The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

Set one Earth year after the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), PC begins hurriedly and gets steadily worse. Jumping directly into an action scene robs the Prince of some much-needed characterisation and relationship building. Thereafter, the basic events of the novel are referenced but there's so much new stuff that at times it's barely recognisable as Lewis' Narnia. The world is pretty but has none of the magical feeling.
The new additions aren't just at odds with the source - they actively change the entire tone of the piece. It's an almost complete travesty in which original and new utterly fail to gel. They even cocked-up Reepicheep!
The saving grace is Lucy and her attachment to Aslan, even though it's weakened and Aslan's inclusion in Adamson's script feels like obligation.

2½ sticks and stones out of 5

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Aside from a few minor changes and a couple of newly written action scenes (because it's Hollywood and they can't help themselves), the WMG + Disney version of C.S. Lewis' 1950 children's novel is much better than I expected it to be. The first third is excellent, including each of the young actors - Lucy (Georgie Henley) in particular, who embodies the sense of wonder that a child should feel after finding another world in the back of a wardrobe.
Things only really begin to slide when the talking CGI animals appear. The lion Aslan should have a splendour that eclipses all else, but his being rendered in boring CGI (most of the time) means that he might as well not be there at all; the unnecessary use of such across the board is a stain on what I feel is otherwise the best filmed version of the novel to date.

3½ small favours out of 5