"This is a very great adventure, and no danger seems to me so great as that of knowing... I left a mystery behind me through fear."

Hello all

Here with a quick sort-of review of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, for your delectation.
It was pretty good. I mean, in comparison with its predecessors it was quite a well executed film. The special effects were enjoyable, the art direction pretty satisfactory, the acting... well, OK. William Poulter (who had already won my heart in 2008's Son of Rambow) I found delightful as Eustace Scrubb, though possibly he could have been given a better script to work with. Ben Barnes was Ben Barnes; Georgie Henley was much less annoying in this installment, though her acting skill and screentime were still pretty disproportionate. I was much less disappointed with the portrayal of Reepicheep though how much that had to do with the new voice actor I'm not sure.

But with Edmund's character I had a lot of problems. In the previous two films I found the Pevensie children were horribly miscast, with a possible exception of Skandar Keynes as Edmund. He came the closest out of all the children to a likeable and realistic portrayal whilst remaining close to Lewis's original imagining of the character in the books.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader derailed my previous positive impressions very thoroughly.
The ads had me on my guard; showing a scene in which Edmund basically takes up the awful, angsty 'but-I-am-a-king-in-Narnia' stance that Peter's character used to help make Prince Caspian an ambomination as far as adaptations go. (I know that this attitude must have made logical sense to the filmmakers - but it sort of undermines the point of visits to Narnia - the idea that you're a better person for having been there. So far as Peter and Edmund go in these films, being in Narnia seems to have just made them into insufferable sulky prigs with delusions of grandeur.) Keynes was awkward with his badly created character - he seemed to spend most of the film skulking about behind Barnes, squinting gruffly and muttering badly written lines - the film probably would have been very little different and possibly better if his character had been left out altogether. Which is a shame because I loved the development and maturity of Edmund in the books - his sweet little scene with Eustace (after the latter's 'un-dragoning') was left out altogether. Plus his relationship with Caspian felt... I hate to say it... a bit... gay. Sorry.
I'm very glad that there can be no possible excuse for including any more stupid cameos of Tilda Swinton's ghastly rendition of the White Witch in the next film. But the brief Susan and Peter moments were handled well, even if they were only there as an excuse to have familiar actors' faces on the posters. In fact, the whole Lucy-wishing-she-were-Susan subplot was possibly even better than it was in the book.


The sketchy plot-line was, I reluctantly admit, a bit necessary for the film: the more unconnected seafaring romp that was the book couldn't have been translated to the medium of film without a bit more coherence. But the plot was pretty shoddy. And the seven swords/plot coupon thing really ought to have been left for the video game of the book and not forced upon bored cinema goers. But, besides the neverending and incredibly kitsch sea serpent battle, the film did not compete with Prince Caspian in the boredom stakes. Which was refreshing.

Now I shall say some nice things. The end scene with Aslan nearly made me cry - ahhhhh! A rare achievement for a movie indeed. And the whole thing was rather pretty. My desire to visit Narnia was only heightened by the experience. And it was a lot more meaningful and spiritual than the previous films, surprisingly. I know I have been a bit cruel in this review, but believe me, I did enjoy Dawn Treader and would recommend it for a light bit of entertainment. Don't expect too much. Just revel in the fact that you're in Narnia again.