The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Reviewed by Katie Hart
"Voyage takes you on a journey you wish would last a little longer."
Fox and Walden Media bring the
third of C.S. Lewis’ beloved Chronicles
of Narnia to the big screen in a movie that could have been great, but
was only good.
And by good, I mean in the watch-multiple-times, tell-your-friends-to-see-it,
cry-at-the-end way. It was truly a moving film, just plagued by moments
that could have been so much better.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader opens with Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy
(Georgie Henley) stuck at their aunt and uncle’s house for months
and having to put up with their horrible cousin Eustace (Will Poulter).
Within a few minutes, the painting of a ship in Lucy’s room comes
alive, and the three children are drawn into Narnia and reunited with their
old friend Caspian (Ben Barnes). King Caspian has set sail on the Dawn
Treader to find the seven lost lords of Narnia.
While Edmund and Lucy are delighted to be in Narnia again, Eustace hates
every minute. The ship arrives at their next stop, the Lone Islands, only
to find the people of the town of Narrowhaven cowering in fear. A green
mist is capturing whole boatloads of people, and the only way to stop it,
the group later discovers, is to place the seven swords of the Narnian
lords at Aslan’s table.
The best part of this movie was Will Poulter as Eustace. From the instant
he was introduced (journaling surrounded by bugs and beetles), he fit the
character perfectly. His friendship with the talking mouse Reepicheep grew
naturally and portrayed the power of encouragement. It was a pity that
so much of Eustace’s journey from spoiled boy to hero was conveyed
through computer-generated images, but he will have a chance to reprise
the role if The Silver Chair gets made.
While Narnia purists will hate some of the changes that were made to transition
the story from book to film (most notably the green mist, the reordering
of some of the islands, and a little girl searching for her mother), nearly
every event in the book does make it into movie in some fashion. A few
were made better, like the foreshadowing and twist on Lucy being tempted
by the beauty spell, and Coriakin’s map. Others were disappointedly
truncated or only hinted at.
The theme of resisting temptation comes across a little strong, but is
a good fit for a film aiming more at family-friendliness than action adventure.
The movie is appropriate for children, though younger ones may be frightened
by the climactic battle with the sea serpent.
Ultimately, Voyage takes you on a journey you wish would last a little
longer. And in the end, you hope, like Eustace, you will get a chance to
go back.
MPAA Rating: PG
Katie Hart loves the written word. She's published several articles, poems, and
nearly 200 reviews in magazines and websites such as Christian Communicator,
Church Libraries, Infuze Magazine, Christian Library Journal, and ChristianBookPreviews.com.
She's written two novels and is working on her third, a fantasy. Also a Christian
music fan, she helps out regularly with concerts at her church and strives to
promote the artists and bands she enjoys. Visit her online at her
blog.
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