.: Roberts' Reviews - Movie Reviews :.

Although C.S. Lewis wrote "Prince Caspian" second, it is the fourth book if the series is read in chronological order.

Third out of the summer blockbuster gate is The Chronicles of Narnia : Prince Caspian, a sequel to the highly successful C.S. Lewis The Chronicles of Narnia : The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that burst into theatres in 2005 and went on to gross over $700 million worldwide in box office receipts.

The first film was even a bigger hit that Disney had expected and it wasn't much past Wardrobe's almost $60 million opening week-end box office take that they were fast tracking their version of a Lord of the Rings Franchise with the second instalment, Prince Caspian.

Prince Caspian returns us quickly to familiar territory. The film opens in a dark and unrecognizable Narnia, where a baby is born in a scene that just felt a bit uncomfortable in a theatre house filled with 6-8 year-olds. We soon learn that the baby will be the rightful heir to the throne if Prince Caspian (his cousin) were to say, be killed. Thus a plot develops where Caspian's life is in danger and he flees to the forests of Narnia to hide from his hunters. It is there that he meets the trolls Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and Nikabrik and in haste blows on a horn that has the magical powers of bringing the Kings and Queens of old back to assist.

Cue Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan who were back to their ordinary lives in war torn London. Awaiting a train at the local metro when the horn is sounded, they find themselves instantly transported back to Narnia. A lot has changed since the Pevensie's were last in the mythical land. Most notably is the fact that a thousand years have passed since they left, and Narnia has reverted again to having the talking creatures of the forest seeking refuge from the evil King Miraz.

The plot from this point forward could have been written on the back of a bar coaster. The Pevensie's team up with the creatures of Narnia and with Prince Caspian to help in defeating the evil King and allowing Caspian to accept his right to the throne all the while doing so without the immediate help of the Jesus-like Aslan (voiced again by Liam Nesson). All that stands in their way is about $100 million worth of special CGI effects and one or two battle scenes that were done with much more style in the original.

Prince Caspian ends up an inferior addition to the original The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. But then again, so was the book, so on that line, everything is exactly as C.S. Lewis would have envisioned. TCON:Prince Caspian just lacks any awe inspiring wonder that the first instalment provided so effortlessly. It is a darker film - both in content and in the picture that was hard to make out at times - and did nothing to create any excitement over the third entry, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader expected in theatres in 2010.

Quite simply, Prince Caspian offers nothing new to those that saw the first and was predictable even to those that have not scanned the pages of the C.S. Lewis book (second written, but fourth if read in timeline order). Although the characters are now older, they offer nothing new in terms of development in the thousand years they have been gone. Peter is still the pig-headed but strong leader. Edmund is no longer a threat to the family (unless you entrust him with a flashlight) and Lucy and Susan are simply on screen to say things well beyond their years.

The special efforts are good yet yawn-inducing as we saw water come to life and trees attack in battle before (Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers). The humour is extremely mismatched with its source material. Coming largely from the mouth from Trumpkin, the humour is dark, unfunny and feels like it should be in another film entirely.

Kept in check is the religious overtones that the first film splashed in our faces, but there is no escaping the Aslan as Jesus factors and that all must have faith in a character they cannot see until the end of the picture. Religious groups will still be happy with the overall message of Prince Caspian, that is, if they can look past the violence.

Violence and religion have always gone hand in hand, but Prince Caspian takes it up a notch. It has to be the most violent film that Disney has ever thrown their logo on even if all the killings don't result in one drop of blood on screen (count how many times Peter kills someone with his sword and meanwhile its blade looks as new as a finely polished tea set and you might just run out of fingers and toes).

Yet with all the violence, I could tell that I was not alone in my boredom of spectacle. The entire audience seemed numb and quiet throughout the screening and walk through the theatre lobby at its conclusion was not generating any talk of the film we all just invested two hours of our time to preview.

Sequels are always tough. You have to take the same characters people fell in love with, put them in new peril and then add a larger budget so that we see them in situations that would have been over the top had it been integrated into the initial film. But Prince Caspian just plods along to an ending that was definitely not fit for a king.