Pevensie children (from left, Skandar Keynes, William Moseley, Georgie Henley and Anna Popplewell) are back in Narnia, this time joined by Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes).

disney / Murray Close

My moviegoing companion was glad she’d taken my advice and watched The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before we went to see the second film made from C.S. Lewis’s series of Narnia books — The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Otherwise, she said she’d have been as bewildered about what was happening on screen as was another friend at a preview screening who hadn’t seen the first movie or read the book.

This sequel takes place 1,000 years after the first film ended and jumps right in to its story about a wayward prince who flees his murderous uncle who wants to take over the throne, eventually arriving in the ruins of Narnia. There he’s helped by a pair of dwarves (Peter Dinklage as the more accommodating dwarf; Warwick Davis as the more suspicious one) who live in a tree trunk.

Eventually he’s joined by the four Pevensie children who arrived in Narnia in the first film by walking through the dark back of a wardrobe closet. This time a London subway tunnel becomes their portal to the fantasy world of elves and centaurs and talking animals. It’s a spectacular sequence in which the tile walls of the subway platform peel away to reveal a lovely seaside vista in a moment that’s reminiscent of Harry Potter’s magical trip to Hogwarts that begins on a railway platform.

Not the least of the bewitched talking animals is Aslan (voice by Liam Neeson), the majestic and wise lion who was a Christ-like figure in the first film. He returns in Prince Caspian near the end to impart his sage wisdom, but if you hadn’t seen the first Narnia film, you may not gauge his importance in the Narnia pantheon, nor even who exactly he is.

The film’s setup is clumsily handled and may confuse even fans of the first film, although eventually the details are sorted out.

But Prince Caspian lacks the sense of magic and wonder that filled nearly every frame of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Once the plot’s setup is accomplished, Prince Caspian turns into a series of elaborate, surprisingly violent battle sequences that run together in a blur.

Worse, there’s little characterization to pin the plot to. Apparently it is expected that filmgoers have seen the first film and know the various personality quirks of the four Pevensie children (Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, all returning from the first film) and their past history which has forged their intricate relationships. Consequently, rather than the vibrant conflicted characters of the first film, here they are rather colorless. Unfortunately, Prince Caspian is the least dashing of them all. He’s played by British actor Ben Barnes with a vaguely Antonio Banderas accent and very little charisma. He can almost always be counted on to do something dumb at a crucial moment.

The most audience-friendly character, and the one who provides most of the funny moments in Prince Caspian, is the feisty, sword-wielding mouse Reepicheep (voice by Eddie Izzard) who seems patterned after the Puss in Boots character in the Shrek movies and is just as welcome.

Otherwise, instead of characters we can care deeply about, Prince Caspian spends its energy on a series of wild adventures, few of which the audience has much of an investment in. It looks gorgeous, having been filmed in the mountains of New Zealand, with its crystal clear rivers and lovely woodland waterfalls. But director Andrew Adamson, who directed the first Narnia film and co-wrote the script for this one, has the plot race from one battle scene to the next. There’s even a breathtaking sort of Ten Commandments parting of the seas moment. But the film doesn’t pause long enough to worry about the people who are caught up in all this mayhem.

** 1/2The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Starring: Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Sergio Castellitto, Peter Dinklage, Warwick Davis.

Rated: PG, contains violence.

mjanuson@projo.com