"You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember," warns Trumpkin the Red Dwarf, as channeled by "The Station Agent"'s Peter Dinklage. He's speaking to the Pevensie brood, but he may as well be addressing those watching the latest cinematic chapter to "The Chronicles of Narnia," called"Prince Caspian." The sequel to the 2004 blockbuster "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," "Prince Caspian" goes "The Two Towers" route, or that of "The Empire Strikes Back," swapping its predecessor's novelty and wonder for something moodier, more ominous. In a perfect world, such a trade would enrich the evolving tale. But you don't need me to tell you that the world is often flawed.

One year has passed since the Pevensie siblings --- that's Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter --- stumbled out of their magical armoire, and as "Prince Caspian" opens, the foursome is understandably surprised when a post-school stopover in London's Tube gives way to the azure shores of Narnia. But something seems off about their former kingdom, and the Pevensies learn that 1300 years have gone by in Narnia, now a bleak place under the thumb of an evilly bewhiskered people known as Telmarines. Cruel King Miraz (Italian filmmaker Sergio Castellitto, last seen in "Paris, je t'aime") is the Telmarine ruler, hoping to prevent our titular prince from realizing his birthright.

It's Caspian (British newcomer Ben Barnes) who unwittingly summoned the Pevensies, and "Prince Caspian" concerns itself with the efforts of Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter to help Caspian and the native Narnians --- now nearly feral after ages hiding underground --- reclaim their land. And while Caspian and one-time king Peter engage in an alpha male-off over combat strategies, Lucy acts as the beacon of faith, trusting that Aslan (Liam Neeson's luscious tenor once again gives voice to the wise lion) will emerge from the forest and save the day. Now, normally my grasp of symbolism is pretty much limited to trains entering tunnels, but "Narnia" author C.S. Lewis, by way of director Andrew Adamson, makes his religous allegory --- belief without proof --- obvious enough even for a simpleton like yours truly.

The epic battle scenes aspire to the sweep of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were colleagues at Oxford and good friends, incidentally), but the brutal, bloodless action grows tiresome, and the notion of adolescents fighting to the death becomes downright uncomfortable. As Caspian, the vacant Barnes is wildly unimpressive, a major problem when the film is named after your character. Skandar Keynes' Edmund and Georgie Henley's Lucy are the standouts, the former newly emboldened and the latter having skipped the awkward stage, going straight from cherubic to elegant. The good news is that the two of them figure prominently in "Narnia"'s next installment, the Michael Apted-directed "Voyage of the Dawn Treader," due 2010. The bad news? So does Caspian.

"Things never happen the same way twice," Aslan tells Lucy towards the end of "Prince Caspian." He, too, could be talking to us, but it's you parents who should listen up. Perhaps your kid(s) dug the White-Witch kitsch of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," but be aware that "Prince Caspian" is an entirely different animal. Sure, there are more adorable talking rodents, and the sex consists of pillow-lipped Susan flirting with Caspian about their millennial age difference, but the PG rating merely acknowledges the lack of gore and not the pervasive violence. Of course you know what your own children can handle, but the parents of the four-year-old moppet at my matinee the other day probably now wish they had done their research.