiar with neither the books nor the first film may have trouble picking up the strands of the story in the early scenes.

Fans of the first Narnia surely will enjoy this sequel, which is better made and more of an epic than 2005's first installment of Chronicles of Narnia.

While the character seems to have escaped from one of Adamson’s bloated Shrek films, Izzard gives his fellow actors a lesson in making every second of screen time count.

Much more so than its predecessor, Prince Caspian is an action film -- too much of an action film.

This action-packed sequel is bigger and better than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Darker and more brooding than the original, this is the rare fantasy sequel that out-performs its predecessor.

In this sequel, magic still reigns but suspending disbelief doesn't come as easily.

Settling in nicely alongside all the early summer blockbusters, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian offers kids and adults an entertaining escape into the world of C.S. Lewis' books.

Prince Caspian is practically one long battle scene after another -- the better to fill out its way-long two-and-a-half-hour running time.

Prince Caspian has enough solid strengths to be worth your time, young or old.

Those who fell under the spell of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe undoubtedly will be pleased to join the Pevensie siblings' return trek to Narnia. Even if it's not as memorable a trip the second time around.

The real reason Prince Caspian is darker than 2005's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is that it leans so much more heavily on medieval hardware than mysticism. What's changed is the ratio of combat to enchantment.

The magical creatures and sprawling battles have been beautifully produced and shot, and the thunderous final conflict shakes the Earth.

It definitely benefits by being a sequel. That allows the film to dispense with the set-up sequences and character and concept introductions that sometimes dragged the first movie to a halt.

The world of Narnia should offer more than eye candy.

Like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the movie is just good enough to enthrall children and many of their parents, but Adamson isn't enough of an artist to give the straightforward story real magic.

The battle scenes are solid, filling the screen with rampaging rodents and mythological beasts.

Even when this film works, it still feels like all the important decisions, including the acting ones, were agreed upon months in advance of shooting.

The sequel is livelier, with more action heat in it than The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

Battles rage and rage and rage some more in the sequel to the once-magical Chronicles of Narnia fantasy franchise. The wide-eyed wonder of discovery, though, has taken a hike.

Will deeply satisfy the young fans of the original work based on C.S. Lewis’ series of books.

The running time of Prince Caspian is about the same as the original film. It just feels far longer.

Adamson's pulled a more morally nuanced rabbit (or badger, actually) out of his directorial hat this time out and the result is a far more engrossing film than its predecessor.

Prince Caspian's continued attempts at cute, talking animal moments just doesn't jive with the film's more ominous tone.

The creatures remain beautifully designed and Narnia still looks like a colorful, inviting place, but it feels as lifeless as the fantastical anyworlds found on glittery unicorn posters.

Bound to attract most moviegoers who enjoyed the earlier film but should satisfy only those with a taste for really long battle sequences.

The second Narnia book to reach the screen, Prince Caspian, is roughly the same as the first in terms of quality and style.

It has all the same amicable elements that helped make the initial journey to Narnia superficially satisfying.

The truth is if you liked the first Narnia film, you'll probably like the second Narnia film.

On paper this seems like fantasy; on screen with the same weak cast and less magic than the last time, it just seems like a crock.

The film’s setup is clumsily handled and may confuse even fans of the first film, although eventually the details are sorted out.

It's like a symphony consisting of nothing but booming crescendos.

With the possible exception of Cronenberg’s The Brood, I’ve never seen a film so filled with children murdering people as The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Prince Caspian feels dumbed-down and overly slick, like a movie that's been manufactured in a science lab.

The kid actors are still bland in the extreme. The direction is pedestrian to the point of "Why did they hire the guy who made Shrek to shoot this?"

Chaotic even when not focusing on open-field skirmishes, it's a jumble of sub-Lord of the Rings sweeping cinematography, herky-jerky editing and bickering, pouting protagonists with underdeveloped emotions and impulses.

A rousing battle climaxes The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Then, there's another battle, then another and another.

Things happen that might have meaning if you've read the books, but otherwise you'll wonder what the fuss is all about. But the special effects are good.

It hardly seems possible. The same people who made The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe into one of the best films of 2005 have turned around and made one of this year's biggest disappointments.