It’s many years since I read the book, but I read it many times as a child, and know the story well. Lucy and Edmund, the two younger Pevensie children, are staying with their ghastly relatives, including their cousin Eustace. He is taunting them when a picture of a boat comes to life, and they are drawn into the scene, finding themselves sailing away from Narnia on a quest with their old friend Prince Caspian.

The quest is to find seven lost lords who were exiled some years previously. The crew visit various islands, with some exciting adventures along the way. Eustace is obnoxiously awful at first, but a dramatic experience improves his character enormously.

There are some rather odd extra themes thrown in – such as a green fog, the ‘dark’, which threatens to overtake everyone, and the fact that this ‘dark’ can only be conquered by seven swords being placed on Aslan’s table… a storyline which does not exist at all in the book, and seemed rather pointless.

There were other deviations from the story, but they were less significant and we could see why they were done. Afterwards we watched a few deleted scenes which were truer to the book, but which would not really have added anything to the story. I just wish they had also cut one or two of the fighting scenes that were included.

Overall, we thought it was very well done. Eustace is wonderfully done, and utterly dreadful; his eventual transformation seems quite believable. Reepicheep the mouse is brilliant too – modern technology makes the talking animals seem almost realistic, and Reepicheep’s character comes through delightfully.

Much better than previous movie in the series – Prince Caspian was so very dull.