The latest film reincarnation of the Narnia series has been struggling to earn its keep ever since The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, and with the latest installation, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, why the films are failing to make major box office grosses. Since being abandoned by Disney and adopted by Fox, the films have tried a new route: cut back on costs for special effects and attempt to make family-friendly adventure films. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise produced exactly what The Chronicles of Narnia needs to be, but instead the films seem to have lost any creativity and rely on a collection of clichés and lucky coincidences.
Sucked into the land of Narnia when a painting of a tumultuous sea pours from its frame, Lucy (Georgie Henley), Edmund (Skandar), and their spoiled cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) quickly start swimming just as a large ship approaches and we discover it to be the Dawn Treader helmed by none other than Caspian (Ben Barnes), the titular hero and ally from the previous film. At first, the reason for this recent entrance into Narnia is unclear, but eventually they discover themselves upon a quest to gather together 7 swords that will put an end to a scourge that has been abducting people far away and creating fear throughout the land. The voyage takes them to a pool with the King Midas touch, a cursed valley of Dragon’s treasure, and finally to the epic showdown with a leviathan. Through it all, the mischievous green mist does its best to tempt Edmund and Lucy with their deepest insecurities and regrets, anything to lure them off their path, but as you might expect they resist, and come out the other end stronger and more faithful to Aslan’s plan. Eustace, on the other hand, experiences a transformation of his own, and with the guidance of the anthropomorphic mouse, Reepicheep (Simon Pegg), learns to be a better human being.
The cast narrows its focus down to Lucy, who was the strongest link in the original film, and Edmund, who gains additional depth as a youth still haunted by his childhood encounter with the White Witch (Tilda Swinton). It’s not Henley or Keynes that sabotage the film, and even Barnes manages to offer a decent performance, though at times he’s overly campy. The acting really isn’t the problem, as the cast doesn’t have to do much to keep up with the shoddy dialog and predictable plot. Minor squabbles pop up for the sake of complicating a relationship when things get too easy and characters are wont to random outburst for the sake of plot advancement. One of the most notable substitutions to the cast is Simon Pegg in place of Eddie Izzard who had a lot more depth in his version of Reepicheep, made all the more unfortunate by the prominence placed on the development of his relationship and mentoring with Eustace.
What ruins the film, as with the past few installments is the cheesy writing, second-rate special effects, and poor fight choreography. For the kids, it’s easy to overlook, but for anyone over 14 who’s become accustomed to a higher standard, the elements presented in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader feel like poor imitations of other adventure films. The sword fights and combat move at a snail-like pace making it clear that director Michael Apted lacks the experience with action films to make a coherent and exciting battle.
As mentioned, the special effects have never been the series’ strong suit, and they’ve only gotten worse as the films have underperformed and their budgets have gotten smaller. Both fortunately and unfortunately, the series’ visual ambitions haven’t taken notice of this decrease and they still attempt to make memorable moments typical of big-budget endeavors, but they’re doing so with less money and it shows, especially when viewed in HD where the digital backdrops, CGI characters, and big action moments all look painfully fake. It’s enough to make you opt for the standard resolution presentation just so it’s not so glaring.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Beyond offering the film on both Blu-ray, DVD and as a digital copy, this combo set has a respectable number of extras on the Blu-ray disc ranging from production featurettes about the creation of the films more impressive CGI moments as well as featurettes that go into the world of Narnia and take a closer look at the locations, the enemies met along the way, and an animated complementary adventure. Furthermore, you can choose to learn more about the fabled Dawn Treader or rewatch the film with a decent though mostly disappointing audio commentary. Finally the disc is rounded out with deleted scenes and a few interactive games for the younger kids in the audience.
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is on sale April 8, 2011 and is rated PG. Action, Adventure, Fantasy. Directed by Michael Apted. Written by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely. Starring Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, Liam Neeson, Simon Pegg, Skandar Keynes, Tilda Swinton, Will Poulter.
