Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) by Bryanbezter — 17 Apr 2020

Great things about the movie:

1. Great character development for Lucy and Edmund.

2. Will Poulter as Eustace Scrubb with his intelligent way of thinking and funny actions is very amazing.

3. Visual effects of dragon, magical spells, and sea serpent are excellent.

4. The properties, from ship to blanket, are lovely.

5. Good performances by Skandar Keynes as Edmund Pevensie, Georgie Henley as Lucy Pevensie, Ben Barnes as King Caspian, and Simon Pegg as the voice of Reepicheep.

6. Although not as many as the previous movies, the practical effects and make-up for minotaur and faun are dazzling.

7. Great lessons: temptation and inner demon; fight against piracy, trafficking and slavery.

8. Pleasing cameos by Peter, Susan, and Jadis.

The movie lacks impactful villain and bold element of storytelling. The animation for Dufflepuds needs to be improved.

Debatable holes:

1. There was no clear reason how and why Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace were summoned to Narnia. It was not as powerful as the previous movies.

2. It was not clearly logical that Gael was able to be on the Dawn Treader by herself. She was with her aunt and the ship was small and crowded.

3. The seventh lord was not supposed to be alive on the dark island by himself for so long.

4. Eustace met Aslan on a small sandy island. But after he was transformed back to a boy, he was on the island of Aslan's table.

5. Temptation was only presented to the main characters. The crew should have been more fragile and tempted as well.

6. The antagonist did not clearly and significantly materialize in this movie.

Messages from the movie:

1. Temptation and inner demon. Each of us is fighting a battle inside, whether it is greed, pride, regret, vengeance, anger, doubt, or envy. We must be strong, keep holding on moral values, and not fear to fight the demons. Let go of the past and move on.

2. Fight against piracy, trafficking and slavery. Caspian, Edmund, Lucy and Eustace were captured by pirates, imprisoned and sold as slaves. They also found out about people who were sacrificed to the green mist. These are shout-outs to fight those problems.