Friday, December 31, 2010

Movie Review: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The day before Christmas Eve, I got off work a little early, so I scooped Leann up and we went to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. We went to the new Cinemark theater up by the University Mall. One of the employees there says it's been there for three years, but I could swear it's been less than that. As usual, the bag of popcorn ran out before the previews did.

The actor for Eustace Scrubb was perfectly cast. And his transformation from a snobby, lazy pessimist to a penitent believer who is willing to contribute is both satisfying and believable. The actress for Lucy also gave a good performance.

They changed the order of the visit to the dark island and actually gave it a role in the overall plot. While this was off-putting for me, I recognize that it was necessary to convert the book (which is more a series of vignettes) into a film with an overarching storyline.

One thing that came as a surprise to me was a scene near the end where Aslan tells Lucy and Edmond that they must learn his name in our world. I expected such an overt reference to Jesus Christ to be expunged from the film by Hollywood. I'm glad they left it in. Aslan also hints to Eustace that he may be coming back.[1]

My verdict: This film was better than Prince Caspian (which I still liked), but not quite as good as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was. And it stood knees, hips, waist, chest, head, and shoulders over the atrocious BBC version.


Notes:

[1] I'm hoping they still have enough momentum left to make The Silver Chair, since it's my favorite book of the Narnia series. It might be a hard sell, though, since Eustace is one of the main characters and he's not exactly endearing for most of this film.

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