Three years have passed since the world conquering Narnia franchise set its stall out with The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, the first in a possible series of seven movies adapted from the Bible story allegories of C.S. Lewis.

By now, dark clouds are gathering over the entire fantasy oeuvre.
Blame Peter Jackson. If Lord Of The Rings hadn’t been so gosh-darned successful, the studios would not have all clambered for a piece of the action. In turn, we, the audience, would not have had to struggle through a batch of films that are, at best, unmemorable drivel (The Golden Compass) but, more usually, unspeakably foul. Eragon? The Dark Is Rising? The replica swords are currently available at a bargain bin near you.
If Narnia director Andrew Adamson is worried he’s certainly not letting on. Sitting around joking about the second installment of this $400 million enterprise – “ I had to get Liam Neeson for Aslan because we all know God is Irish,” he laughs – his unruffled air and New Zealand accent make you think you’re chatting to a friendly backpacker, not a filmmaker who belongs to the same crack box office elite as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.  
“I don’t want to say something really boring like ‘we just made the best movie we could’,” says the 41 year-old. “But, erm, I suppose we just made the best movie we could. The beloved nature of the book already puts loads of pressure on. Things do change from book to screen, and you ask, “Did I do the right thing?” But yeah. Following up a successful film at a time when some similar films have taken the lustre off, you do feel like you have a lot of expectations to live up to. All I can do is refer to my memory – I zero in on the things I remember from reading the book as a child.”
He’s been encumbered by the burdens of franchise before, of course. He was merely a respected animation and SFX wonk when, back in 2001, he agreed to direct a moderately budgeted animation named Shrek. The film went on earn almost $500 million worldwide and has spawned two equally successful sequels with a third to follow in 2010. This, however, is mere chump change compared to the $738,809,845 raked in by the first Narnia film.
Though Christians have been keen to discuss his missionary parents and a childhood spent evangelising in Papua New Guinea, Adamson has persistently refused to play ball with this key constituency among the C.S Lewis fanbase.
“I couldn’t do that”, he says. “My beliefs are my beliefs and I decided at the very beginning that I wouldn’t use them to promote these films or vice versa. I just don’t think it is fair to drag my family into my work. I honestly think the films are mythological enough to work on many different levels. I see them as ecological parables and rites-of-passage stories.”
The first film, nonetheless, owes a great deal of success to a pulpit and Bible school driven marketing initiative. Did this key demographic impose its own restraints when it came to considering the sequel, I wonder.
“No”, says Adamson. “I theoretically had restraints from the Lewis estate and C.S. Lewis’ stepson Douglas. But in practise he was a great cheerleader. The only thing we really debated was what I considered the sexist aspect of the books. With The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Father Christmas gives weapons to the kids, and says to the girls, I don’t intend you to use them because weapons are ugly when women fight. I have two daughters. I created Princess Fiona to be an empowering female character. It’s the same with Prince Caspian. I wasn’t going to film battles and have the girls making the tea.”   

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian is released June 26