THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN [PG]

Just as the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back, was downbeat and dark, so is Prince Caspian, the sequel to 2005’s The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The joy of discovery and sense of wonder from the first film give way to story and character development, and perhaps a bit too much of the first, reminding us a bit too much of the dry political machinations of the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace. Here, though, all the silly talking creatures are endearing, and mee-sa no want-sa roast-a any of them on a spit like I did that asinine, decerebrated Stepin Fetchit, Jar-Jar Binks.

While the war-weary Pevensie children — Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy — have only seen a year pass in London since leaving Narnia through the magical wardrobe, 13 centuries have passed for their beloved kingdom. The once bountiful land now appears to be a deserted ruin when the desperate remnants of its proud people summon forth the four royal saviors. They learn that it is ruled by a cruel despot, King Miraz, whom they also learn murdered the rightful king, Caspian IX and caused the rightful heir, Caspian X, to flee and be presumed dead. They realize they must band together, rally what’s left of the Talking Beasts and rid the land of Miraz and his brutal Telmarines.

The movie’s greatest strength — its methodical plotting not only of story against the characters, but the characters against the characters — is also its greatest weakness. The film comes in close to two-and-a-half hours, and because its villain, Miraz (Italian veteran Sergio Castellitto), doesn’t quite register as being all that bad (at least in an epic way like Tilda Swinton did as the White Witch in the first one), the pacing suffers slightly. However, this one character, who bears enough of a resemblance in tone and visage to Christopher Guest’s Count Rugen in The Princess Bride that you almost expect Caspian to say to him, “My name is Prince Caspian the Tenth; you killed my father - prepare to die!” is more than made up for by a great cast of humans and Talking Beasts alike.

The kids may be aging quicker than the Harry Potter gang, but each is coming into their own. William Moseley plays Peter with the strength befitting of the senior king, while Skandar Keynes manages well as the Edmund, who tacitly accepts his place in his brother’s shadow. Anna Popplewell is the kind of combination of cute and sexy that Emma Watson as Hermoine was around the fourth “Harry Potter” movie (and why the hell doesn’t her quiver ever run out of arrows?), and Georgie Henley as Lucy gets to stand out by stepping away from the hard battles that her three sibs always seem to be fighting and focusing on the story’s underlying issues of faith.

Trumping them all, though, is a very strong turn by the dashing Ben Barnes (Stardust) as Caspian. He’s shares well the spotlight, and is convincing and unknown enough to pull off Spanish, a liberty that returning screenwriters Stephen Markus and Christopher McFeely take with the swarthy Telmarine race. They suggest that pioneers were granted passage from Narnia to our world by the omniscent Christ-in-lion’s-clothing, Aslan (voiced again with appropriate majesty by Liam Neeson). Considering that costumes resembling Conquistadors are more familiar to audiences than ancient French regalia (which would have made more sense, considering the long-standing bad blood between Brits/Narnians and the Gauls/Telmarines), it was a smart and iconic production choice.

Unlike in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (written by Narnia author C.S. Lewis’s old school chum J.R.R. Tolkien), the little people in Prince Caspian are played by actual little people. Character actor Peter Dinklage (Underdog) is fantastic as Trumpkin, the dwarf who proves his courage by fighting alongside Caspian and his defenders. Warwick Davis, who played the Lewis-like/Tolkienesque lead in Ron Howard’s George Lucas-scripted Willow two decades ago (not to mention his many Star Wars roles), is a fine contrast as the less noble Nikabrik, whose name is so silly that you’d think that George Lucas actually somehow had a part in naming him.

Commendably, a lot more of the creatures in this outing are a combination of great make-up, old-school puppetry and smart editing, but one all-CGI character is also the warmest. After two or three minutes of playing “Who The Hell Is That Voice?”, you’ll probably realize (shortly before slapping yourself in the forehead), that the words of the valiant mouse Reepicheep are provided by the fabulous Eddie Izzard. He’s deeper than Puss In Boots from Shrek 2, and almost as sweet as the boy rodent from Stuart Little. And because of the PG rating, parents don’t have to worry about him getting tangental and terse like he does on “The Riches.” And while empty CGI effects are easy to knock, the night raid on the Telmarine castle by all manner of mythical air and land beasts is remarkable.

Is it as good as the adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe? Not quite. Its somber tone, near-total lack of (Oscar winner!) Tilda Swinton preening in jaw-dropping gowns and Shakespearean plotting do make for a look or two at the wristwatch. It is entertaining? It sure is. And occasionally inspiring. And not afraid to irk the purists by not slavishly adapting the book page-by-page. And hey — “Whatever gets the kids to read C.S. Lewis,” right? And with the Caspian-heavy The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader on tap for 2010, there will be a lot more Narnia book sets given as gifts and lovingly read in the mean time.••• –Robert Newton