As Crônicas de Nárnia: Príncipe Caspian

While I enjoyed the first film's story more (it was so clearly an allegory for The Atonement, The Resurrection, the Battle of Armageddon, and the Millennium), this one is better made, better written, and better acted. Plus, it has a healthy share of Christian symbolism itself, some rocking battle sequences (how this is only PG baffles me; the intensity of the action has PG-13 written all over it), and some of the best effects I've ever seen (the badger, in particular, is photo-real).

The idea that the kids actually grew up in Narnia, then returned to their world while retaining all their knowledge and maturity intrigued me (and it makes their battle skills more believable). All that said, I still didn't find myself nearly as emotionally invested or involved in this as I was with The Lord of the Rings, the standard with which it will always, perhaps unfairly, be compared. Why Narnian humans now have Italian accents is beyond me, and some of the jokes fall flat, but all in all it was very good; better than the first in terms of storytelling, character, and filmmaking. ***1/2 (out of five).

This movie isn't half as charming or eloquently magical as the first, but it engages nonetheless.

There's something about the young actors chosen to play the four major roles- Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy. They badly make you wish you were in their shoes. The film in itself is often reminiscent of LOTR, but the major difference being in a childlike simplicity this one retains.

Aslan, despite not having much of a role, manages to be the most striking character, and Lucy is as lovable as she was in the first film.

The battle scenes are brilliant, as are the landscapes. The power politics and senselessness of violence are dealt with a lot maturely in this film as compared to the first installment. At some point you realize you want at least a dozen more films revolving around these four siblings, and to be able to access Narnia for ever.

The only thing that ruins this film is this strange invasion of Hollywood-like romance as a very annoying little subplot, and the sudden intrusion of a ridiculous song at a climactic point.

Apart from that, I am pretty sure any fantasy-hound would enjoy this film a lot, and especially so if you're a big Lewis fan.

I know I am.

As a little girl, I adored the Chronicles of Narnia books, and I still do. I also liked the BBC adaptations, done in mini-series format, they weren't amazing, but they were enjoyable and stuck to the books' spirit. As far as these film versions go, I haven't yet seen Voyage of the Dawn Treader, but I enjoyed Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Prince Caspian was not a bad film, but it could have been better.

Visually, the film is very well done. I loved the cinematography, while the scenery and costumes are gorgeous. The effects are also good, and Aslan still looks brilliant. The music is beautiful too, with lovely melodies. The end credits song was nice, but I think it should have stayed as an end credits song, it didn't seem right placing it in the final scene to me. The direction is decent too, while the battle sequences are riveting, and the film did begin well.

As far as the acting goes, it wasn't bad but it wasn't amazing either. The best are Eddie Izzard who is spot on, Peter Dinklage who comes close to stealing the film with his eyes alone and Liam Neeson who lends his majestic voice to Aslan, and while her appearance is very brief Tilda Swinton is quite chilling. The four leads are good enough, and in Georgie Henley's case improved. Edmund also has potential. I had mixed feelings on Miraz though, more to how he was written than how he was acted. Sergio Castellitto does make an effort to make Miraz dark and charismatic for the villain of the piece, but the way Miraz is written and developed makes him come across as insipid. The weak link is Ben Barnes. He is handsome and has his moments, but he is rather bland on the whole.

My real problems with Prince Caspian are in the storytelling and pace mainly. The story has a tendency to become too unengaging, the more involving scenes are well done but the slower scenes are close to ponderous. The pace is rather lethargic this time round, while I don't think the film really needed to be as long as it was and the characters come across as shallow. Also particularly with Caspian and Miraz, some of the dialogue is stilted.

All in all, Prince Caspian is not a bad film, but it lacked something. I also forgot to say as an adaptation of the book it is not great, granted the book was not my favourite of the series but I felt sometimes there was a bit too much padding that could have been excised slightly. A disappointment, but on its own terms and for the visuals and music it is worth a look. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Prince Caspian expands on the battles in the book; turning them from a few pages long into 30 - 45 minute epic fights that borrowed more than a little from The Return of the King. While competently choreographed -- this is far from the cinematic epic the overreaching soundtrack wants you to believe that it is.

The movie is entertaining, but rough around the edges. The editing is poor and one scene in particular should have been removed entirely as it does nothing for the film, outside of extend its already substantial length.

Is it better than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe? That all depends on your stylistic preferences. If you're the wonderment, fairy-tale, unlimited Turkish Delight type you'll prefer the first Narnia. If you're a darker, sword and sorcery fan you'll consider Prince Caspian the better movie.

Both were worth the price of admission, but both left me feeling like they were one script doctor, soundtrack and/or director away from being the perfect fantasy movies they could have been. That said, Prince Caspian certainly warrants a bucket of popcorn and a fun Sunday afternoon at the theater with the family.

