The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Imagine a world in which you are not limited by normal natural environments. A world in which animals can talk, and you can come and go freely to enjoy or do battle. Throw in an iffy plot and some fantastic casting and you've got the Narnia film series. Many years ago, I delighted in seeing The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, an entertaining film that started all of these shenanigans. I skipped Prince Caspian due to not having ever gotten around to the theater to view it. Boo, having stuff to do other than watch movies and blog their reviews!

Anyway, I'm also a faithful reader of many series; Harry Potter, Pendragon, A Series of Unfortunate Events, and many more. However, a book series I am totally unfamiliar with is in fact The Chronicles of Narnia. In fact, I've had all seven books, but just never read them as a young'in. I'm sure that having read the novel incarnation of this story would have affected my stance on what made the movie successful and what didn't, but I'll let you be the judge of that, faithful readers of the Narnian world.





The first thing to mention is that this movie was, of course, in 3D. Honestly, what movie isn't in 3D these days? Now, it's surprising to see a 2D movie. The 3D in Voyage of the Dawn Treader was... there, at least. It was not fantastic and always present, but it was at the very least there. I remember another film I saw recently that was advertised as featuring 3D and in fact had absolutely none of, and that little bit of film is called Avatar: The Last Airbender. On the other side of the title, this movie does surpass the 3D in the aforementioned film, but cannot compare to the visually appealing 3D in Avatar.

Visuals as a whole were a big plus in this film, not just the 3D. Everything was very realistic, and this was due to the many opportunities you have in a fantasy world setting to throw in as many effects as you can to make them all seem ordinary and believable. A plot element called "the mist" was very well done, the way it seemed to dance and form bursts of smoke as it glided along the world of Narnia increased its brilliance and sense of power. As for the mist as a plot element... well, we'll get to that later.

Detail was also taken in crafting Narnia as well. For example, in one scene the youngest member of the protagonists, Lucy, reads several spells, all of which have a beautifully adorned page of artwork, all amidst very realistic snow. The ship, despite being in a PG-rated film intended for younger audiences, has the dark and intimidating guise of something straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Lastly, the details taken in character clothing design were a bit lacking, as our protagonists tend to look more like knights than pirates sometimes while on-board. The rest of the pirates look swish, though.

Visuals are one of two main elements of Voyage of the Dawn Treader that were superb; the other is the character. In the latest Narnia film, we lost Peter and Susan, the two eldest siblings of the Narnian children we had seen in the past two films. Instead, we are left with just Edmond and Lucy, the two youngest, both of whom have grown substantially since they were peaking their heads through a wardrobe into a field of snow.

In addition, our last Earthly human is the cousin of Edmond and Lucy, Eustace. Now, Eustace was so amazing, he deserved his own paragraph. The casting for all of the characters in this chapter of the Narnia tale was fantastic, great child and adult actors alike. However, Eustace really stole the show. He's like the one kid in your high school musical who makes all-state choir all four years and has an acting coach. Eustace is an arrogant, spoiled brat, who does not believe in Narnia, and is furious for a large portion of the movie... which is actually hilarious. Eustace's name, a play on "useless," properly addresses him for how he fits into the abstract world of Narnia, and he really shines once he accepts it... and, y'know, turns into a dragon.

Character development was also present. I'm not one for movies where the main characters leave just the same way they came in; Voyage of the Dawn Treader was not like this at all. When the trio of kids enter Narnia, they each have a personal problem that needs to be addressed; their hubris, if you will. Edmond's problem is that he still thinks he deserves to be treated better for what he did in Narnia, both in Narnia and on Earth. Lucy is constantly comparing herself to her older sister Susan, in terms of beauty. As before mentioned, Eustace is spoiled, self-absorbed, and a jerk who does not even believe in Narnia. When the characters finally leave at the end of the film, Edmond accepts his place and is rewarded with the sword he thought he desires, Lucy comes to accept her own beauty through a younger girl than she, and Eustace is changed after he experiences Narnia and finds friendship there, as well as Aslan.

The plot was interesting in Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I cannot say it was "bad," because it wasn't. But it certainly was not fantastic either. Take an RPG, for example; imagine a side-quest that does not affect the plot, but more so just helps things a little bit or gets you a nice little reward. That is what this movie's plot felt like: one long, drawn out side-quest. It felt like the entire journey was to get one thing to stop another thing so that these people could be saved so that this person could be reunited with this person so that the people can return home. It was a long series of events that did not flow well into each other.

The movie has a very good pre-Narnia exposition; you already know that you won't see Peter or Susan in this episode of the series, and are familiar with your character. You even get to know their hubris. Through a special painting of the Dawn Treader, which is a fancy Narnian ship at the head of its navy, the kids are transported to Narnia, beginning a series of abstract and series-definitive adventures.

