The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

Very well executed

Better than most people think

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The third and final instalment of the recent big-budget adaptations of C. S. Lewis's NARNIA books, VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is a mini-masterpiece in comparison to the strong PRINCE CASPIAN that came before it. As a film, it's fast-paced and engaging, a children's adventure film that feels refreshingly old-fashioned and much like the classic adaptations of Edith Nesbit, for example. I should note that I haven't read the book.The plotting sees the older kids from the first two films jettisoned while the youngsters (Edmund and Lucy) now take their place. Once again, they team up with Caspian (Ben Barnes, never more than one dimensional) to go on an epic maritime adventure, tackling sea monsters, magic and a mysterious green mist en route.A potential problem with VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is that we've seen it all before, but this matters little when the film is so entertaining from the word go. This effects-packed movie features all manner of CGI backdrops and one or two CGI beasties, similar to the Harryhausen epics of old. Will Poulter, as newcomer cousin Eustace, gives a masterful and hilarious performance and a real star-making turn. The movie has a decent pace, the introductory scenes are very well realised (I loved the way the kids access Narnia this time around) and it's more colourful and involving as any PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN film you might name. For me, the trilogy ended on a high.

This movie is the adaptation of a C.S. Lewis book. In this film, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia, for the last time, accompanied by an inconvenient and annoying cousin named Eustace, to assist Caspian to find seven lords of Telmar who disappeared at sea.Directed by Michael Apted, it has screenplay by Michael Petroni, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The cast was headed by Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), Ben Barnes (Caspian), Will Poulter (Eustace) and also features the voices of Eddie Izzard (Reepicheep) and Liam Neeson (Aslan)."Chronicles of Narnia" is a trilogy that started badly and ended worse. If the first two films were bad due to the inability to properly explore the original books and the incompetence of the director and writing team, they knew at least compensate it: the quality of the actors and their performances, the costumes and extraordinary scenery or the bright and colorful picture were aspects that granted a certain beauty for these movies that managed to forget the mistakes and made them into something good. Well, if they were not completely good, at least they were acceptable or reasonable. This film does not. This film ran over C. S. Lewis with the force of a train and just rewrote the story. I was not there to see it, but I bet that was Michael Petroni's fault because, back in 2002, he had done much the same thing in "Queen of the Damned", which I consider the worst vampire movie ever, even worse than the Hammer's B movies of the seventies. So, I believe Petroni loves to destroy books in the movies... but, if Petroni is relapsing into this crime, the remaining writers are, at least, accomplices in "literary murder", as the director, who would have certainly done better if he had made another movie with monkeys! In addition to the rewriting of the history, this film has other flaws: the special effects are unconvincing and the climax of the film is an unusual fight against an evil island, which makes no sense because the film does not explain anything or put things in context.This film, however, we need to recognize the quality of the sceneries and wardrobe, and above all the excellent performances of the actors. Ben Barnes, in particular, greatly improved his Caspian, now without that weird accent and a greater psychological depth. Absolutely amazing was Will Poulter, who made a superb interpretation and has shown that it may prove to be an excellent actor when he reaches his maturity.

If you enjoyed The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and have high hopes for this third Narnian installment and hopes that it will be as good as its predecessors then I think you'll be disappointed. I was myself displeased with the movie. Its script is weak, its pacing is businesslike and empty and the lion Aslan is horribly CGI designed unlike the previous Narnia chapters where he was so wonderfully CGI designed. However, this third Narnian chapter does improve upon its predecessors on a few levels: it has more magic, more Narnian creatures and the main danger in the film is bigger, the challenges are higher and they're all striking. The character of Eustace makes for an impressive new-coming character entrance with powerful personalities. The movie includes other wholly amazing elements such as Lucy trying to be more beautiful than what she is and realizing the terrible consequences that could arise from such a thought, Eustace's thought- provoking character development, the unusual relationship between Eustace and Reepicheep at the end of the film, Reepicheep's dream of entering Aslan's Country, Aslan's country featured as big rising waves, the Sea Snake design and more still. My rating: 6.0/10

Let me say right up front that I am an atheist and a secularist and as such I don't care about any religious undertones or allegory this series may contain. My review of this movie is based on the book to movie transition and how good it is as a fantasy film.The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was a return to what Narnia is supposed to be. Narnia is nowhere near as good as Harry Potter or the Middle Earth trilogies. But the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was a good movie in its own way. Prince Caspian was more disappointing. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader restored the magic and wonder of Narnia. Prince Caspian placed a very heavy emphasis on battle scenes and was darker and more serious than is appropriate for the Narnia series. Narnia is supposed to be full of wonder and magic. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe had it, Prince Caspian lost it, and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader restores it. First of all, while the Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a less literal translation of the book to the movie, it is still very faithful to the book. What will be very noticeable to viewers who are familiar with the book is that the order events occur in in the movie is different from the book and in some cases noticeably so. This is a non issue to me. The fact remains that most of the important events from the book are in the movie. Furthermore, a change in order is actually good for the movie. It works far better cinematically to have Eustace's dragon form occur later in the story. Also, the book is largely episodic so altering the order of events doesn't really alter the meaning or significance of any event. At the end of the day it's still about the quest for the lost lords and the for Aslan's Country. Now we have the issue of content not in the book being added to the film. While I do not agree with the director that a "thrust" needed to be added as I think the quest for the lost lords and Aslan's Country is a perfectly good thrust, I do like the addition of laying the Seven Swords at Aslan's Table. This addition is completely consistent with the original story as the Seven Swords plot line fits right alongside the Seven Lords plot line. On the other hand I certainly could have done without that retarded green mist subplot. The green mist subplot? No. Just. No. The acting/casting was mixed to positive as is typical for this series. Liam Neeson is an awesome voice of Aslan and Georgie always gives a splendid performance as Lucy. On the other hand I've never cared for Edmund in the movies and Ben's Caspian is good but not great. Obviously the main newbie here is Will as Eustace and he's fantastic. He captures the annoying and unlikable nature of the character brilliantly. The Eustace of this movie felt far more real than the Edmund of LLW. The pacing is excellent. This movie gets going quickly and never has a dull moment. But the best part of this movie is the special effects and visuals. This movie is beautifully shot and absolutely breathtaking. This movie has very vivid colors, very realistic looking settings and items, and just about perfect production quality. The special effects and visuals in this movie are a wonder to behold. This is also easily the most family friendly/ child friendly movie in the Narnia series so it can be enjoyed by just about anyone. All in all The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a quality movie that restores the wonder and magic of Narnia. Faithfulness to the book: 8 out of 10. Casting/acting: 7 out of 10. Pacing: 10 out of 10. Special effects and visuals: 10 out of 10. Overall: 9 out of 10.