How would you like to be ruling a kingdom one day and go back to being a regular school kid the next? Would pretty much suck, right? That's the way the Pevensie siblings feel after returning to England from their first Narnian adventure.

Here's the haps: The Pevensies; Lucy (Georgie Henley), older sis Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Peter (William Moseley) are back in school in our mundane world after ruling Narnia for years. When Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes), having no real idea what he's doing, blows Susan's horn, the gang makes a sudden re-entry into Narnia through a subway station (shades of Harry Potter?). Seems that Caspian, the legal heir to the throne of his Telmarine people, has been deposed by his evil uncle Miraz (Sergio Castellitto) who is out to kill him and he needs all the help he can get!

Reclaiming their rightful places in Narnia isn't so easy for the Pevensies since it is 1,300 years later and the few remaining Narnians think of them as only ancient legend. With the aid of centaurs, forest creatures, feisty mice, a badger and the grumpy dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage), the heroes manage to help Caspian grow up, fight battles and re-claim his throne.

I found this second installment in the film version of the Narnia chronicles to be more exciting and just plain fun than the first film. I won't claim to remember if the film sticks closely to the novel or not but it stands quite well on its own with engaging, creative battle sequences and some humorous dialogue as well as tear-inducing dramatic scenes.