Directed by Michael Apted. Starring Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, and Georgie Henley.
When a franchise changes hands for the first time, it can lead to trouble. Sure, you've got your James Bonds and Harry Potters which have survived multiple creative shifts, but for every one of these, there's another several that didn't succeed. (This is particularly true of comic book movies... X-Men and Spiderman come to mind -- but more on that soon). After being the creative force and the studio behind both The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian, both Andrew Adams and Disney sat this one out. Still, it was full force ahead under Walden Media. (On a less obvious note, the composer of the first two films, Harry Gregson-Williams also did not return... to my particular and great disappointment).
Still, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader brings the book to life, is adventurous and entertaining, and is reasonably true to the spirit of the franchise thus far. It's been a while since I've read the book, so it was nice to rediscover the story with the film. Much like Prince Caspian, it takes certain liberties to make it a more interesting movie -- for once, in my opinion, there's actually not enough material in the book for the film, and this has been true with the last few, if not all, Narnia movies. That's what makes them such great film adaptations. They can bring the books to life and, in a sense, improve on them.
Dawn Treader is a very different story from the other two. It's not structured around a single enemy and doesn't climax with a battle. Instead, it's an adventure-on-the-high-seas tale, a treasure hunt that takes our characters to strange and scary lands beyond the edge of the map. The film modifies this with a mysterious "green mist" that, in a sense, is the "bad guy" of the story. So, for anyone feeling fatigued by the structure of Prince Caspian resembling the storyline of Lion/Witch/Wardrobe, this film is relatively fresh.
Additionally, the faces change. If you haven't read the Narnia books, you may not be familiar with this, but nearly every book introduces a new character or two, who then carries on the series in the next. The Pevensies begin in Lion/Witch/Wardrobe and return in Prince Caspian... but by Dawn Treader, Peter and Susan are too old for Narnia. So, this time, it's just Edmund and Lucy, except that they accidentally bring along their annoying cousin Eustace. (Eustace later goes on to return to Narnia in the next book, with his friend Polly, who then returns without him in the book after that). Caspian is back (though interestingly, Ben Barnes dropped the Mediterranean accent and reverted to his native British lilt this time around... awkward at first, but better all around in the end).
I'm writing this after my second viewing of the film -- the first in theaters, the second with some of the kids I babysit. Both times, I noticed that the audience was younger than I would have thought. Overall, I think these films lack the darkness and intensity that, say, can be found in a rival fantasy franchise, The Lord of the Rings, something that I would wager is the leading factor in drawing in an older demographic. Still, the film is an entertaining, Disney-esque film (though it now lacks Disney) that is fitting "on the shelf" next to the first two. It is a pity that this series has dropped off (in terms of box office and popular interest), as it's looking unlikely that future books will be adapted onscreen (at least with this generation of actors -- in the future, who knows?)
In the end, and I think I'm qualified to say this, fans of the series won't be disappointed in seeing this next book in the series brought to life. Though it lacks the scale and grandeur of the first two, it is still imaginative and spectacular in its representation of Narnia.
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