The Return of the Kings and the Queens and a Great Story is Told

    In the second installment, "Prince Caspian," of C. S. Lewis 7 book series "The Chronicles of Narnia," the four Pevensie siblings return to Narnia as the rightful Kings and Queens of Narnia to save their ancestral land from the ravages of an ambitious and ruthless King. The aforementioned King Miraz, portrayed by Italian actor / director Sergio Castellitto, rules the adjoining land of Telmar and wishes to annex Narnia for his future expansion of his kingdom.

    It had been 1,300 years since the Prevensie siblings left Narnia to inter-dimensionally return to England to return to their alter lives as children (now preadolescent and adolescent respectively). Prince Caspian, under duress, blows Queen Susan's horn, that performs the rare function of summoning the Prevensie children from wartime (WW II) London, and herein, after their spending one year returned to England, begins the tale of the second installment.

    In the first installment, we are treated to a fine story, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," depicting the Prevensie children; Peter, the eldest, Susan, the eldest girl, Edmund and Lucy, the youngest, discovering Narnia through the rear of the wardrobe in a vacant bedroom in a "safe home" in the English countryside. They were exposed to anthropomorphic animals as well as regular animals and all of them spoke nearly perfect English.

    Initially in the "Prince Caspian" installment many of the animals (anthropomorphic and otherwise) have lost the ability to speak. Obviously, a bleak picture is painted of Narnia and the children are not remembered by their dispirited subjects as the children Kings and Queens, but as the legendary Kings and Queens that were larger than life. What transpires from their introduction into the second installment of "Narmia" is a story that excels at many levels of consciousness, but most especially it expresses a tale of hope lending inspiration to those deserving creatures that must overcome desperate times.

    These "Chronicle of Narnia" films must be taken as a whole, irrespective of the fact that one may be favored over the other. I believe that C. S. Lewis was such a deep thinker and a good communicator that his multileveled and multilayered messages should be well delivered, however washed by film, to those who are willing to receive.

    The acting was capable and energetic and did nothing to dissuade the viewer from the message.

    The children - even though only one year has passed in London time - in actor time they have grown considerably taller and physically much more robust. The Narnia royalty: William Moseley as Peter and the High King, Anna Popplewell as Susan and the Queen, Skandar Keynes as Edmund and the low King and Georgie Henley as Lucy and the second Queen were even more convincing, though much less cherubic, in the second installment. Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin the dwarf was impressive, and Liam Neeson reprises his role as the voice of Aslan as does Tilda Swinton as the White Witch.

    The computer graphics were outstanding and a distinct, memorable component in the delivery of the story, that is well paced by the direction of Andrew Adamson. My children were entertained and we all easily stayed focused at 144 minutes of runtime. A truly well rounded performance and an admirable story properly told - 3 1/2 stars.

    Released on DVD December 2, 2008. Rated PG.