The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is the second film based on the classic fantasy series by C.S. Lewis, the good friend of J.R.R. Tolkien. As was the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian is one part fantasy adventure one part Christian allegory.

The story starts not in Narnia, the magical kingdom of talking animals and mythical creatures, but in a nearby realm. Prince Caspian, who is suddenly become an inconvenience to his evil Uncle's royal ambitions, is forced to flee for his life into Narnia, pursued by armed men. In his last extremis he blows on a magic horn to summon the legendary lost Kings and Queens of Narnia.

Meanwhile, in 1940s London, the very same lost monarchs, Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy are waiting for the next train in the underground. Instead they are transported back to the magical land of Narnia, where just a year ago they were ruling monarchs, having saved the kingdom from the misrule of the evil White Witch.

The problem is, though, while it has just been a year for the Pevensie children, it has been thirteen hundred years for Narnia and the place is a little worse for wear. Since their abrupt departure, Prince Caspian's kingdom has pretty much ravaged Narnia with fire and sword so that the land has become more legend than history. The magnificent palace from which Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy ruled is a ruin.

So the legendary Kings and Queens of Narnia must find Prince Caspian, who is now in the hands of a dwarf, a badger, and a swashbuckling mouse, somehow restore him to the throne and also restore Narnia to its former glory. Aslan, the divine Lion, will make an appearance, of course, to lend a hand at a critical moment.

For those interested in allegory, which will most likely be the adults taking the kids to see this film, there will be material aplenty. Whereas The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was clearly a retelling of the birth of Christianity, Prince Caspian tells the story of the restoration of faith, virtue, chivalry, and honor to a land that had lost all of those things.