MOVIE NEWS: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Just when I thought we’d seen the longest blog post title of all time, here it comes: MOVIE NEWS: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader! Seriously, don’t be a hero and try to say that all in one breath, please — you’ll run the risk of passing out!
Anyway, all that said, the much-anticipated third movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series comes out today. I had a chance to see it at a preview screening earlier this month, and I’m here to share some thoughts.
The movie follows Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their peevish younger cousin, Eustace, as they travel back to Narnia for another adventure. Everything seems calm as the Pevensies reunite with King Caspian aboard his royal vessel, the Dawn Treader, but, as we know from past movies in this series, appearances in Narnia can be very deceiving.
There’s a mysterious evil lurking in the far reaches of Narnia, and our heroes need to 1) find it, and 2) stop it. And the only way to do that is to bring together seven magical swords. (Oh yeah — they need to find those, too!)
Here are three observations about the movie:
1) It’s magical. As in, movie magical. The acting is great (see below), but the computer graphics are the real stars here. We get everything from snow in a library, to one-legged monsters, to impossibly long sea creatures crushing pirate ships — and it all looks great.
2) It’s well-acted. You know those characters in movies that you love to hate? They bug you, but they do it so well that you have to respect them for it? Well, Eustace (say: “YOU-stiss”) is one of those. And that’s all thanks to Will Poulter, the young actor who plays him.
3) It’s meandering. The quest takes centre stage in this flick, but it’s often a little unclear what our heroes are looking for. First, it’s seven missing lords. Then the mysterious source of evil mentioned above. Then the swords. Then a star to lead them to the Dark Island. All the while they’re docking on seemingly random islands and falling backwards into clues to the next step on their path. Fun? Strange? You be the judge!
Overall, I thought this movie was okay. Fans of the series will be happy to see Edmund, Lucy, and King Caspian back in action, but newcomers might be a little less enthused. Also, serious fans of the book series might be a little put off by some of the changes to the story.
For movie fans who’ve never seen any of this series, I highly suggest looking up The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe — which is totally awesome. (Trust me.)
And that’s it from me. What do you think, OWL readers? If you plan to see this one, skip it, or save it for a DVD rental, let me know in the comments below. Also let me know if you’ve read the books. Inquiring minds want to know!
Talk to you next week.
Craig, owlblog@owlkids.com
Loading ...
Hi Craig!!
I think I will rent it on DVD. I own The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe book!!! It is so very good. Have you read that book Craig? And, I think that it will be a good movie. Can you remind me who King Caspian is, please? It been a while since I’ve read the book, and a while since I’ve seen The L, The W, and the W on DVD. So Craig, I can’t wait to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!!! From how you talked about it, it sounds so cool!!!
Hi Hannah! That’s cool that you’ve read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I read it when I was younger as well, and I remember loving it. As I said in my review, the movie based on it is great.
King Caspian wasn’t in that book, but he plays a major part in the series later on. In fact, he was one of the main characters in the second movie in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Here’s a link to my short write-up on that movie:
http://www.owlkids.com/?p=42
I have all the books, but so far I’ve only read the ones that were made into movies. I only have 5 chapters left in “Dawn Treader” so I’m pretty sure I’ve gotten the main gist of it. A quest of looking for stuff? That’s not in the book. I guess that had to make it more of a “plot” as a movie, although it would have been cool to have a movie of just a bunch of adventures around different places. The book of “Dawn Treader” is wonderful.
Sounds cool, but I might not go.
ir ead the lion the wicht and the wardrobe ,prince caspian. the silver chair and the magician nephew
Thanks Craig!! Cool!!
Who is on and/or know’s about Popartpixies.ca? I have an profile there!!!
Popartpixies.com!! I was wrong!! Sorry!!
I saw the first two movies, its a tradition for me to see them, so I’m definetly going to see this.
my brother and mom went to see this in theaters. we (my family) are probably going to by it because we own ‘the lion, the witch and the wordrobe’ and ‘prince caspian’.
I likes them all.
I’ve read all the books, but I’ve read them so long ago that some parts I’ve mixed up or are a little fuzzy… <:D
Lots of my friends are disappointed with how different the movie is from the book (and they DID miss some of the parts), but I thought it was very good.
Prince Caspian’s accent changes, though, from the last movie. In “Prince Caspian,” he had a… like… a Middle Eastern sorta accent (not very well described, but there it is), and in “Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” he had more of an English accent. I’m pretty sure that people don’t change accents or lighten them when they are around different people. =l
“Voyage of the Dawn Treader” is probably my new fav Narnia movie, just cuz of the thrill, darkness, and excitement. Eustace was HILARIOUS, though!!! Annoying – but spaztatiously hilarious.
The next movie in the Narnia series should be pretty awesomely scary, though. We all know that Eustace gets 2 go back to Narnia, so I predict (based on the next book with Eustace in it) that the next movie is gonna be even MORE thrilling and scary than “Voyage of the Dawn Treader”!!
It’s awesome!! I saw this movie a few weeks ago,and I LOVE it!!