I have been looking forward to Prince Caspian with some reluctance. I don't like going into a theater with any expectations as I'm usually let down if I go in thinking a movie will be good or great. Well, with Prince Caspian I can happily say that my expectations were not only met, but exceeded as well.

Now, I thought I'd read the book a while back, but no part of the story on the screen seemed familiar, so I must be thinking of one of the others as I've only read two or three of the Narnia series. So, there was an added bonus of not comparing the movie to the book. It also means I don't know how accurate the movie is to the book. I guess I'll have to get me a copy to find out.

The kids from the first movie are back in England, doing it is whatever English school kids do when they find themselves whisked away to Narnia again. What they don't immediately realize when they get there is that while only a year has passed for them, 1,300 have passed in Narnia. So, things are a lot different than they remember.

I don't want to give too much of the plot away, but it plays out very well over the course of about 2 1/2 hours. The actors performed very well and the special effects were not too over the top, though there were a few scenes that seemed obvious in their CG effects to me. It didn't detract from the film for me though. Fans of Wicket the Ewok and the movie Willow will recognize Warwick Davis in the role of the dwarf, Nikabrik.

I recommend Prince Caspian if you're a fan of good fantasy stories and are a casual fan of the books like I am. I can't speak for hardcore Narnia book fans though. I'm sure this movie will do very well for itself this summer.