The picture is an extraordinary story with noisy adventures, marvelous fantasy , wonderful scenarios and pretty amusing . Full of action , excitement , entertainment and with an incredible battle scenes similar to ¨Lord of the Rings¨. Fun second part with rousing adventures , incredible monsters and dazzling fights . C.S. Lewis' classic is reborn in this second outing about 'The Chronicles of Narnia' when four children from war-torn England find themselves transported to a land of myth and fantasy . Return to magic , return to hope , return to Narnia . Some journeys take us far from home . Some adventures lead us to our destiny . It begins during German air raids over London in WWII . Four kids travel through underground to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it and help Prince Caspian . Lucy (George Henley) , Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) , Susan and Peter return to Narnia where they meet up with Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) for an impressive battle against dark forces . Along the way they encounter dragons , dwarfs (Peter Dinklage , Warwick Davis) , merfolk, and a band of lost warriors . A fantastic world with fauns and centaurs and where animals speaking , giant mice , beaver , bear , fox , among others . The children are the chosen ones , according an ancient prophecy, and they team up with Aslem , the mighty Lion and real king of Narnia , fighting to defeat a nasty king in an epic finale battle . Then , all of them go throughout the fantastic world and where animals speaking as a likable giant swords-rat , a bull and many others . It has been foretold that they will bring peace to Narnia with the guidance of the mystical lion . They must survive the evil treachery of an usurper king named Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) , his barons , Lord Sopespian (Damián Alcázar) , General Glozelle (Pierfrancesco Favino) and the mysterious White Witch (Tilda Swinton, she also makes a short cameo as a centaur) locked in ice who still claims to be Queen . They team up with Aslan (Liam Neeson ; ¨Aslan" means "lion" in Turkish), the mighty Lion , fighting to defeat the evil in an epic finale battle against a huge army .

This exciting movie has amazing fantasy, breathtaking adventures , groundbreaking battles and awesome FX , as the film contains over 1500 special effects shots, more than its predecessor's 800 effects shots . In this impressive production , C.S. Lewis' imagination is brought to life with top-drawer computer generator special effects . Although C.S. Lewis wrote "Prince Caspian" second, it is actually the fourth book of "The Chronicles of Narnia . This agreeable story is lavishly produced by Andrew Adamson from ¨Shrek trilogy¨ and Mark Johnson , along with C.S. Lewis' stepson and heir Douglas Gresham was co-producer on this film and its predecessor . The pic is a magic story with rip-snorting adventures , overwhelming fantasy , state-of-art FX , sensational scenarios and good feeling . Plenty of action and emotion with incredible battle scenes , thrills , actions and brief touches of humor . Provide enough amusement to keep the hands on your seat and dazzling eyes until the epic ending . In spite of overlong runtime and the difficult of adapting , the film still managing to keep a quick enough pace for those unfamiliar with the fantastic saga . Sympathetic performances for all casting and including a top-notch support cast . The film displays a colorful and evocative cinematography by Karl Walter Lindenlaub filmed on location ; although parts of the film were made in New Zealand like its predecessor, the majority of shooting took place in Czech, Slovenia and Poland because of the larger sets available . Rousing musical score fitting perfectly to the action-adventure by Harry Gregson-Williams . The motion picture was marvelously directed by Andrew Adamson , he's the director,producer, writer of ¨Shrek¨ trilogy . Adamson found a way to have the film stand on its own by adding a grand scale castle battle to the storyline, to make this film more epic and action oriented ; he made this second trip to Narnia bigger and more overblown than the first. Although this film was quite successful , it was far from the blockbuster success of the first film , as a result , Disney declined co-production on the rest of the series . Rating : Above average and worthwhile seeing , the whole family will enjoy this film . It's a very likable adventure-fantasy and enormously appealing for kids, adolescents and young men . Overall this is a really nice movie . If you are familiar with the story, then there are no real surprises, but makes up for it with overwhelming CGI animation.

This was the second installment , the first entry was the following : ¨The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe¨ (2005) by Andrew Adamson with Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie , Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie , William Moseley as Peter Pevensie , Anna Popplewell as Susan Pevensie , Tilda Swinton as White Witch , James McAvoy as Mr. Tumnus and Jim Broadbent as Professor Kirke ; the third entry was ¨The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader¨ (2010) by Michael Apted with Ben Barnes as Caspian , Will Poulter as Eustace Scrubb , Gary Sweet as Drinian , Bruce Spence , Bille Brown as Coriakin Laura Brent as Liliandil , Rachel Blakely as Gael's Mum and Nathaliel Parker as father's Caspian