Review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010) by Jens S — 12 Feb 2013

The third part of C.S. Lewis children fantasy novels has only half of the Pevensie kids return to the magic kingdom of Narnia as Prince Caspian, known from part two, requires their help in a search for disappeared lords and abducted slaves.

The third human involuntarily joining the adventure is cousin Eustace, an over the top and rather annoying character for the first half of the film. The special effects, production design and locations are top notch, the film looks much better than its predecessors in pretty much every regard.

The plot is only somewhat interesting but at least sends the characters to colorful and spectacular locations. The entertaining but somewhat clichéd first half of the film surprisingly comes around in the final act and a really spectacular and fun showdown, the best Narnia film sequence to date.

Here, even Eustace finds purpose and redeems himself. The ending is also rather sweet and touching. Kids probably won't be bothered by the rather simplistic dialogs of the first half anyway and enjoy the entire adventure whole-heartedly.