Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - quick review

Man... I had such high hopes for this movie, being a fan of the book(s) as well as the first two films. But after everything I've heard and read about the adaption over the last few months, my expectations are pretty low right now. I'll still see it, but I don't exactly feel confident that I'll actually enjoy it at this point.

I feel the same. I have concerns that they made some poor choices in tone and moving towards being too "safe" in regards to characterizations and, frankly, cheesiness. The structure of the book is more of a series of adventurous events and not one main quest, but they've changed that a bit for the movie and I wonder if that makes both the individual episodic moments and the overall quest less than they could be as a movie.

Regardless, my enthusiasm for the film is much lower than the other two, and I quite like the other two films despite their flaws. The Horse and His Boy is still one of my favorite novels of all time, period, but even if this one is a financial success and they go on to do The Silver Chair, I have my doubts that they'll get to THAHB, or treat it right when they do. The Silver Chair has the challenge of following Eustace and his schoolmate Jill as the primary protagonists, but it's probably the most similar in tone to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe of the Chronicles (evil witch, specific outlined quest, new unexpected creatures, etc.).   I may see it tonight.

I did see the film tonight and thought it was fairly good. Uneven, but good. Overall the budget reduction was notable, but I think that aspect helped the movie more than hindered it - Narnia doesn't need to be "epic" (a misfire in marketing, IMO), especially Dawn Treader. It's a more personal story than the previous two.

 

The early box office does not look good. Less than $9 million on Friday, which means ~$25 million this weekend, which is well below what they were looking for. Even with  a reduced budget as compared to Prince Caspian.

 

This film had a reported budget of $140 million. Going by the law of doubling to break even, it needs to do $280+ million world wide to be in the black, which is still doable when considering possible international ticket sales, but not very solid.

What gets me is why I haven't seen the push for church word of mouth like the first film. Aside from releasing Prince Caspian in a busy summer, Disney's other major folly was to not continue within the Christian Protestantism circuit in marketing, and Fox hasn't seemingly done that with Dawn Treader, either. Maybe Christians only go to movies as enthusiast groups for movies where Jesus/Aslan get crucified. Dawn Treader has some very basic "Christian Value" content that would strike me as just as crucial to the tone of typical sunday school rhetoric (and I mean that in a good way).

So, some positives, negatives, and inbetween.

Positives:

- I thought the relationship between Eustace and Reepicheep was done very well. Probably my favorite aspect of the movie, honestly. Maybe the tone is such a shift with Eustace for unfamiliar viewers, but Poulter *is* Eustace Scrubb. I would feel fully confident in seeing him in The Silver Chair.

- Reepicheep's entry into Aslan's Country might be one of the top three scenes in all the movies. It's that well done.

- The film looks very nice for the most part. It doesn't have the same landscapes and scale to work with that the prior films do, but it makes the most of what it's got.

- The cameos by Susan and Peter work rather well for the film, which I did not expect. The scene that this occurs in is handled exceptionally well and also happens to be bookended by Lucy's best moments.

- A few small touches were really well done: the brief mention of Jill Pole, the original art in the end credits, and the incorporation of Eustace's diary, which I thought they would have dropped altogether.

In-Betweens:

- Skandar (Edmund) and Georgie (Lucy) give OK performances, but they're not at the same level as the prior two films. Still better than William and Anna in either of the other two films, though. Barnes is fine, no more, no less.

- The effects are solid, if more economical.

- The score is unremarkable, if serviceable.

- While the scene between Aslan and Eustace is good, it is such a landmark moment in the books that I feel they could have spent more energy bringing focus to it. It seemed the only part of the film that was rushed to me, but perhaps that's my projection on it's importance.

- The adaptation itself is good. Some of it works just fine: changing the order of discovery of some islands, combining a couple of them, all good choices. Other aspects are a bit offkey: the primary quest helps focus the narrative, but it doesn't have a real definable threat like Caspian's uncle or a Witch. While a strength to the book is the vignette structure, this doesn't work as well on film, so I understand the issue here. But giving us a mundane villain in the form of a Fantasia "Nothing" and a brutish/mindless sea serpent doesn't quite bring it to an A-game. The green mist doesn't help too much and is too visually literal, too.

Negatives:

- OK, I get the need to reduce plain exposition by having interactive dialog. But the addition of random guy and his precocious daughter to mirror Lucy/Susan's relationship doesn't quite jive. Not terribly offensive, but mostly unnecessary.

- Bringing back the temptation of the White Witch for Edmund in Caspian made sense, especially considering the book's scene discussing using dark magic to resurrect her. But having her so visually present in Dawn Treader as Edmund's temptation just seemed like overkill. If they do The Silver Chair I hope they do not cast Swinton as the Green Witch. Narnia needs a new villainous face.

