“We come to it at last” — the U.S. release date of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, the second sure-to-be-fantastically-successful fantasy film in the Narnia series, adapted from the famous C.S. Lewis stories.

One could easily guess that only a few of you know by now that the film releases at midnight tonight — and by “a few of you” I don’t mean “you Speculative Faith readers,” but “you people on the whole internet.” That’s because Disney and Walden Media (the latter is the film’s real producer) has been advertising this film like crazy for the past several months.

Directed again by Andrew Adamson (along with the first two Shreks), and also starring the same cast and crew of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Prince Caspian is the second of the Narnia books and takes the four Pevensie children back into Narnia. There, it turns out a thousand years have passed in that world’s time, while only one year has gone by in their homeland of England. Now all of Narnia’s fantastic creatures have been driven into hiding by an invading force of men called the Telmarines, and the four children must find their purpose, and the title character, in the now-“darker” Narnia.

The film’s tone will indeed be darker, I’ve heard and read, and even more so than in LWW, book purists won’t be too pleased with the film. Yes, some of the rumors are true — I’m seeing the film tonight, but know this is the case — the Pevensies somehow meet Caspian much sooner than in the book. There’s a heckuva lot more Mega-Action Battles than in the book. Girls fight, unlike in the book — girl centaurs, and girls Susan and Lucy.

Perhaps worst of all, girl Susan smooches guy Caspian at the end. Excuse my just-slightly-juvenile reaction: bb-b-bbbleccccch.

But, I submit these differences are tolerable — and the film’s redeeming qualities and fantastic plotting, characters, action and budget will certainly overcome any adaptation shortcomings. (The book, I feel, did need some storyline enhancement, especially for a film version, and Lewis’s stepson and film producer Doug Gresham agreed.)

Let geeks everywhere rejoice — and particularly Christ-following geeks who love seeing wondrous, epic-vision, Biblical-worldview fantasy fiction receive the accolades and treatment it deserves! It’s indeed another great moment for Christ-honoring fantasy!

Soon, at likely midnight tonight, I’ll be undertaking the release of my spoiler-purity vow at the Holy Order of the Spoiler-Free Monastery, and will be beholding this Beatific Vision myself. How will any of you be viewing the new film? And what are your thoughts on the continuing recognition and success of Lewis and the Narnia series in book and film, and what this might mean for Christ-honoring creativity and the — God willing — growth of actual epic stories that honor Him?