In Narnia, Caspian, a Telemarine Prince, is wakened by his mentor, Doctor Cornelius. Doctor Cornelius explains to Caspian that his aunt has just given birth to a son. Caspian is the rightful heir to the Narnian throne, but his father died when he was young. His uncle, Miraz, maintained rule over Narnia until Caspian was old enough, only because Miraz had no children of his own. Now that he did have a child, if he killed Caspian, he would be the sole heir to the throne and have a son to be his successor. Caspian realizes that his life is in danger, and escapes through a secret passage in a wardrobe just before some Telemarine soldiers charge into the room and fire arrows right at his bed, where he was moments before. Dr. Cornelius gets Caspian's horse, Destrier, and gives Caspian a small package, saying not to use it except in great need. Caspian gallops away from the castle, but not before some Telemarine soldiers notice and chase after him.
Caspian, who had been told by Dr. Cornelius to head into the woods, heads for the woods. Telemarine folk tales tell of horrible savage beasts that inhabited Narnia before the Telemarines arrived, and when they were driven out of Narnia they went to the woods and have lurked there ever since. Caspian heads into the woods, but the soldiers on horseback don't follow, afraid of the stories. The leader of the group comes up behind them and calls them a bunch of sissies, and the soldiers head into the woods.
Caspian thinks he has lost the soldiers, so he relaxes a little bit, but then gets hit by a low branch and is knocked off his horse. Out of a tree nearby come two Narnian dwarves and a talking badger. Caspian recognizes these creatures as the ones out of the stories and, terrified, reaches for Dr. Cornelius's package. It contains a small ivory horn, which Caspian promptly blows. The horn causes the Telemarine soldiers to know Caspian's whereabouts, and they charge. One of the Narnian dwarves, Trumpkin, goes off to stop the soldiers and gets captured, while the other dwarf, Nikabrik, and the badger, Trufflehunter, carry Caspian inside.
Meanwhile, back in England, the four Pevensie children are heading into a subway station to depart for school, one year having passed in their world since they had their first adventure. Peter is the least able to cope with returning from a king to a schoolkid, and gets in a brawl with another kid in the train station. Just as the subway train pulls into the station, the walls start sucking in, and the whole station tears apart to leave the terrified Pevensies in a dark tunnel.
The Pevensies look and see at the end of the tunnel a beach. They run off to play in the waves, realizing they are back in Narnia. But then they discover some ruins, which they do not remember to be in Narnia. They investigate, and Susan discovers an old chess peice, one exactly like the one in their chess set at Cair Paravel. They then realize that the ruins are Cair Paravel. They don't understand how this can be, since they think they've only been gone for a year. Eventually they come to the conclusion that Cair Paravel was attacked. They go into a secret treasure chamber in Cair Paravel and gear up in all their old Narnian attire and things to go find out what happened.
Meanwhile, Caspian wakes up to see Nikabrik and Trufflehunter. Nikabrik is all for killing Caspian, since he's a Telemarine, but Trumpkin reminds him of an old Narnian prophecy, which states that whoever blows the horn of Queen Susan (which happened to be the horn Caspian had) shall lead the Narnians to freedom. Trufflehunter leads Caspian to the dancing lawn, where all the Narnians have assembled. On the way, they meet a swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep. However, the Narnians at the Dancing Lawn are disgruntled at the Telemarines and don't want one of them to be their leader. Caspian, however, convinces them that if they help him reclaim his throne, he can bring peace between them. An old wise Centaur, Glenstorm, is the first to support Caspian, and eventually everyone pledges their alleigence to Caspian.
However, in Miraz's castle, Miraz holds a meeting with all his highest lords, thrusting Trumpkin, boud and gagged, onto the floor. "Our beloved Caspian was abducted by NARNIANS!!!" he bellows, spit flying from his mouth. "They have been secretly watching us...waiting, plotting, ready to strike...and I intend to strike first!" he says, striking Trumpkin. Trumpkin is then taken off to be executed.
The Pevensies see Trumpkin tied up about to be dropped into deep waters. Susan yells, "Drop him!" so the Telemarines drop Trumpkin into the water. Susan shoots arrows at the Telemarines while Peter dives in and saves Trumpkin. Together, they set off to find the others. They have some trouble along the way, but eventually find Prince Caspian, and journey to Aslan's How, where they set up a war council.
Caspian thinks they should stay and defend Aslan's How, but Peter has different ideas. "We need to strike them before they strike us," he says. He suggests that since Miraz is sending an army here, that the same army won't be guarding the castle. "But that's crazy," Caspian says, "No one has ever taken the castle!" "There's always a first time," Peter replies. Lucy reminds Peter that it was really Aslan who saved Narnia, but Peter decides they've waited long enough for Aslan.
The Narnians attempt to capture Miraz at the castle, and are doing fine battling the Telemarine guards, until hundreds of archers line the walls of the courtyard and open fire. Seeing that if they keep fighting they will all be killed by the force of archers, Peter calls for a retreat. However, Miraz's Castle is in the middle of a huge gorge, accesible only by a narrow drawbridge and a long stone archway. Asterius sacrifices himself and uses his body to stop the gate from coming down, thus crushing himself but stopping the drawbridge from going up, at least temporarily. Barely half the Narnians are able to escape, and the rest are brutally slaughtered.
