By David Torres

(Walt Disney pictures)

By David Torres

Prince Caspian may take on the evil forces of Narnia, but he’s no match for the powers of sequelitis.

If “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” was meant to transport the audience to a dream world of magic, then “Prince Caspian” is surely meant to keep the audience enthralled for what is undoubtedly to come.

However, the magic that was so apart of this movie’s predecessor is sorely lacking, and leaves the intended impact of this movie falling flat. 

Of course, not all has gone awry in Narnia.

This movie does have all the makings of a summer blockbuster sequel that has decent acting and all the production value, money can buy.

Assuming the nature of sequels, however, the movie’s creators found the need to rid the film of some of it’s substance

This includes the religious subtext that was so prevalent in the original. 

It is uncertain wether or not this omission of the Christian subtext was done by design or by just sheer carelessness of the property.

The result will more than likely leave fans scratching their heads.

“Prince Caspian” seems more puzzling when one realizes that this movie was made with the same creative team as before, and yet the series wasn’t able to fight off the bad sequel syndrome that afflicts many would-be franchises.

Perhaps the problems that plague this movie have more to do with the material it’s based on rather than the actual people responsible for bringing the story to the big screen.

One example of this can be attributed to the dark ominous tone of the story when compared to the sense of wonderment that was established in the original.

There are, of course, decisions that can be solely attributed to the creative team, such as the lack of characters that should seem likeable but simply are not.

Ben Barnes plays the title character of Prince Caspian and gives a hollow performance that is made worse by a Spanish accent that would make Antonio Banderas cringe with embarrassment.

The four main established protagonists of Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Peter (William Moseley), and Susan (Anna Popplewell) return but are set aside for the unlikable Prince Caspian.

This leads to more Caspian scenes (with the laughable accent) than necessary and less screen time for the heroes of the original movie that most fans would expect.

The only thing to explain the difference between the movies is the creative laziness that movie studios allow too often.

Of course, this movie is only the second out of seven possible movies to come

If the other potential movies have the same kind of care that the original had, then there might be hope that the mistakes of this movie will not be repeated… hopefully.