‘Prince Caspian’ a superior successor

“You might find Narnia a more savage place than you remember,” an ally warns our sibling foursome just after little Lucy (Georgie Henley) is
nearly turned into a button-nosed, bucktoothed snack by a hungry bear. More savage? I guess! If it's not the kid-mauling bears, it's the eye-impaling, saber-wielding mice. Or the simulated beheadings. Or the brooding layers of Shakespearean intrigue.

Granted, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” isn't exactly “Braveheart” in the explicit carnage department, but it's darker and, yes, more savage than its 2005 predecessor, and generally superior as a piece of Judeo-Christian-tinted fantasy escapism.

A year has passed for the Pevensie siblings since the events in the first C.S. Lewis-penned “Narnia” installment; the kids are now back in World War II-era England, and struggling silently with their nonroyal, nonmagical lives.

The eldest, Peter (William Moseley), has developed a nasty streak of hauteur. Kid brother Edmund (Skandar Keynes) routinely overcompensates for his betrayal in the first movie. Big sis Susan (Anna Popplewell) is withdrawn and weary. And Lucy ... well, Lucy's fine. The true believer. With no forewarning – WHOOSH! – the sibs are transported back to Narnia and its stunning, sun-drenched coastline (New Zealand, actually). But this isn't the thriving talking-animal kingdom they remember; it's an abandoned husk, a heap of stones weathered by 1,000 years of neglect. In this Narnia, the Pevensies are mere legends.

So why are they here? The short answer: To help one Prince Caspian (Orlando Bloom-ish newcomer Ben Barnes) depose his sinister, fratricidal uncle (Sergio Castellitto, as the movie's Claudius) and regain his rightful place atop the throne.

Caspian has joined forces with the persecuted remnants of old Narnia – a motley collection of centaurs, dwarves, intelligent badgers, etc. – and has promised to make amends for the genocidal crimes of his people, a swarthy Iberian race called the Telemarines.

Yes, the two battle scenes that follow are totally epic (with its killer mice, talking leopards and thin, pale children, the Narnian army is like some mushroom-trip clearinghouse of British literature, minus Sherlock Holmes). But is it wrong to also get a kick out of Lewis' loopy Holy Land analogies, left gamely intact by director Andrew Adamson and two co-screenwriters?

When a comrade tells Caspian that he could be a marvelous “contradiction” – i.e. a Telemarine who fights for Narnia and the godlike lion Aslan – all I could think of was “Jews for Jesus.” In this fantasy sequel, at least, the quasi-religious apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

“The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian”
Stars: Ben Barnes, William Moseley, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Anna Popplewell
Behind the scenes: Directed by Andrew Adamson, from a script by Adamson, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely
Rated: PG (epic battle action and violence)
Running time: 2 hours, 27 minutes
Grade: B