Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) by Darren C — 24 May 2012

As the Harry Potter movie series is coming to an end, The Chronicles of Narnia is a potential to take over the reins as there could possibly be four more movies being made since there are seven books. It started fantastically and with style in the form of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe but then The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian was made and took a major step down from it's unforgettable first chapter. However, the Narnia movie series is saved and still lives to fight another day, thanks to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third installment in the series. After Peter and Susan leave for university, Edmund and Lucy are left to stay with their aunt and uncle and their annoying cousin, Eustace. Edmund, Lucy and Eustace find themselves transported to Narnia through an overflowing picture that floods the entire room. They find themselves on the Dawn Treader, a ship that was built to rescue the seven Lords, with King Caspian and so, a series of adventures unfolds for our three heroes. The best thing about this movie was it's runtime as it wasn't too long nor was it too short and so the story didn't drag on for ages. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian had the problem of being too long and too drawn-out in parts but The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader doesn't have this problem as the timing was almost perfect for each scene. The scenes didn't go on any longer than they should have and most of the time, the story was interesting, which is an improvement from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has improved majorly in the acting department as we see the return of Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley, who both play Edmund and Lucy Pevensie respectively. They both do a brilliant job and they have improved from the last two movies a lot as we see a new side to both characters. Ben Barnes returns to his role as King Caspian and he is a lot better this time around than he was in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Simon Pegg replaces Eddie Izzard as the voice of the courageous talkative mouse, Reepicheep and he does a good job. Michael Apted takes over as director and manages to keep things fresh and new and show us new places in the land of Narnia and new sides to characters, which is what was lacking in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Yet again, just like the other Narnia movies, the special effects and the CGI are superb and look very realistic, including the animals and Narnia itself, which looks quite beautiful. Although The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is not as good as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, it's a massive improvement from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

The movie has a few great moments with it's characters and we see more to Narnia and the Pevensie characters than we ever did in the second chapter. The design of the Dawn Treader is marvellous and looks quite beautiful to the last detail. Will Pouter as Eustace stole every scene he was in and was also my favourite character in the movie. I have not read the book to this movie and so I can't comment on whether it stays true or not but even so, as a movie, it succeeds and improves. Now that the series is back on track, let's hope the future Narnia movies keep up the same quality. If you didn't like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, do not worry as this is much better and more improved, although it's not the same as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Fans will very much enjoy this movie and is a great little movie just in time for Christmas.