The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Cinema Nova, 07/12/2010
Status: Behind by 4 films
I adore the Narnia books. I’m usually allergic to Christian symbolism but for some reason I can overlook it in C.S. Lewis. Perhaps it’s because as well as heavy-handed religious messages, Narnia books also offer some really fun adventures for child-like imaginations. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always my favorite because, although it has some of the most gag-worthy, thinly veiled religious instruction, it also has the best and most straight-forward adventure.
Lucy (GEORGIE HENLEY, the other Narnia movies) and Edmund (SKANDAR KEYNES, also from the other Narnia movies) and their horrid cousin Eustace (WILL POULTER, Son of Rambow) are sucked from England through a painting and into Narnia in general, and King Caspian’s boat, The Dawn Treader, in specific. Caspian (BEN BARNES, Prince Caspian, Stardust) is on a mission to rescue seven Narnian lords lost to the wild Eastern islands. Adventures ensue and more than one test of courage and moral mettle.
As a book, it’s a rollicking, ripping, imaginative story. As a film it’s just kind of bland. The writers (all four of them) and director MICHAEL APTED (Gorillas in the Mist) sucked the adventure out and just left the heavy-handed religiosity. Eustace is still a great character, though, and I really like Poulter in the role. Barnes is a fairly decent Caspian here too, which is a step up from his last effort (luckily, they’ve let him drop his terrible, non-descript Middle Eastern accent, although, now I think about it, it may be some awful comment about racial assimilation…)
It says something, I reckon, that the seven year old girl behind me snored the whole way through the film (I wish I could say gently). It’s a shame, I think she would have enjoyed the book.