This is also is where things get a bit iffy. The plot stops flowing well here, because the party travels all over Narnia, it would seem, and does many actions that the movie does not spend very much time connecting. Instead, the camera is more focused on tormenting Eustace at sea. Don't get me wrong, I love to laugh at the British jerk's misfortune as much as the next guy, but you could have spend a bit more time telling me what the heck was going on.

Prince Caspian journeys with our trio of kids this chapter as well, and we learn through him that a mysterious force known as the "the mist" has appeared in Narnia, which swarms around a person(s), envelops them, and then both the mist and enveloped group disappear into nothingness. To stop it, seven special swords that belong to seven madly deranged lords of Narnia must be gathered on a special dinner table... okay, COME. ON. This sounds like bad fanfiction to me. The main plot design was lazy in this episode of Narnia, you cannot deny that.

The next three-quarters of an hour to an hour are a series of events that do not connect entirely well, but eventually lead to the gathering of six swords on the dinner table, and Eustace having been absorbed by his greed for gold, resulting in his abduction by the mist. For some unexplained reason, he is then turned into a dragon. Now, did any of the other fifty-some Narnians who were "misted" turned into dragons? No? Not even ogres or mindflayers? No? Didn't think so. Again, lazy plotting, I really wish some of this was explained. Maybe it was explained in the book, and I sure hope it was.

To find the last sword, the party is told by a lady who comes out of the sky that it is on a dark island where the source of the mist is. Without doubt or fear, the crew of the ship journey to this island, and easily find the seventh sword. Then, Edmond thinks of a sea serpent, and the mist all morphs into a giant sea serpent. However! The actual beast does not look like any sea serpent I've ever imagined. No, that thing looked more like a sea centipede; you should have seen all the tendrils it had.

I do have to credit the film's plot at this point, for it delivers a battle unlike the matches in the last two movies. This is not an overblown battle that spawns over all of Narnia, but is still exciting and epic to be quite entertaining. Oddly, the seventh lord of Narnia throws the sword onto Eustace the Dragon King, just as a deranged, loopy elder would. At this point, we lose sight of Eustace's draconic image, and our party is left to battle a sea centipede in the middle of a storming, raging sea. The mist is also present, though which we find that two old characters are able to reappear in cameos: the Snow Witch from the first film, and Caspian's father from the previous movie.

We finally catch up with Eustace on an island, where is revived by the mysterious figure and lion we only know as Aslan. Aslan revives Eustace to his human form, and the boy them takes the sword to the magical dinner table. Then, a huge burst of blue light bursts from the seven swords, eradicating the mist and allowing for the sea serpent to vanquished with the blue energy of an UNRELATED SWORD. Why does this not make any sense? I don't know, ask the director and storyboard.

The ending is charming, I actually quite enjoyed its comical nature. For one, all of the "misted" Narnians return in life rafts, including the mother of a girl on-board the Dawn Treader. So, what does the young, dressed nine-year-old do? She jumps off the Dawn Treader and swims a long distance to her mother that was already headed toward her. Now, the theater I was in laughed at this. This was totally ridiculous... and I loved it, because the directing and camera work really showed it was meant to be comical without making it cheesy. The same effect happened with the father jumping in as well; but not for his daughter, to swim to his wife. This movie likes to throw people in the water; Eustace ends up falling in, and even the mouse soldier does a suicide jump in the water for no apparent reason. He lives, though. In conclusion, Eustace begins and ends this movie, as far as Narnia goes, drowning in water. Hooray!

The final scene involves the lion Aslan, as we finally learn a bit about his mysterious persona. Aslan apparently owns his own country, which is a heavenly kingdom that prosperous infinitely. The people who have died in Narnia may be there, but Aslan reveals that to find out, the desiring person must go into Aslan's country, and cannot return. Caspian and the children eventually decide against the idea, making good points that honor their fallen and distant relatives. However, the mouse soldier, having fully experienced Narnia in his travels, desires to see Aslan's country. He symbolically discards his sword, showing there is no war or suffering in his destination, and heads there through a portal.

Aslan then reveals he watches over the characters on Earth, but is known by a different name. This confirmed my suspicions about Aslan: he is God. Narnia, or at least the ending of this chapter, was a biblical allegory, in which Aslan is God. "Seven" lords, the recurring number in the Bible? No coincidence. Aslan's country, therefore, is Heaven, and it makes sense that a living soul cannot visit it and return. The movie hints this but never truly reveals Aslan as the absolute figure he really is. The children return home, all friends, and the movie closes.

All in all, Voyage of the Dawn Treader was a pleasing flick with great acting and visuals, but its plot could have been better featured in its film incarnation. The movie is just under two hours, so it isn't obnoxiously long and dragging like most films these days. I recommend this one, and it is still enjoyable even if you haven't read the book. Perhaps I would have understood things better if I had read the book. Then again, who wouldn't?

Also, this is my first movie review on this blog, hooray!