Apart from a fantastic
world filled with magical creatures, little about C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles
Of Narnia
series lends itself easily to film adaptations. His books are rich in
kid-entrancing detail, but the action doesn't exactly burst off the page. Then
there's the matter of translating the Christian themes without turning the
stories into sermons. Still, Shrek co-director Andrew Adamson took a decent pass at The
Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, staying largely true to Lewis while keeping the
film light on its feet. He pumped up the Lord Of The Rings-style action to beyond-Lewisian
proportions, but that's the movie business.
Lion also benefited from the
awe of the new, introducing the otherworldly kingdom of Narnia and the
soul-jeopardizing morality plays that go hand-in-hand with its talking animals. Prince Caspian,
the second book in the series (by publication date, not Narnian chronology)
proves a tougher trick to pull off. Escaping from war-torn London, the four
Pevensie children return to Narnia to find it devastated by an evil king and
seemingly abandoned by Aslan, the messianic lion with Liam Neeson's voice. Slowly—oh,
so slowly—they join forces with the fugitive Prince Caspian (stiff
newcomer Ben Barnes), who's destined to stir the Narnians into rebellion against
his oppressive uncle (Sergio Castellitto).
"You may find Narnia a
more savage place than you remember," Peter Dinklage's badass dwarf Trumpkin
tells the kids. He's both right and wrong. Adamson's sequel is darker yet tamer
than its predecessor. The film keeps some of Lewis' tough themes—the
sacrilegious nature of totalitarianism, the difficulty of maintaining faith
even with the apparent absence of God—but they stay safely at arm's
length. Apart from one effective scene, the film lacks a villain as compelling
as Tilda Swinton's White Witch, and the kids' performances, ranging from bland
to milquetoast, don't help either. Nor does Adamson's reliance on endless busy,
bloodless battle scenes. Never has war seemed so wholesome.
Ultimately, however, it's
an absence of personality that does the film in. The creatures remain
beautifully designed and Narnia still looks like a colorful, inviting place,
but it feels as lifeless as the fantastical anyworlds found on glittery unicorn
posters. The series doesn't get any easier to adapt from here. Unless the Narnia makers do a Harry
Potter-style
reassessment of how they approach the material, the next few years don't look
so promising.