Back in 2005, Walden Media released The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,
the first in a series of adaptations of C. S. Lewis’s classic
seven-book fantasy series. Last year saw the release of the third
installment, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which takes place roughly 1300 years Narnia time after the first installment and just a few short years after the second.
Lucy
Pevensie (Georgie Henley), who was the first of her siblings to
discover the magical world of Narnia and whose connection remains the
strongest, returns with her brother Edmund (Skandar Keynes), this time
via a painting instead of a wardrobe. The painting of a magnificent ship
on the high seas hangs on the wall in the bedroom of their younger
cousin Eustace Clarence Scrubb (Will Poulter), an insufferable prat who
finds his cousins’ tales of Narnia tedious. While Lucy and Edmund are
overjoyed to be whisked away to Narnia and revel in the reunion with
several old friends, particularly the youthful King Caspian (Ben Barnes)
and the valiant mouse Reepicheep (Simon Pegg), Eustace, swept up along
with them, feels he has wandered into a nightmare from which he simply
cannot awaken.
Michael Apted, new to the Narnia helm, directs this film, which has a rather episodic feel to it. While I’ve read Dawn Treader
a couple of times, it’s been nearly a decade since the last time, and I
decided to keep my memory fuzzy in order to avoid purist irritation as
much as possible. The movie certainly does deviate from the book in
several significant ways, but since there were several parts I didn’t
remember too clearly, I wasn’t that focused on what was changed.
The
movie does put added emphasis on Lucy’s awakening adolescence – mostly,
it seems, for the purpose of incorporating Anna Popplewell as her older
sister Susan. The film also adds a young stowaway who looks up to Lucy.
There’s a decent message in there about being your own person and not
living in the shadow of an older sibling; Edmund mirrors Lucy’s
struggles to a lesser degree with Peter (William Moseley), who, like
Susan, is not involved in the adventure but appears in a dream sequence.
Another prominent addition is a creepy green mist that follows Caspian and his crew everywhere. It reminds me of the Nothing in The Never-Ending Story,
an evil force that sucks the life and joy out of everything it touches,
but its effects are specific to each person, presenting dark
temptations to otherwise virtuous characters. Its presence adds a
prevalent sense of danger and, along with the search for the seven
swords of the seven lords who sailed away from Narnia years earlier,
serves as a glue holding the separate adventures together, but I’m not
entirely sold on it.
What’s especially disappointing about the
movie is how little involvement Aslan (Liam Neeson) has. Granted, the
great lion always spends a majority of each novel out of sight, but his
presence, or at least his absence, is always deeply felt. Here, one
almost forgets about him for long stretches of time. When he appears, he
makes an impression, but he does so very seldom, and a particularly
powerful scene from the book gets such short shrift that you might
almost blink and miss it in the midst of the epic sea battle with which
the event alternates. While I was pleased with Aslan’s final appearance
in the film and how much of his dialogue from the end of the book
remained intact, I did not like how that crucial earlier scene played
out.
The scene involves Eustace, who, despite all the movie’s
special effects and rollicking adventure, is really the best thing the
movie has going for it. Poulter is deliciously irritating as this stiff,
disagreeable child who has petulance down to a fine art. Yet in the
midst of his obnoxious behavior, one also can’t help feeling sorry for
him. Practical Eustace, an intelligent young man with a mind for
science, can’t wrap his head around the wonders before him. But does
anybody bother to bring him up to speed? Not really. They make gentle
jabs at his confusion and cowardice instead of taking the time to help
him make the transition. Even Lucy, who I adore for her compassionate
spirit, does little to put him at ease. He’s a sheltered, wimpy boy
who’s been thrust into a world that doesn’t make sense full of people
and creatures who don’t much like him. In the movie, he feels more like a
vulnerable victim, and his lashing out feels more understandable.
One
of my favorite elements of the movie is the use of Eustace’s diary as
both narrative device and character exploration. We really get into his
head here through his funny, eloquent journal entries, which Poulter
reads with such fervor in voiceovers. I also loved the slow development
of his relationship with Reepicheep, a character who is at once noble
and comical. Eustace despises the sword-wielding rodent from the first,
but the persistent Reepicheep gradually earns his respect and even
friendship. Pegg brings the perfect balance of humor and depth to the
voice work, and the mouse is well animated so that he seems very
realistic.
The only trouble is that while Eustace’s
transformation is as central to the film as to the book, in the movie it
seems to come about mostly as a result of Reepicheep’s mentorship
rather than Aslan. For the third time, the most compelling relationship
in the movie is with one of the children and an unusual Narnian being –
not with the lion who is central to the series and the only character to
appear in all seven novels. First Tumnus, then Trumpkin and now
Reepicheep steal the show. Moreover, while he does display annoying
behavior, Eustace’s journey seems to be less one of letting go of
self-centeredness and more one of embracing self-confidence. It changes
the dynamic of his character and, again, lessens the emphasis on Aslan’s
transformative power.
As with the previous installments, those
who have read the books will find plenty to grumble about but also a lot
to celebrate. While I don’t agree with all of the decisions made by
Apted and screenwriters Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely and Michael
Petroni, I still found it an engaging adventure and was encouraged by
the fact that the final moments foreshadow not one but two sequels. That
those sequels will be made is not set in stone, but if the opportunity
arises to visit Narnia on the big screen once again, you can bet I’ll be
on board for the voyage.
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