- There are a few too cheesy moments. Most of the time the tone doesn't ham it up anywhere as close as I'd feared. Oh, the sentimentality and sweetness for a family film is almost always there, but it's typically under control. At times though it grates, and a couple moments in particular are just bad. One is where Lucy reads and incantation for snow that screams "look how MAGICAL this movie is!" The other is at the end of the sea serpent fight Lucy has a voice over internal thought of "Aslan please help us" followed by a bird (seagull?) breaking through the dark clouds to bring a ray of sunshine. C'mon, this was completely unnecessary and plainly condescending to the entire audience. Everybody knows they're praying for help at this time. They're fighting a giant sea serpent!


So, that's my thoughts. I hope people go see it over the holidays - if it hasn't lost too many screens by then. It's a worthy film in the series, and I'd like to see more. Looks like a long shot right now though, which is too bad. At least I can always re-read the books. I'd recommend this film to most anybody who likes the first two and/or enjoys quality family entertainment. It's not spectacular but it is enjoyable.

7/10

Edited by Brandon Conway - 12/12/10 at 1:43am

Good news for Narnia: international numbers are VERY good, with $80 million internationally to bring it to $105 million world wide. http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b215820_did_angelina_jolie_jinx_johnny_depp.html

 

It may yet make $300+ million world wide, which may be enough to green light The Silver Chair. It would need to be a lower budgeted film ($75 million?), but I think that's fine. The majority of die hards that are still wanting the films aren't as picky about visual effects, and most of the creature types have been designed and created in the computer already, so R&D is not as big a deal. Neeson is the only high salaried actor in the bunch they must keep, too.

 

And take this statement with a grain of salt, however it's promising spin: "Fox said it succeeded in its aim of resurrecting the franchise, and was "excited" about its overall prospects." http://ca.news.yahoo.com/narnia-tourist-bomb-north-american-box-office.html

I'm of the opinion that the Silver Chair would be a better movie at $75 million, because it wouldn't be saddled with the expectations of a big budget epic. After the LWtW, it's my favorite of the Narnia books so I hope VotDT does well enough to merit the greenlight. As the first of the stories not to feature one of the Pensieve children, it'd give Fox Walden a real shot at rebranding the franchise.

 

 

If foreign box office totals are sooooo important, where's my Subtle Knife?

Depends on distribution deals. Walden/Fox distribute Narnia worldwide, therefore get the full worldwide profits. New Line only had returns on the US box office for Golden Compass because they sold international rights before the release - a mistake that cost the franchise any chance of continuing and effectively put the final nail in the coffin of New Line.

My short review: I really liked it.  Better than Prince Caspian, IMHO.  :-)

Brandon, yours was the review I was waiting for on Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I'm glad that you found it worthy.

Totally! 

+1

 

-1

 

Brandon already explained how that was a different situations with different conditions.

 

I realize the circumstances that Brandon described. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't have liked the result to be different vis a vis the "His Dark Materials" trilogy. The first one wasn't as bad as it was made out to be and it certainly would have been nice to see the other two made, regardless of the circumstances that supposedly made it impossible.

I'd rather not have a sequel to the neutered version of The Golden Compass put out by New Line. 

 

As for VotDT... I hope it can do well enough to keep the series going. Looking forward to seeing it this weekend.

Veering off topic, but it was hardly neutered. Lord Asrael still got imprisoned for daring to reveal knowledge the Magisterium did not approve of. That the film lacked the details of the power of the Magisterium was mostly due to not being able to put that kind of exposition into action (not a problem for books). Had it been a mini-series, then I suppose there could have been the dinner party at Coulter's mansion in which the guests could have nervously chattered about the thin line that one might find themselves on the wrong side of... or scenes of the college professors further explaining how they're not liked by the Magisterium... but dinner parties and other conversations work well in books but tend to be dull in film.

 

In brief, I think the film was no more neutered than any other film based on a book is neutered. Neutered of the amount of exposition that a book can get away with, but which a film can't.

 

Plus I think the film turned people on to the book series. I hadn't heard of the books until the film. Granted, I don't have kids.

The Golden Compass had many problems, but being neutered wasn't one of them. The anti-Catholic subtext was there if you were looking for it, but as in the book it wasn't shoved in your face. The biggest problem I had with the film was that it favored checking off events over crafting an emotionally involving journey for Lyra.

It's a shame, too, because the casting was terrific and the look of the film was dead on. Dakota Blue Richards made a very good (though not blond) Lyra, while Sam Elliott and Nicole Kidman were basically who I pictured for Lee Scoresby and Mrs. Coulter. I've often wondered what the Tom Stoppard screenplay would have been like with this cast and production design.

