The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
on December 11th, 2010 at 11:23 amIt’s been a troublesome couple of years for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The film and its darling young stars were cast aside by Disney, the film series’ original studio, on the basis of the less than stellar performance of the sequel (Prince Caspian). Now that it has been picked back up by 20th Century Fox, the difference in style–or lack thereof–can be felt acutely.
This installment finds the younger of the Pevensie children, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) living with an aunt and uncle in London during the war. It’s been three years since they’ve been back to Narnia and their older sibs Peter and Susan (William Mosely and Anna Popplewell, who appear only very briefly) have moved on into adulthood. Naturally, Lucy and Edmund are feeling a little left behind and homesick for the magical land they once ruled over and twice rescued.
An enchanted painting in a spare bedroom draws them, along with their smarmy and unwilling cousin, Eustace (Will Poulter), into a Narnian ocean where Prince-turned-King Caspian (Ben Barnes) is sailing with a crew that includes brave mousekateer, Reepicheep (Simon Pegg, taking over for Eddie Izzard). He is on a mission to rescue the Narnian people from an evil that takes the shape of a green mist emanating from The Dark Isle in the East. To defeat the evil, they must recover the swords given by Aslan (voiced by a regal-sounding Liam Neeson) to the seven lords who once advised Caspian’s father and lay them on the stately lion’s table.
Directed by Michael Apted, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, promised to take the shape of a Homeric Odyssey, with our heroes island-hopping not across Greece but across the far off places of Narnia to achieve their goal. Instead, it feels a little more like a whirlwind episode of Wild On, minus Tara Reid’s drunkenness. The journey is done at what feels like a breakneck pace, showing us lots of weird computer-generated creatures and backdrops but never allowing what is special about each of their destinations–not to mention the moral lessons to be learned there–to seep in. It’s like the Pevensie children are a pair of brats racing through their gap year across Narnia rather than the valiant little warriors we came to know and love in the earlier films. That is to say that they’re very busy but they aren’t actually doing much or learning anything.
In C.S. Lewis’ novels, The Voyage of the Dawntreader is the most character-driven. The evil that the children face doesn’t take the form of a White Witch and her deliciously tempting Turkish delights or a brother-murdering, usurping king. Rather, it’s the fears and insecurities in each of the characters that are almost his/her undoing. This is a beautiful way to tell a story of growing up, particularly since this will be Lucy and Edmund’s last trip to Narnia. But Apted and his visual effects army treat it like an annoying detail to be hastened through.
I would much rather have seen a delicate unfolding of Lucy’s self-acceptance (she’s not Susan and that’s okay) than a prolonged, not particularly visually interesting battle with a CG sea snake that looks like something filched off the cutting room floor of the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie. If Lewis believed his audience of wee ones was sophisticated enough for this kind of character growth, I can’t for the life of me understand why Apted would un-deem them so.
I also wish Apted had taken more interest in his actors, both young and old. With roles in non-kiddie flicks like 2008’s Easy Virtue, Barnes is a growing favorite of mine (although not quite a replacement for James McAvoy who appeared in the first Narnia movie). I don’t doubt that he has the capacity to play Caspian in the complex, conflicted manner that the character deserves. (Hello, he’s essentially Hamlet!) But even in a late-in-the-film scene, where he must make a difficult but necessary choice, he seems entirely undirected.
Likewise, Keynes and Henley, who are now too old to be precocious, could have used a stronger hand guiding them to the right choices. Only Poulter and his overly chatty, supercilious portrayal of snotty British bourgeoisism gets it right. But, as another signal of what was really important to the film’s production team, his most touching moment is when he is crying on the beach, having been transformed into a computer-generated dragon.
Who knows what lies ahead for this franchise? There are four more books in Lewis’ series. If the franchise is to continue, I can only hope that it doesn’t rely on The Voyage of the Dawn Treader’s uninspired (and uninspiring) model of excessive visual effects and sweeping panoramas to signify grandeur. If there is a next time, maybe they’ll actually film the story that the masterful Lewis wrote. That would really be grand.
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I happen to diasgree with the two of you on most of the things. Yes I agree Lewis would be disappointed in what they’ve done with the second and third one. They changed the script too much to add the temptation theme (which I kinda like except changing the story line).
But I happen to disagree with them discontinuing the series. They will learn from their mistakes. They’re continuing with The Magician’s Nephew, which I’ve heard is because it’s the number one selling book in the series. After they produce that one, maybe the ratings will go up and they can continue with the three lesser books. And the graphics were wonderful in 3D. If you didn’t see it in 3D, then you wouldn’t get where I’m coming from. But they kept most of the same stuff like what Lucy was facing was in the book and the movie came out at the right time since today’s girls are having to deal with comparing to each other and what the world thinks as beautiful. Also I like that they added what most Christians face; greed, wanting more power, and everything else in the movie.
I know their intentions were good but they could’ve done it a different way.
I agree with Barbara – Lewis wouldn’t get through the second flick without losing complete and total faith in the humanity that he believed in so thoroughly. Hopefully, there won’t be a fourth movie. What an utter waste of good acting talent and a wonderful story. Way to reduce a great cultural resource to complete mediocrity!
Thank you for writing an honest review. The first movie was fantastic, but the 2nd and 3rd installments were horrible. If Lewis were alive, he would vomit right into his bucket of popcorn while watching how they have destroyed his wonderful masterpiece. If this is the best they can do, they need to stop now!!