Besides those deeper lessons, Adamson and his visual effects crew have improved on the scale and sweep of the original, which is perhaps why the time of release was switched over to summer instead of Christmas in the first film. We can certainly see the $100 million budget particularly in the extended climax as we see the camera swoop over skies to capture large mythical birds and, in a very neat shot, slides under to show a booby trap launched by the Narnians to literally “pull” the ground down under the Telmarines. I could have, however, done without some of the slow-motion shots of the one-on-one battle between Peter and Miraz that dulls its ferocity and glamorizes it a bit too much. There is also no escaping that this film, despite its PG rating, probably has just as much swashbuckling as The Lord of the Rings, just with a less amount of blood.

The actors all do a fine job though I do wonder whether the kids will grow up by the next film as markedly as they have from the first one. I certainly hope that will not affect the future casting of young Georgie Henley who, as Lucy, really is the crucial moral center of the story and brings just the right amount of pluck to balance her bedrock values. Tilda Swinton also gets to make a brief, juicy cameo appearance as the White Witch, whose representation and context is, I think, actually slightly improved from the original book as she tries to tempt Prince Caspian into selling his soul.

It is remarkable in many ways how an explicitly Christian-themed series of books have provided such a wildly popular, accessible escapist fantasy (though the overt religious references do get progressively more implicit in the series). Part of it is a tribute to C.S. Lewis’ vivid imagination to project his values and messages to an otherworldly universe and much of it is the filmmakers’ ability to translate it without being too didactic. And with this film’s battle brought down to a more human level, more children and adults alike will identify with this battle that many loyal fans will readily recognize not so much as a metaphorical battle of David vs. Goliath but actually David vs. King Saul.

Bottom line: Well worth seeing.