As for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, it suffered from many of the same problems. There's a lot of flash and noise, but very little character development. Lucy's body image issues are underdeveloped, while Eustace's moral transformation is rather sudden perfunctory. Edmund gets little to do other than look sullen. The use as Aslan as a genie that grants wishes was probably the most offensive transgression. Aslan is good, and Aslan will provide help when it's most needed, but he operates on his own schedule. The idea that Lucy crying out for help is immediately followed by Aslan reverting Eustace back to human form and whisking him back to the just the place where he's needed is a little too pat for my tastes. I much prefer the book's ending, where it is Reepicheep's willful sacrifice that saves the day rather than an action set piece. But while I think the context of the Aslan's country scenes were flubbed, the visuals were the best part of the whole movie. The boat ride through the lilies seemed ripped out of my imagination, and the visualization of the edge of the world as a tidal wave that never crests has to be my favorite single effect of 2010.

Are we back to combined discussion and film review threads? So far I've basically read spoilers in three threads for three films that I have yet to see. Not all of us go to films on opening day or even a week later. I haven't been able to see any films because I have been out of town for week on a job.

Saw the film yesterday, in Real 3D. 

 

I quite enjoyed it, though some of the departures from the source material left me puzzled. I understand the need to tie together the different adventures in the search for the Lords into one cohesive story, but some changes were wholly unnecessary: 

 

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Other changes were more welcome, such as 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Will Poulter IS Eustace Scrubb. Before seeing the film, I had my doubts they could find a child actor capable to project Eustace's good and bad qualities well enough to make a credible lead for The Silver Chair AND The Last Battle (I can dream!), but Poulter nailed it. Should The Silver Chair be made, we won't miss Edmund and Lucy too much.

 

The ending was pitch-perfect. 

 

The 3D was, in my opinion, unnecessary. It wasn't used in an overly showy, look-at-me manner (like in Alice in Wonderland), but it just seemed... Badly put together. I kept peering over the edge of my specs, and frankly, I think I'll enjoy the film much more in 2D. I look forward to the BluRay release, and to the film doing decent enough business to keep the series going. 

 

I give the film a B. Not quite up to the level of the previous two films, but a worthy entry nonetheless.

This is tricky. With separate review and discussion threads it made things easy: Review threads should be spoiler tagged, discussion threads assume you've seen the film before venturing within. This thread is sort of both. I hope you didn't hit upon anything too crucial that you didn't want to know about.

Worldwide:

$227,618,732

 

I'm happy Dawn Treader is doing well.

Looking good for 300 mill worldwide which hopefully will mean The Silver Chair gets made

I for one would love them to get to The Horse and his Boy - my favourite of the series

The Horse and His Boy is possibly my favorite book of all time. I've read it at least 15 times. I've gotten older and read way more complex and nuanced novels, but I have yet to find one that connected to me as much as that book does.

 Worldwide:  $297,162,155  

I think it has a good chance of making it to $350M worldwide. Looking good for a sequel.

Aaaah they fooled us all - looks like they are moving ahead with a  PREQUEL!! :) The  Magician's Nephew

 

This is a surprise as I expected them to use The Silver Chair next. The actor who played Eustace was spot on and by the time they get round to filming The Silver Chair if the next one is successful, I expect they will have to recast the role.

 

http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=30491

Fantastic, and likely neccesary because Tilda isn't getting any younger. I love her but the less cgi they have to do on her to make her look younger, the better, since that sort of de-aging is distracting.

 

 

Uh, and Will Poulter is? Don't forget that Silver Chair is supposed to take place shortly after Dawn Treader. Five years from now when they may get around to doing it, the kid is gonna look older, and far more signficantly so than Tilda Swinton.

 

Yeah, they could always age the character more than in the book, but I'm getting pretty sick of that from this movie series. The Narnia chronicles are supposed to be about kids going on magical adventures, not "eye candy for teenage girls" twenty-somethings.

I agree. The Final Battle, you can get away with the characters as adults. The Silver Chair is the last one the really needs to maintain continuity with the earlier casting.

Come on, Tilda's only 50! And hardly looks it, too. Between her looks and the Jadis makeup, I doubt her age would be a factor.

 

I love The Magician's Nephew, but it seems like a bad decision not to go ahead with The Silver Chair, which would bring Caspian's arc to a close.

And may she be as forever young as Bowie (or as Bowie was until his health problem)! But I don't know if the White Witch is supposed to be 50. If she's a witch I suppose she could make herself look any age she wants to look.