Monday, December 20, 2010

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie review

Went to the new Narnia movie on the 19th and it was great. It begins with the Lucy and Edmund at their cousin's house, Eustace, when they are taken back to Narnia through a painting, their cousin along with them. There, they meet Caspian again and go on a voyage on the Eastern Sea to find seven lost Lords who served his father. But also they have to find seven swords and lay them at Aslan's Table in order to stop some evil that originates from an island.  At the end of the journey is said to be Aslan's Country and what sort of wonderful things are there are just waiting to be seen.With each island, they meet one adversity or another and have many temptations, each with their own consequence. Their are many battles and enemies along the way that they have to fight to finally get to their destination and complete their quest.

Their are a lot of great things in this movie. I loved the scene when Aslan talks to Lucy after he temptation and I loved the relationship of Reepicheep and Eustace, especially after he becomes a dragon. The story stays to the original book well but the situations and islands are all out of order from the book but that is quite forgivable. Also, even though they White Witch is in the film, that is also okay because of how they worked her in and it makes sense.

Despite all the good, there were some problems. The transition between one island and another was at times uncomfortable and choppy. At least the Lone Island was a little rushed to me so it was difficult to absorb before they left for another island but that was probably because of time restraints. The biggest problem I had was when Edmund and Caspian were tempted and it wasn't Aslan that brought them back but another character that fixed it. Also, Dark Island seemed to be conquered by the characters as well instead of Aslan (if it was Aslan in some way, they didn't make it very clear).

The acting was good and the characters portrayed the temptations of today such as being beautiful and greed wonderfully. The casting was great as well; the boy who played Eustace was a wonderful nuisance and when he changed you did like him and the captain of the Dawn Treader was good too, I could see a captain behave like him and could also see him as a captain of a ship (but maybe I just like the accent). I really like the animation, Reepicheep was great with is hair color (and I liked how much he got to talk in the film and his personality was really developed and made you even more attached to him than before as something more than just a fighting mouse), Eustace's eyes and dragon look was cool, and Aslan's color was perfect (I remember being irritated in Prince Caspian when he didn't look like a normal lion, his hair color was off and it just bugged me something terrible). The design of the sets and the Dawn Treader its self brings back how things looked and felt before Prince Caspian which was beautiful and wonderful. The movie was filled with these images and helped if feel bright and uplifting. I feel this movie was better than Prince Caspian but I still like The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe better because it ran smoother than this one from one situation to the next. I also wish Aslan was in the film more and that the overcoming of temptations and the evil of the world was attributed more to him but I know for sure that I will be buying this movie when it comes out on DVD.

If you want to know more about the movie, check out its website at: http://www.narnia.com/

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