KIDS do grow up fast: Since the last time we saw the quartet from Narnia, they’ve aged 1,300 years.
Another classic saga of deeds dastardly and swashes buckled, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” doesn’t quite equal the first film, but some may find this one a less-insistent piece of pure entertainment because it isn’t so overtly Christian. (A disclaimer: I’m on friendly terms with this film’s producer Mark Johnson, who also produced the TV series based on my novel “Love Monkey.”)
“Narnia 2” has a bleak “Empire Strikes Back”-ish aura, with leaders making poor decisions that cause heavy losses, rebels in hiding and a psychological wrestling match inside a Jungian cave. In place of jolly Mr. Tumnus from the first film, the guide this time is a dour red-bearded dwarf (Peter Dinklage) who warns, “You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember.” Cuteness is tightly rationed, with only a feisty sword-fighting mouse on hand to provide much in the way of comic relief.
The four kids from the first movie are now fully licensed kings and queens of Narnia. But they are still stuck in wartime London, trudging around a train station in their school uniforms. Any hopes that they’ll be getting in a rumble with the Hogwarts gang are dashed, though, when the station abruptly turns into Narnia, where they discover 1,300 years have passed while they were away for one year in earth time.Things are not well: The lion king Aslan is nowhere in sight, his good works lie in ruins and all of the magical creatures he once championed have been driven into near-extinction by the ruling tribe of vicious humans called the Telmarines. They speak in Italian accents and rock a conquistador look to produce an amusing anti-Mediterranean effect.With the king of the Telmarines dead, his brother takes over. The new despot, who will soon crown himself King Miraz, orders a hit squad to take out his nephew, the proper heir to the throne, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes of “The History Boys”).
Instead, Caspian escapes, chased by troops who hadn’t reckoned on the battle readiness of, for instance, a resourceful badger and a rapier-wielding mouse. When he joins forces with the four kids, there arises a dilemma: Should they hunker down and set a trap for their attackers or launch a daring aerial raid on the enemy castle? And what should they make of young Lucy’s claim that Aslan is around somewhere?The themes lack the heft of the first movie – there’s nothing here with the mythic force of Aslan’s Christ-like death and rebirth, or of young Edmund’s character gradually subsiding into evil. (A cave battle with inner demons is brief and seemingly tossed in.) There’s also a villain deficit: The wicked king is a retro figure, a nefarious Italian who could have been played by Basil Rathbone or Claude Rains. He has neither the supernatural pull nor the fashion panache of the unnerving White Witch.But “Narnia 2” is as splendid a military movie as “Patton.” The C.S. Lewis book on which it is based is said to have been inspired by Mars, the god of war. Director Andrew Adamson brilliantly assembles the battle scenes, complicating the action with the medieval equivalents of tank traps and airborne assaults behind enemy lines.
Adamson also has the confidence to know when to slow things down to savor the majesty of a gauzy vision of Aslan in the forest or the pride of the four siblings marching beneath the upraised swords of their honor guard. It’s the kind of movie where no one has to be hip or apologize for language like, “Stay your blade.” In their refusal to be up-to-the-moment, the Narnia movies are bound to age beautifully, perhaps much more so than the two Shrek films Adamson directed. When he stages a display of fireworks over a castle, it isn’t a smarmy allusion meant to get a laugh but a pleasing reminder of the Disney canon, in which this film takes its rightful place.