Is it possible that the makers of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader have made the best film in the series to date while charting a course even further from the book? I think it is. Perhaps it’s even because the film diverges from the book to the extent that it does that I’m able to regard the film more for what it is than for what it isn’t.
Not that incoming director Michael Apted (replacing Andrew Adamson) and his screenwriters have jettisoned the book. There is still a magical painting that transports Edmund, Lucy and their record stinker cousin, Eustace Clarence Scrubb, into the Narnian world. There is still a ship called the Dawn Treader commanded by their friend King Caspian of Narnia, who sails in search of seven missing Narnian lords. The voyage still takes the friends to magical islands where they encounter dragon treasure, invisible Dufflepuds, deadly enchanted pools, mystical feasts and more. Their journey still takes them to the world’s end, to the threshold of Aslan’s country.
Thus far the trees — what of the forest? Take the ship’s name, the Dawn Treader: an allusion to its ultimate destination — the utter east, the source of the rising sun, which looms ever larger in the sky until it become blinding. Sun, dawn, east: None of this figures in the film, which depicts the journey to the world’s edge without one shot of the ship sailing toward the dawn or with the setting sun at its bow. Frequent shots show the sun well to one side, often off the starboard bow.
That’s one major oversight. I could list others, but this review would quickly become a chapter or even a book (detailed comparison/contrast to come). How does the film stand on its own? Well enough. It’s not the radical departure from the earlier films that fans may have hoped for, but it’s a decent fantasy family film with colorful effects and action, moral themes mixed with Hollywood self-esteem, and sometimes-vague faith with a touch of Providence and grace.
In place of Lewis’ episodic, Odyssey-like voyage, the filmmakers have crafted an urgent mission of encroaching doom: Dark Island, a realm of quiet psychological dread in Lewis, has been transformed into an ominous locus of evil that threatens to devour the Narnian world. The quest for the seven lords is compounded by a search for seven magical swords given by Aslan, which hold the key to defeating the evil of Dark Island.
The characters are more enjoyable this time around, with the bickering and angst of earlier films largely left behind. Well, there’s still bickering with Eustace, but there’s supposed to be. Will Poulter, who played the bullying schoolboy in Son of Rambow, is entertainingly rotten as the bullying Eustace, who clearly has personality problems. Many child actors play jerks like they know they’re supposed to be jerks, but Poulter plays the role with gusto, and convinces you that he believes he’s in the right.
Reepicheep, voiced by Star Trek’s Simon Pegg (replacing Eddie Izzard) is a major improvement over his Prince Caspian incarnation; though still not quite Lewis’ gallant, he’s credibly Errol Flynn-like, and less, well, Eddie Izzard-like. I like what the movie does with the scene in which Reep challenges Eustace to a duel: It’s not what Lewis wrote, but it’s good characterization; it’s cinematic; it’s funny — and it ends on a gratifyingly humane note. Reep’s final speech to Aslan on the sands at the world’s end, and his final act with his ever-present sword, both strike exactly the right note.
Peter and Susan, being too old for Narnia, are formally absent, but their presence lingers insofar as their younger siblings remain in their shadows. Edmund chafes somewhat at his youth and junior status to Peter, though not in a way that becomes annoying. Lucy, in an interesting extension of a subtle hint in Lewis, is wistfully envious of her older sister Susan’s beauty.
Aslan’s scolding of Lucy mixes insight with the gospel of self-esteem: Lucy “doubts her value,” Aslan says. Likewise, while I’m glad that the movie retains Reep comforting the newly transformed Eustace, the film isn’t as clear as it could be that Eustace’s transformation reflects his true condition; Reep even suggests, “Extraordinary things only happen to extraordinary people.” D’oh.
The vague faith of earlier films crops up here: When Lucy asks Reep if he really believes Aslan’s country exists, the mouse replies, “We have nothing if not belief,” which is not a reason for believing one thing rather than another. On the other hand, when Lucy, reassuring a young girl that her missing mother will be found, says, “You have to have faith about these things,” she adds, “Aslan will help us,” thereby grounding faith in a Person. The girl’s reply is intriguing: Aslan didn’t stop her mother from being taken in the first place. It’s a first step in theodicy, the problem of evil: Why do bad things happen if God could stop them?
