The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1 Viewer)

[TerryRL]

While 'Prince Caspian' wasn't nearly the hit that 'Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' was, I'm still surprised that Disney opted out of their deal with Walden Media. The two sides clashed over budget issues from what I understand. The first 'Narnia' flick cost $180 mil and earned $745 million worldwide, while the $225 million budgeted 'Prince Caspian' pulled in just under $420 million globally. Granted the numbers weren't as gaudy as those on the first movie, but $420 mil is nothing to balk at. Add in the film's performance on home video and it ended up being a very profitable sequel despite its massive budget.

I could be wrong, but I think 'Dawn Treader' will be a huge hit over the holidays and Disney may come to regret their decision. As Adam mentioned, the trailers have done a great job in illustrating that 'Dawn Treader' will be much more like the first 'Narnia' flick in terms of tone.

 

[Arild]

Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt

It's hard to imagine how a movie that sets pretty much all of its Narnia scenes on board a boat can be considered more of the same.

Not "more of the same", no, but clearly they've gone to great lengths to work around the episodic nature of the book and in doing so it appears they have re-written the basic plot (while keeping many of the actual events the same or similar to the book). The whole "we must save Narnia from a horrible fate" rubbish is not in the book at all, yet here it seems to be the driving force of the mission. One of the things that made the book so great is the almost complete absence of any villains or any "battle between good and evil" plot. It's all about the adventure that comes with the exploration of the unknown and the fantastical places and creatures they encounter. It is one of the most beloved books of the series. So yeah, I'm disappointed that they feel that is not "good enough" for a Hollywood movie and feel the need to, yet again, make the story all about "the fate of Narnia rests in your hands". Groan.

 

[Brandon Conway]

It's to be expected when putting up $100+ million. A series of vignettes with small problems and small solutions (rinse, repeat) works great in novel form, but is especially difficult to achieve in film.


That said, my primary concern is that this one feels a bit more child-ish rather than child-like in its tone, but I'm hopeful that its just the cheesiness of the trailers.

 

[Arild]

New trailer...