Peter and Caspian argue when they get back to the castle over whose fault it was that the Night Raid was a miserable failure, but Nikabrik calls Caspian aside to show him his own plan for defeating Miraz. He shows Caspian two of his friends, a hag and a wer-wolf, who call up the White Witch using black sorcery. The White Witch supposedly has power beyond all imagination, but is even more evil than Miraz. Fortunantly, the plan is thwarted when Peter and Edmund show up, and Edmund saves the day by shattering the ice where the Witch is forming before she can completely materialize.
Peter then suggests he and Miraz duel one on one for all the marbles to prevent any further losses of life. Miraz is forced to accept, as it would look cowardly to refuse to fight a boy half his age. Peter and Miraz battle it out, while Lucy goes off to find Aslan. Peter's arm gets injured, but he eventually is able to beat the exhausted Miraz. Peter hands Miraz's sword to Caspian, giving him the honor of killing Miraz. Caspian lets Miraz keep his life, but says he will give Narnia back to the fairy-tale creatures.
Suddenly, Miraz's lords kill Miraz and blame the Narnian archers. Calling treachery, they call the Telemarine army to advance (which outnumbers the Narnians 10 to 1) so that they can obliterate the Narnians and rule Narnia themselves. The Telemarines unfurl nasty trebuchets which fire a continuous stream of boulders at the Narnian army. In an effort to fight back, the Narnians summon the gryphons, which swoop over the Telemarine army and fire arrows, but the Telemarine's giant crossbows shoot them out of the sky. The Narnians try several more tactics, including destroying underground tunnels underneath the army, and eventually just charge, but they are hopelessly outnumbered.
Lucy, meanwhile, has found Aslan, who awakens the trees, who have been in a deep sleep. The whole forest begins to ripple with movement, and this energy travels back toward the battlefeild. With the whole forest suddenly against them, the Telemarines don't stand a chance and, terrified, run back toward Miraz's castle.
In order to get to Miraz's castle, though, they must travel across the bridge of Beruna, where Lucy and Aslan are waiting. Aslan summons the river god, which picks up the bridge, still jammed with Telemarine soldiers, and destroys it. Then he dissapears back into the river with a gian wave defeats the Telemarines once and for all.
Cast and characters
- Further information: List of Chronicles of Narnia cast members
- Pevensies
- William Moseley as Peter Pevensie. In a departure from the novel, Peter has a rivalry with Caspian. Moseley explained, "Peter's got his own issues to deal with, and Caspian's got his own issues to deal with, and when neither is willing to compromise there's bound to be friction. That's really what happens. And it's a lot about humility. I think they both have to learn a certain humility, [...] and that's really what a great King needs is to be humble, to listen to his people, to be willing to compromise, and they start off as these sort of angry teenagers, and become kings at the end." In real life, the two actors got on well together. Moseley also stated that he identified with Peter, having gone back to school between shooting both films.[4] He trained for three months in New York City to improve his performance and his physicality.[5]
- Anna Popplewell as Susan Pevensie, the second oldest Pevensie. Adamson convinced Douglas Gresham to have her present during the battles by suggesting her passive role in the novel indicated Lewis' view of women before he met Joy Gresham. "I think [Lewis] cast women down in the earlier books, but when you look at The Horse and His Boy, it has a strong female character. Doug's mother was a strong woman."[6] Adamson also chose to have her fall for Caspian, because "The kids are growing up. If you look at Ben and you look at Anna, it seems really implausible that they wouldn't have some feelings for each other." He knew it had to be "sensitively handled" though,[7] and ultimately it is not about romance, but "[accepting] the fact that you can have a wondrous experience, enjoy it and move on".[8]
- Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie, the third oldest Pevensie. Edmund shows more maturity in the film, to highlight Peter and Caspian's conflict.[9]
- Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie. Henley acknowledged Lucy represents faith in the story, being the youngest and therefore most open minded of the Pevensies.[5] During filming, Henley's baby teeth were falling out during filming, so she wore fake teeth to fill in the gaps.[10]
- Telmarines
- Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian. Adamson said "Caspian is a coming of age and, to some degree, a loss of innocence story, with Caspian starting out quite naïve, then craving revenge and finally letting go of the vengeance."[8] While many readers interpret Caspian as a child, a passage in the novel mentions his age to be near that of Peter's, so an older actor was sought to match Moseley. Barnes had read the novel as a child, and was cast in two-and-a-half weeks after meeting with the filmmakers. He spent two months in New Zealand horse riding and stunt training to prepare for shooting.[11] [12] Barnes modelled his Spanish accent on Mandy Patinkin's performance as Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride,[13] though he also had a dialect coach aiding him.[12] Adamson did not expect to cast a British actor as Caspian, and said Barnes fitted well into the surrogate family of Adamson and the four actors playing the Pevensies.[14] When cast, Barnes was set to tour with the National Theatre's production of The History Boys: producer Mark Johnson joked Barnes "probably isn't the Nation's favorite actor right now". Barnes left England without telling the Theatre.[15] They considered suing him for breach of contract, but decided against it.[12]
