With The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian set to hit theaters Friday, those behind the follow-up to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe must be wondering:

Will this follow the successful path of Iron Man, or the doomed path of Speed Racer?

So far, critics seem to be leaning toward the former. Here are a few of their views on Prince Caspian...

- A bit darker, more conventional and more crisply made than its 2005 predecessor... -- Variety

- A far superior film in terms of the quality on every level, but one that suffers from the weaker source material... -- ComingSoon.net

- A worthy if somewhat less wondrous successor to that 2005 phenomenon... -- The Hollywood Reporter

- The second chapter of the Narnia saga is bigger and "more epic" yet lacks the dramatic energy and narrative involvement of the first, problems that also exist in the literary source (Lewis' book), but it signals the birth of a new star, Brit Ben Barnes... -- Emanuel Levy