Two key elements from the book make it into the film: Eustace’s transformation back into a boy, though disappointingly stripped of its visceral and baptismal force, is nevertheless Aslan’s gift to Eustace, something he couldn’t accomplish on his own. And while Aslan is deprived of his appearance as a Lamb and there is no Johannine fish breakfast on the beach, Aslan does get his vital line about having another name in our world and the children needing to learn to know him by that name.
Despite riding rather roughshod on Lewis’ tale, the movie Dawn Treader is a pleasant outing that I think I might be quicker to watch again than either of the previous entries. My Prince Caspian DVD sits on my shelf unwatched since we got it. That can’t be good. There are scenes from Prince Caspian I’d like to see again, such as the aerial assault on Miraz’s castle, but the prospect of slogging through Peter and Caspian’s bickering makes me tired just thinking about it. The movie Dawn Treader doesn’t make me tired. It just makes me want to read the book aloud to my kids yet again.
Steven D. Greydanus is editor and chief critic at Decent Films. He also blogs at NCRegister.com.
Content advisory: Fantasy violence and menace; some scary images. Might be too much for sensitive kids.
Tim Drake: De-Christianizing Aslan
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Nice review, SDG. I re-watched the first two films this past Sunday in preparation for Dawn Treader, and I agree that Prince Caspian (the movie) is, at times, a chore to get through. Looking forward to perhaps catching a late show of Dawn Treader with friends tonight, or if not, then a lunchtime matinee on my own tomorrow.
Great review! I’ve been hesitant about getting excited about this movie for a while now, and I’m starting to think that I might actually enjoy it some (at least more than I enjoyed Prince Caspian).
Also, I think Will Poulter played the non-religious, rather neglected scamp who kept getting the shelted, Brethren boy in trouble, in Son of Rambow.
My kids are all eager to see it and we’ll be doing it this weekend. We don’t have huge, high hopes as the previous movies all were imperfect. But, in that they were, my kids had a great time talking about the books, their favorite parts, what was not included and what was. The end result being we had some great conversations about the whole series and why we liked it, we all re-read the books (or at least our favorite parts) and had a great time. All in all a great time!!
Audrey: The error has been corrected, thx.
We haven’t seen any of the movies since the disappointing first and your review doesn’t give me any reason to see this one either.
It’s too bad that such a wonderful series of books had such a bunch of incompetents filming them. It doesn’t even seem like those involved in the project are fans or even have a grasp of the books. If they do have an understanding of the books then their movie adaptations are even more troublesome for the liberties taken to veer away from the central theme.
I haven’t seen the film, so this is just speculation, but perhaps what the screenwriter was trying to do was to turn a great novel into a not-boring movie, which is what it would probably be without the invented urgent plot about seven swords needed to save the world from some dark force. It sounds like it is too bad the book couldn’t have been adapted by a writer who both shares Lewis’ Christian faith and sensibilities and understands the demands of the film genre.
Okay. You talked me into it. I’ll go.
Breathlessly awaiting your report, Mark!
Tonight we’re watching Inception. Not too Christmassy, but a great film.
Great review, Steven! I totally agree that if you can forget about comparing the movie to the book, it stands up pretty well, and the end scene with Aslan is heart-stirring.
I saw it this afternoon. Ugh. I was very disappointed, probably because this was my favorite book of the series. What bothered me most, though, was the whole seven swords deal. That just isn’t how magic works in Narnia, so I found it jarring.
How does it compare to the tv live-action WonderWorks version?
Wonder whether the seven deadly sins aspect of the seven islands comes through.
“Caspian” sent me back to the book. A worthy result.
I have just returned from seeing it, and I agree substantially with your review. I enjoyed it well enough, though I found it less satisfying than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, for all its facile reticence, and Prince Caspian, for all its extravagant invention.
One note I would add, though: the issue of them never sailing directly into the Utter East is not actually all that significant. As anyone who has any experience of (or has extensively read about) sailing will tell you, it’s incredibly rare that one would be able to sail uncomplicatedly in one direction. Prevailing wind patterns are a matter of complete significance. There’s a reason that any attempt to sail from England to the seas east of the African horn would necessarily involve a stopover in Brazil.
In short, sailing in one direction at sea typically demands a constant zig-zagging motion. If anything, the filmmakers were being scrupulously accurate in suggesting that.
Saw the movie Friday night. It was great!
Thanks to all for comments so far.
@Evelyn: How exactly do you mean about the swords not being how magic works in Narnia? I have some problems with that subplot that I couldn’t get to here—and I have a number of problems in the “Narnia’s not like that” category—but I’m not sure what you’re getting at here.
