In place of jolly Mr. Tumnus from the first film, the guide this time is a dour red-bearded dwarf (Peter Dinklage) who warns, "You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember."Things are not well: The lion king Aslan is nowhere in sight, his good works lie in ruins, and all of the magical creatures he once championed have been driven into near-extinction by the ruling tribe of vicious humans called the Telmarines. With the king of the Telmarines dead, his brother takes over. The new despot orders a hit squad to take out his nephew, the proper heir to the throne, Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes).

Instead, Caspian escapes and joins forces with the four kids, who draw up battle plans together. Director Andrew Adamson brilliantly assembles the battle scenes, enhancing the action with the medieval equivalents of tank traps and airborne assaults behind enemy lines.