Finally, and as a natural corollary to Hollywood action film quipitis, we see the kids plunge into battle against adults and never seriously get injured. The two boys act like superheroes, and Susan shows she is an expert bowman as she plucks off dozens of men on horses, while never getting hit by their weapons. She even kicks the asses of much larger opponents. All of these flaws take Prince Caspian down to the Lowest Common Denominator formulaic level of the relentless Dumbest Possible Action plot devices of the LOTR series.
Naturally, this film suffers from many of the same ills the second film in that series, The Two Towers, suffered from. Prince Caspian is just so predictable. I knew whenever a creature would surprise a character, whenever a heroic action would come, the sort of quip one of the kids would make, exactly what the villains would do, and why. This is entertainment for children? Well, it should be said that the film was released in concert with a video game, and that is what this film was — one long, 137-minute video game, nothing more. Yes, there are well constructed action scenes, and cute animals and dwarves that speak with Postmodern irony, and there are some mythic elements that can be studied a bit more in depth than the King Arthurian Lite that comprises the LOTR series, but that just makes the film a passable diversion, whereas the first film augured that the series could be something truly special.
The film's weaknesses, naturally, have to be laid at the feet of director Andrew Adamson, and the screenplay by Adamson, Christopher Markus, and Stephen McFeely. The basic plot is this: after the aforementioned birth and escape of Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) - although we only learn some of this later - he summons the four children back to Narnia via a horn. Peter has been roughhousing in the London subway, and Susan has been avoiding a nerdy boy with glasses. All four long to return to Narnia. Just as they do, the subway disappears, and they are back in Narnia, at a beach with ruins. We only find out much later that 1300 years have passed in the single year since their first trip.
This assumption of things, again (and often within the script, by the characters) is a sure sign of a failed screenplay. It turns out that the Narnian magical beasts have been driven to near extinction by a group of humans who invaded Narnia — the Telmarines (descendants of Pirates who entered Narnia by accident; we learn this only much later, of course). They are ruled over by a usurper to the Telmarine/Narnian throne, Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), uncle to Caspian, who murdered his brother and Caspian's father, to ascend to power. The children basically join forces with Caspian's Narnian legions, who bizarrely take to swearing loyalty to him in record time, and without real motivation, and Peter and Caspian dickwave a bit. Battles are fought, the Ice Witch tries to seduce Peter and Caspian, until Edmund ends that with Postmodern cool.
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