The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the third Narnia movie based on the books by C. S. Lewis [here’y my review of Prince Caspian, and here of the books]. It was directed by Michael Apted and stars Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter, Simon Pegg, Liam Neeson and Tilda Swinton.
Plot:
Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) return to Narnia with their annoying cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) by way of a painting of an ocean that suddenly comes to life. Luckily, Caspian (Ben Barnes) pulls them out of the water and together they search for seven missing knights, soon discovering a much bigger threat.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is wonderful to look at, though the 3D wasn’t necessary. Unfortunately, it’s the first time in the movies that – as in the books – the religion completely takes over and ruins the whole thing.
I was prepared to like this film despite the books. I mean, it was the same with the previous two movies, why should it have been any different here? And then I actually watched the film and it was like a slap in the face. They’ve cranked up the religious propaganda that much that I just couldn’t overlook it anymore. I mean, it starts with a zoom on a church where all the gargoyles are lions and ends with Aslan saying something like “you get to see me here, so you can know me better over there.” *retch*
Despite the script that, unfortunately, does nothing to overcome the narrative shortcomings of the book and therefore remains sense- and plotless and the propaganda crap, there are some good things to the movie, though.
The cast is good, though I have to admit that I liked Eddie Izzard’s Reepercheep a little better than Simon Pegg’s. But especially Will Poulter steals everybody’s scenes and manages to squeeze every bit of humanity from Eustace (which is quite a feat because in the books, he’s like the personification of assholery in the beginning).
And the visuals were astounding, quite frankly. I don’t remember the last time I thought a movie monster scary – but that sea serpent was brilliantly so. And the invisible castle looked absolutely amazing.
Maybe I should have watched the movie without sound?
Summarising: Only if you can stomach the message about “our lord the saviour”.
kalafudra's Stuff 
I stand by my opinion – it’s no more religious than the first one was.
But the plot is pretty …um…vague? nonexistent? and merely an excuse for putting one gorgeous setpiece after another. A quest for Caspian’s mysteriously missing accent would have made more sense ^.~
Still…the movie gets a pass from me. Because LUCY PICKS UP A SWORD AND USES IT COMPETENTLY, which is awesome and goes against pretty much everything the source material stands for. I love it.
But Lucy has been fighting in all of the movies, that’s nothing new. And it’s definitely not enough to excuse everything else in my book.
Anyway, I think that there has been a shift from movie two to three in the emphasis that is put on the religious parts. That’s not saying that the other films weren’t religious but they went with a more “stealthy” approach. In this film, they continuously whack you over the head with it.
When was the last time you watched them? Lucy hasn’t been fighting.
In the first one, she skips the battle and spends the night weeping for Aslan instead, because that’s girl stuff.
And in the second she leaves before the battle to go and find Aslan in the forest. And in the end she stands by the bridge before the Telmarans, tiny knife in hand and the absurdity of it stops them long enough for Aslan to conjure a wave that sweeps them away.
Lucy’s job is always to “have faith” and “be kind” and be the one everybody talks over until they realise that she’s been right all along, bless her faithful little heart (and gag me with a spoon).
The only thing that bugs me more than CS Lewis’ treatment of Lucy is his treatment of Susan *harrumph*
It’s been a while that I’ve seen the movies. Might be that memory bettered the situation. I remember though that the movies treated Lucy and Susan better than the books (which isn’t hard to do, as we all know) and I thought that there was fighting from both of them.
Hahahaha! Caspian’s mysteriously missing accent!! I didn’t even notice that until you mentioned it, but you are totally right.
Yeah – husband and I saw it yesterday and were chatting on the way home about how the “Jesus Aslan” was a lot more in-your-face this time than in the previous two movies, and far more so than in the books. It was a little bit creepy in its complete lack of subtlety to be honest. Plus, I missed Caspian’s Spanish…erm, I mean Telmarine, accent.
(On a side note – they built the Dawn Treader in my hometown, and moored it for a few weeks in the bay near my grandparents’ place! We got to see it pre-CG!)
That they built the Dawn Treader in your town is all kinds of awesome. Though I think it looked great, even after CG. :)
I have to admit that I didn’t really notice about Caspians accent. Only when I re-read my review of Prince Caspian I remembered…
And I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought this was more in your face-religion than in the other movies…