Once again, the magical world of Narnia casts a spell on viewers, but this time with "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian," fairies and fauns have been replaced by power-hungry nobles and back-stabbing generals.
"Prince Caspian" has a much more mature tone than its predecessor, 2005's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe." Epic battles, court intrigues and an assassination attempt in the opening scene make Prince Caspian a complex, exciting film.
The movie begins in a land hardly recognizable as the Narnia of the earlier film. The cute talking animals of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" have been driven underground by the barbaric Telmarines and 1,300 years later, the tyrannical Lord Miraz rules Narnia.
With the birth of his son, Miraz attempts to assassinate the rightful heir to the Narnian throne, Prince Caspian. At the end of a thrilling chase through the Narnian woods, Caspian blows a magical horn to bring the ancient kings and queens back to Narnia.
Those kings and queens – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie – begin the movie as school children in England. While more than 1,000 years have passed in Narnia since the end of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," the children have only aged one year in their world. They have lost almost all hope of ever returning to Narnia– until Caspian blows Susan's horn, pulling them onto a Narnian beach.
The Pevensie children must band together with Caspian and a ragtag gang of Narnians to defeat Miraz and restore Narnia to its former glory.
Don't consider "Prince Caspian" to be a "Lord of the Rings" lite for elementary schoolers. With the amount of violence, and even romance in the film, the movie is definitely geared toward teenagers. The plot has enough surprises to keep jaded teens biting their nails until the climactic final battle.
"Prince Caspian" is not all fighting, gloom, and doom. Small moments of humor and playfulness brighten an otherwise dark movie. Peter Dinklage, as the cynical dwarf Trumpkin, and Eddie Izzard, as the swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep, steal any scene they are in with biting one-liners. Georgie Henley's Lucy Pevensie also projects a welcome innocence and hope in the midst of the war.
Packed full of suspense, excitement, laughter, and love, "Prince Caspian" is the perfect movie to see in order to unwind after AP tests.
Connor Carreras is a junior at Corona del Mar High School.
Read an El Dorado High student's review of "Prince Caspian."
