Directed By Michael Apted; Screenplay By Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, & Michael Petroni; Starring Georgie Henley, Skander Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter, Liam Neeson, Simon Pegg, and Tilda Swinton.
Based on C.S. Lewis' classic 1952 novel of the same name, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is set three Narnian years after the events of Prince Caspian. The two youngest Pevensie children, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), are transported back to Narnia along with their cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter). They join the new king of Narnia, Caspian (Ben Barnes), in his quest to rescue seven lost lords and to save Narnia from a corrupting evil that resides on a dark island. Each character is tested as they journey to the home of Aslan (Liam Neeson) at the far end of the world.
We've officially reached the end of Walden Media's run of adaptations of the Narnia saga. It wasn't meant to be as they were planning to adapt The Magician's Nephew next, but those fell through after their contract with The C.S. Lewis Company expired in 2011. Two years later, producer Mark Gordon acquired the film rights to the series. Then, development went on for a while to adapt The Silver Chair. Yet in 2018, Netflix and The C.S. Lewis Company made a multi-year agreement to develop new film and television iterations. Now Greta Gerwig is set to write and direct at least two Narnia movies for the streaming giant. I previously only saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader once when it first came out in theaters back in December of 2010. As for my first time watching it since…
Director Michael Apted mostly succeeds with reviving the wondrous tone of The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe that for many was missing in Prince Caspian. With that being said, when it comes to the scope and action sequences, he just isn’t as successful in those areas as Andrew Adamson was. Which makes me wonder how different this movie would’ve been had the latter came back to the director’s chair. While I appreciate The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for being the shortest installment, Apted in collaboration with editor Rick Shaine still struggles with keeping the momentum going at times.
Luckily, the overall look is at least right. A lot of the visual effects are quite dazzling (even if some of them aren’t as accomplished as others). This has to be the best Aslan has ever looked. The production design by Barry Robison is imaginative. Isis Mussenden’s costumes are wonderful. The hair and makeup work is incredible. The end credits sequence very cleverly utilizes illustrations from the original novel. Not to mention that David Arnold does a solid job with the musical score taking over from Harry Gregson-Williams from the first two films.
The cast also does a good job of keeping this thing (pun intended) afloat. Watching Georgie Henley and Skander Keynes from the first movie to the second one to this here is pretty remarkable. They both grew a lot since they first played their respective characters of Lucy and Edmund. I must say that I think they gave their best performances of the entire saga in this film. Will Poulter is so damn memorable as Eustace. No wonder he’s the one kid from Walden Media’s Narnia franchise who’s gone on to have the most prolific acting career. I also enjoyed Simon Pegg as the voice of Reepicheep, taking over for Eddie Izzard from Prince Caspian.
In conclusion, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is an enjoyable adventure for what it is. There’s plenty of aspects about it that do work. I did find the ending to be pretty heartfelt. Although the whole thing does kind of feel safe compared to the first two movies. I will say that it’s a shame that the rest of the series didn’t end up getting adapted at the time. I hope Netflix succeeds in doing so with their reboot plans. This movie is currently available to stream on Disney+.
Rating: 3.5/5
Based on C.S. Lewis' classic 1952 novel of the same name, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is set three Narnian years after the events of Prince Caspian. The two youngest Pevensie children, Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), are transported back to Narnia along with their cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter). They join the new king of Narnia, Caspian (Ben Barnes), in his quest to rescue seven lost lords and to save Narnia from a corrupting evil that resides on a dark island. Each character is tested as they journey to the home of Aslan (Liam Neeson) at the far end of the world.
We've officially reached the end of Walden Media's run of adaptations of the Narnia saga. It wasn't meant to be as they were planning to adapt The Magician's Nephew next, but those fell through after their contract with The C.S. Lewis Company expired in 2011. Two years later, producer Mark Gordon acquired the film rights to the series. Then, development went on for a while to adapt The Silver Chair. Yet in 2018, Netflix and The C.S. Lewis Company made a multi-year agreement to develop new film and television iterations. Now Greta Gerwig is set to write and direct at least two Narnia movies for the streaming giant. I previously only saw The Voyage of the Dawn Treader once when it first came out in theaters back in December of 2010. As for my first time watching it since…
Director Michael Apted mostly succeeds with reviving the wondrous tone of The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe that for many was missing in Prince Caspian. With that being said, when it comes to the scope and action sequences, he just isn’t as successful in those areas as Andrew Adamson was. Which makes me wonder how different this movie would’ve been had the latter came back to the director’s chair. While I appreciate The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for being the shortest installment, Apted in collaboration with editor Rick Shaine still struggles with keeping the momentum going at times.
Luckily, the overall look is at least right. A lot of the visual effects are quite dazzling (even if some of them aren’t as accomplished as others). This has to be the best Aslan has ever looked. The production design by Barry Robison is imaginative. Isis Mussenden’s costumes are wonderful. The hair and makeup work is incredible. The end credits sequence very cleverly utilizes illustrations from the original novel. Not to mention that David Arnold does a solid job with the musical score taking over from Harry Gregson-Williams from the first two films.
The cast also does a good job of keeping this thing (pun intended) afloat. Watching Georgie Henley and Skander Keynes from the first movie to the second one to this here is pretty remarkable. They both grew a lot since they first played their respective characters of Lucy and Edmund. I must say that I think they gave their best performances of the entire saga in this film. Will Poulter is so damn memorable as Eustace. No wonder he’s the one kid from Walden Media’s Narnia franchise who’s gone on to have the most prolific acting career. I also enjoyed Simon Pegg as the voice of Reepicheep, taking over for Eddie Izzard from Prince Caspian.
In conclusion, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is an enjoyable adventure for what it is. There’s plenty of aspects about it that do work. I did find the ending to be pretty heartfelt. Although the whole thing does kind of feel safe compared to the first two movies. I will say that it’s a shame that the rest of the series didn’t end up getting adapted at the time. I hope Netflix succeeds in doing so with their reboot plans. This movie is currently available to stream on Disney+.
Rating: 3.5/5