@Nick Milne: Thanks as always for your thoughtful comments. On the sun and sailing east, see my latest piece. The problem isn’t simply about camera angles, although that’s part of it. It’s a much bigger missed opportunity.
@Steven: Well, it feels so gimmicky. I’ll try to articulate what I mean.
For background, Narnia is/was the basis of much of my faith as a child and adolescent. I lived with a very poor portrayal of God and Christ, and would not-infrequently tell Jesus that I was hanging in there because I hoped He was really more like Aslan than what I was being taught.
Every evil in Narnia has a cause; it’s never some random green cloud of mist that no one ever explains. And fixing those evils requires some direct moral action and lots of inner wrestling and real growth—“further up and further in.” I’m thinking of Edmund’s redemption, Digory making his trip with Fledge to retrieve the apple, Jill’s conversation with Aslan after knocking Eustace over the cliff. It’s all very relational, too.
Piling up seven swords like magic charms, especially in the context of Aslan’s Table? It just doesn’t work for me. Yeah, they went on a journey to find the swords, but so much of the deeper context of the smaller tasks was just glossed over.
I have no experience whatsoever in theatre or film, so I don’t know the right terms to use or any of that. It just feels very out-of-kilter to me, like things just don’t work that way in Narnia.
Evelyn, thanks, great comments.
I agree that the movie’s Dark Island, coming out of nowhere and threatening the Narnian world, seems un-Lewisian, almost like a dualistic element heaving into the Narnian world.
I’m not sure I can distinguish between the “feel” of the seven swords requirement and the feel of, say, Lewis’s requirement that one soul sail to the edge of the world and not return as a condition for breaking the spell on the three remaining lords at Aslan’s table. I’m willing to give the filmmakers that one.
But I sympathize with a friend of mine who is offended that Ramandu’s island with Aslan’s table isn’t the last island before the final sea. That close to Aslan’s country, he feels, there isn’t room for a Dark Island. Makes sense to me!
So, yes, very un-Lewisian in many ways, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work on its own.
I was reading some comments from the new director, and he explained why the whole seven swords and the Dark Island were place in the movie, as well as Ben Barnes commented as well. They said it was too episodal to make a decent movie. If you have ever read the book, you’d notice that there is no real plot. They get on the boat, go to an island, get off the boat have an adventure, get on the boat, go to the next island and another adventure, and so on, there was no real reason aside from finding the lost narnian lords, by putting the seven swords and the dark island they gave the movie more of a plot. Another thing you have to remember, is that the books were not all that long, and to turn them into full length movie, things needed to be added and rearranged. Just my opinion, I was a huge fan of The chronicles of Narnia books, and so far I think the movies have done the books justice, and i truly hope they keep going.
We saw it last night & I think you’re hair-splitting, Steve. I mean, you’re probably technically correct but I loved the movie &, more significantly, so did the 13 yr old boy I went with!
I enjoyed your review, Steve, and I and my sister also really enjoyed the movie. It was uneven, but we think it may actually be the best of the three in its humanism and characterizations. In particular, there were no character assassinations in “Dawn Treader”, as there were in the earlier films. I hated what was done to Peter in “Prince Caspian”! Even in LWW, the scriptwriters felt they had to add conflict between Peter and Susan that wasn’t in the book, and they made a laughingstock of Mrs. Beaver. Not so in this movie. ALL the characters retained their dignity. In particular, Mr. Pegg and young Mr. Poulter absolutely nailed Eustace and Reepicheep. And the final scene, in the sea of lilies, was absolutely true to the book and absolutely lovely. I thought it was worth the price of admission. Summing up, the movie wasn’t perfect, but, where it was good, it was very good indeed. Two small points:
1. My sister noticed that, when the spiritual element was introduced, it was always via art, a reflection, or a mirror. Then you saw the actual creature (Aslan, Eustace, etc.)
2. And another viewer agreed with me that the whole point of the swords is that they be renounced. They had to be laid down on Aslan’s table, *not* used in battle, to save Narnia, and there was an obvious nod here to the warrior Reepicheep casting away his sword in the sea of lilies. That was interesting!
Anyway, a good review, and a worthwhile film.
This film is interesting. Entertainment for both young and old, Reepicheep is great. My niece loved the film, which also has some good moral messages! If you haven’t seen it yet, I encourage you to do so. We need films of this kind!
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