We took in Prince Caspian last night. If you like medieval milieu adventure movies, this film is pretty good but not great. If you are an aficionado of the Narnia stories, you'll likely be disappointed. The film takes serious deviations from the book, some for the better and some for the worse.
I am with Ross Douthat and Thomas Hibbs the the source material for the film provides a challenge for 
a film maker. C.S. Lewis's book contains long sections of one character simply telling a story. It's hard to make that into a rousing crowd pleasing film. Perhaps the solution is to do what Peter Jackson did in Lord of the Rings, start the film with a summary of the history of the ring, successfully summarizing in a few minutes Gandalf's long story told in the chapter "Shadows of the Past" in The Fellowship of the Ring. Andrew Adamson, director of Prince Caspian, instead chooses to leave the background story out, which results in losing much of the context of the overall story. As Hibbs points out, in the book it is important that Caspian is a lover of "the old things," the history and stories of Narnia, in contrast to his wicked uncle Miraz who finds such things a waste of time. Caspian's preservation of memory and tradition is part of what makes him an attractive character. I wish the movie would have given some consideration to this aspect of the story. This is the one deviation from the book that I find off-putting.
The movie itself has some issues. Ben Barnes as Caspian is a bit of a pretty boy, a runway model in a suit of armor. He lacks the commanding presence of a king, which is what he really is. Overall, all of the younger characters seem nagged by self-doubt and are a bit whiny, falling short of the noble characters of the novel (Edmund is perhaps an exception here). The film lacks the whimsy of the book with my favorite character Reepicheep given a normal voice rather than the squeak that he has in the book. Trumpkin the dwarf is merely grumpy, as opposed to grumpy and silly as he is in the book. A mild romance between Susan and Caspian is frankly stupid. Finally, Aslan is strangely absent in the film, essentially making a cameo appearance.
But I do give the film a mild recommendation. As an action/adventure film, it largely works. Sure, it is a film you've probably seen before, but it is good enough, and most certainly better than most of the dreck coming out of Hollywood. The film has enough action and wonder to hold the viewer's attention. The film does contain themes of faith and bravery that make it edifying, although there is enough violence in the film to make it inappropriate for the smaller children. In short, the film is good enough. Still, read the book as well.
Update: Go here for an excellent summary of reviews more troubled than I am about plot deviations from the book.
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