Children Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy return to Narnia, but hundreds of Narnian years have passed since they were last there. Humans have taken over Narnia, and Narnians are believed to be extinct. Prince Caspian, slated to be the next king of the humans, escapes to the Narnians after a failed assassination attempt by his uncle Miraz. Miraz assumes the throne in Caspian’s absence and paints him as a traitor. Caspian and the children eventually rally with the hiding Narnians and fight a war against Miraz.
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Message
This movie can be used as a Christian allegory where Aslan the lion represents Jesus and the White Witch represents Satan. Viewed in that context, the movie’s message is that we should be seeking God to do things His way and with His timing; because when we try to force results via our own ways they’re doomed to fail. If not presented with this context, I think the message is going to be missed by most adults, and definitely missed by children. I’d suggest discussing the allegory with your children before watching the movie, as there’s lots of discussion about finding Aslan, what Aslan would want to do, not believing in Aslan, choosing the White Witch over Aslan, and assuming that Aslan must not care about the Narnians. These small instances could easily be forgotten by a viewer as irrelevant information since Aslan wasn’t in the movie then; but if remembered, they add even more value to the wisdom Aslan imparts when he shows up at the end.
Content
Language
There are no swear words in the movie.
Fears
Caspian’s uncle Miraz rules ruthlessly. He jails his opposition, smacks around his General, and makes a lot of violent (but mostly vague) threats when he is opposed. There’s one scene where he implies his general must kill 3 of his own men to save face; the scene is long but vague, so not every child may understand the gravity of it.
Purely due to his race: a Narnian is captured, bound, publicly ridiculed and hit, and intentionally thrown into a river to drown (he is narrowly rescued).
There’s one scene where the white witch (the strong villain from the first movie) makes an appearance, along with a scary looking vulture type creature and a scary looking werewolf type creature. The evil in this scene really invokes an evil yucky feeling, and there’s also a strong feeling of peer pressure. Some of the bad guy beasts from the last movie return, like the huge 2-legged ox men and the dark dwarves, but this time they’re on the good guy’s side. If your children watched the first movie, there’s a good chance you’ll have to explain to them how all Narnians are on Caspain and the kids side for this movie, but then late into the movie a few stray into wanting the White Witch to save them instead of Aslan.
A few scenes with some action are at nighttime or in a cave, and the opening scene is especially dark; but no one is scared of the darkness themselves.
There are no storms, fires, clowns, or home break-ins.
Family & Relationships
Caspian’s uncle tried to have him killed in his sleep. There’s also a short kiss.
In the opening scene a lady is having a baby. She has a distressed look on her face and is screaming a lot. She is fully clothed, and the camera focuses on her face plus the others in the room.
There’s no divorce, loss of a loved one, sexual content, sneaking out, running away, or bullying.
Other Content
There’s a lot of fighting. Most of it is with swords, but there’s also several projectiles, like bows. The puncture seems to always be creatively blocked via camera angles or camera switching, but it’s obvious a lot of people are dying from swords to the throat and arrows to the heart. The arrows are also shown sticking in people as they fall over dying. There’s no blood aside from a few superficial wounds on the main characters, which look either wet or dry but not flowing or dripping.
Some of the scenes can bring about strong feelings in younger children. Particularly the evil with the White Witch scene can be especially scary for small kids, and the desperation of nearly losing the battle followed by the quick crushing victory leading into the end of the movie could also be a lot to handle. Another tough scene is where the children must escape and abandon their fellow trapped Narnian soldiers as the soldiers get slaughtered.
As mentioned previously, this movie can be used as a Christian allegory.
There is no time travel, politics, evolution, or LGBT.
Conclusion
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is a violent, but otherwise clean and entertaining movie. The strong violence, strong villain, and elicited intense feelings associated with them is going to determine when a child is ready to watch it. And when they are ready, there’s also a good Christian lesson about following God’s plan and God’s timing (as long as you discuss it with your children beforehand so they can see the lesson unfold as they watch).
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