With bigger battles and scarier monsters than its predecessor, the new movie flaunts grander visual effects, and, with one notable exception, a dash more individuality than the initial installment. Thanks are due to supporting appearances by a diminutive Narnian named Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage, whose eyes have to do all the work underneath those flowing whiskers and latex wrinkles) and a fearless feather-sporting mouse named Reepicheep (voiced by Eddie Izzard with flair, and without overacting).
The keepers of the franchise should also be delighted that the actors playing the Pevensie children have aged so gracefully over the last three years, or 1,300, depending on how you're counting. You never know when somebody's going to go through an awkward stage, but these kids have only grown more photogenic with time.
As for the other visual effects: While most of the CGI in "Wardrobe" was passable, some dialog scenes with the children displayed what looked like surprisingly sloppy green-screen work, especially for such a mega-production. (Hasty re-shoots, perhaps?) This time, the great lion Aslan (voiced deeply but rather blandly by Liam Neeson) is still too much of a cuddly plush toy from the vanished kingdom of F.A.O. Schwartz, but some of the other sights are thrilling, notably a floody encounter with Poseidon/Neptune, and some mobile trees that could make Birnam Wood come to Dunsinane in a jiffy. These are no doubt highly sophisticated technical and artistic achievements, but they retain some of the simplicity and charm of Ray Harryhausen's pioneering stop-motion creations.
If you've read the novels (I haven't), you already know that your favorite characters from the first movie, like Mr. Tumnus the Faun and Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, will not be returning. "Prince Caspian" takes place centuries after the vanquishing of the titular witch in part one. As part two begins, the persecuted Narnian diaspora has been driven deep into the woods, and allegedly to the brink of extinction, by usurper Telmarine King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto).
It is never quite clear, though, who exactly the Narnians are. They're definitely not a species or a race because they include leopards, badgers, dwarves (they're called "dwarves" in the credits, not "little people"), giants, rhinoceroses, unicorns and mice (many of whom are conversant in English) -- but not, as you may recall from the first film, tigers, wolves, cyclopses, miniature Huns or two-legged yaks, all of whom are unaccountably but virulently anti-Narnian.
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