- Sergio Castellitto as King Miraz. Castellitto was not familiar with the novel, but his four children had enjoyed the first film. Miraz marks the first time the Italian actor has portrayed a villain, and he found it interesting to "act out a stereotype". Nonetheless, he also felt that he and Adamson brought depth to the role, explaining Miraz is a soldier, not a coward, and that he takes the throne for his son. He compared the character to King Claudius in Hamlet.[16]
- Pierfrancesco Favino as Lord Glozelle, Miraz's general,[16] who intends to have his king killed in combat with Caspian and Peter in order to lead his own attack on the Narnians. Adamson called him "a real Benedict Arnold".[8]
- Damián Alcázar as Lord Sopespian.[17] "In some ways Sopespian turns out to be the real bad guy of the film," Adamson said. "Where it seems that Miraz has the upper hand at the beginning, we see that Sopespian, like Shakespeare's Iago, is trying to manipulate the situation."[8]
- Vincent Grass as Doctor Cornelius: Caspian's mentor,[18] who is half-dwarf. Adamson compared Caspian and Cornelius' relationship to Aristotle and Alexander the Great.[8]
- Alicia Borrachero as Queen Prunaprismia.[19]
- Simon Andreu as Lord Scythley.[20]
- Predrag Bjelac as Lord Donnon.[21]
- David Bowles as Lord Gregorie.[22]
- Juan Diego Montoya Garcia as Lord Montoya
- Narnians
- Liam Neeson as the voice of the lion Aslan. Adamson said Aslan is "more parental here, [he] lets the kids, well, make their own mistakes".[8] Aslan's entrance was filmed like a dream sequence to emphasize his messiac nature, and not make it reflect badly on his absence when Narnia is in turmoil.[23]
- Peter Dinklage as Trumpkin, a cynical red dwarf. Dinklage was Adamson and Johnson's first choice, having seen him in The Station Agent.[15] He accepted because "often, you get the hero and the villain and not much in between. Trumpkin is in between. He is not a lovable Snow White dwarf. Audiences appreciate these cynical characters. It helps parents and adults to go along with the journey."[24] Dinklage's prosthetics took three hours to apply. On his first day of filming, he was bitten by sand flies and fell into a river. "We were lucky that he returned after his first day!", recalled Johnson.[15]
- Warwick Davis as Nikabrik, a black dwarf. He is descendant of Ginarrbrik, who served the White Witch, and bears one of his rings, which was passed down from each generation.[25] Mark Johnson acknowledged casting Davis as the treacherous Nikabrik was casting against type:[15] Berger covered all his face bar his eyelids in prosthetics, to allow Davis to ward off the audience's perceptions of him.[26] Davis feared filming in the Czech Republic, because the grass is filled with ticks, so he put elastic bands to hold his trousers against his legs.[27]
- Eddie Izzard as the voice of Reepicheep, a swashbuckling mouse.[28] Adamson credits Izzard for making the role his own; beforehand, the director was approaching the character similar to Puss in Boots in Shrek 2.[29] Izzard approached Reepicheep as less camp and more of a bloodthirsty assassin with a sense of honor (a cross between Mad Max and William the Conqueror): Izzard interpreted Reepicheep as someone whose family was killed by the Telmarines.[26] The Narnia series were some of the few books Izzard read as a child, and he cherished them.[30] When discussing Reepicheep to the animators, Adamson told them to rent as many Errol Flynn films as possible.[15]
- Ken Stott as the voice of Trufflehunter the badger.[31] Adamson called Trufflehunter "a walking and talking Narnian library [who is] totally old-school".[8]
- David Walliams as the voice of the Bulgy Bear.[32]
- Klara Issova as a hag who attempts to resurrect the White Witch.[26]
- Cornell John as Glenstorm the Centaur.[33] Adamson had seen John perform in Porgy and Bess in London, and liked his long face.[26]
- Gomez Mussenden, son of costume designer Isis Mussenden, plays Lightning Bolt, a child Centaur.[34]
- Jan Pavel Filipensky as Wimbleweather the giant.[22]
- Tilda Swinton as the White Witch, whose ghost appears as the hag and werewolf attempt to resurrect her.
- Shane Rangi as Asterius, an elderly minotaur who aids Caspian. Rangi also stood in for Aslan, the Bulgy Bear, the Werewolf, another Minotaur, and the Wild Bear on set.[35] Rangi played General Otmin in the previous film, and he was able to see more in the redesigned animatronic minotaur heads, though "in order to make the eye line straight and correct, you've actually got to hold your head down, so your view is only about a foot and a half in front of you, which still makes it a little bit hard". The costumes were still very hot, reducing him to a "walking waterfall". Although a head sculpt of Aslan was used to stand in for the character on the first film, Rangi had to portray the character on set because Lucy interacts with him more.[36]
- Douglas Gresham cameos as a Telemarine.[37]
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