“This ain’t no fairy tale!” must have been the rallying cry for the people who put Prince Caspian together. The moderately entertaining sequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will keep kids happy. But it’s a dumbed-down version of the first and nowhere near a classic. It ditches the fairy tale in favor of dark, yet safe, family entertainment.

For Peter (William Moesley), Susan (Anna Popplewell), Edmond (Skandar Keynes), and Lucy (Georgie Henley) only one year has passed since they vanquished the White Witch (Tilda Swinton). For the inhabitants of Narnia, their exploits are ancient myth, and magic lies dormant. Humans called Telmarines control the land and have established a medieval society. Escaping an assassination attempt by his throne-stealing uncle, Lord Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) blows a magical horn whisking the Pevensie children back to Narnia. With their help, he hopes to regain the crown and forge a peaceful coexistence with native Narnians. Wistful Lucy holds out hope that their savior, Aslan (Liam Neeson) will return after a 1,000-year absence.

Long action scenes dominate the second movie. After the events of the past year (or is that 1,300 years?), the Pevensies are now a family of capable warriors. Susan uses her bow for more than target practice. Their enemies, the Telmarines are fearsome, wearing ornate Spanish style armor. Most striking are the helmets with their expressionless facemasks.

The elaborate battles boast more visceral camera work and CGI. Yet no one part of the battles stands out like the duel between the White Witch and Peter in the last movie. For all the added complexity, the film leaves you thrilled, but without a sense of awe.

Building dramatic weight behind the clashes would have helped. I felt little emotion for the characters. Prince Caspian doesn’t eliminate C.S Lewis’ themes but squirrels them away inside a few scenes, like the ending. Call it moralistic or religious, but The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had a point. In a nutshell, the sequel is a war movie that doesn’t care who’s fighting as long as they’re breathing.

As a result, the new characters have gotten blander. Newbie hero Caspian, evokes confusion rather than self-doubt. He’s unbearably naive. Yet in the battles, he morphs into a hotheaded swordsman out of The Princess Bride. Barnes, who plays Caspian, seems cast for his looks. His forlorn locks are great for entrancing 12-year-old girls and their moms.

The only endearing characters we meet are the dwarf Trumpkin (Peter Dinklage) and the mouseketeer Reepicheep (Eddie Izzard). Heroes of the first film, the Pevensies, have lost most of their personalities. Only Lucy preserves her wide-eyed wonder at Narnia. Like before, Georgie Henley brings another joyful performance as Lucy.

Fairy tale villains are hated, feared, but secretly liked. King Miraz is a wimp compared to the White Witch. All he does is slap a dwarf around and kill a couple of insolent subordinates. In the first movie, The White Witch was nothing less than Satan. She turned Narnia’s version of Jesus into a fur coat; now that’s evil!

After making more than a billion dollars on the first movie, the filmmakers forgot about faithfully translating C.S Lewis’s themes to film. Nor did they remember to write developed scripts and characters. Prince Caspian is such a transparent character. I can only hope he’s better defined as a king in Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the next movie in the series. I hope that one is made with more care.

Grade: C