The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

I went to see “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” the other day with my mom and youngest brother, and overall, I liked it. I found it to be an entertaining movie, even though they changed the plot line completely. I realize that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader wasn’t much of an ‘action-driven story’ like the first 2, but it was definitely an adventure story. It was more about the journey than the destination.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Normally I don’t like it when directors, producers, and script writers take too many liberties or “artistic license” with book adaptations, but with Dawn Treader, I didn’t mind so much. They basically took the small section C.S. Lewis wrote about Dark Island and made it the antagonist of the movie. All of the major sections of the book were in there, they just didn’t necessarily happen in the same order.

I liked how they went about changing Eustace back into a human. In the book, Lewis wrote that Aslan changed him back by removing his dragon scales with his claws. You obviously can’t show something that gruesome in a children/young adult movie. I like that they had Aslan pawing at the sand, and magical “scratch lines” appeared on Eustace’s body. Speaking of Eustace…I instantly hated him when he came on screen (which was kind of the point, I guess), but came to like him more after his dragon incident. I’m interested in how “The Silver Chair” movie plays out (if it ever gets made). I don’t like how they made him cry at the end when Reepicheep goes to Aslan’s country, it makes him look like a blubbering baby. I really liked the art design of the Dawn Treader itself. It’s a really good looking ship, however practical it might or might not be.

*END SPOILER ALERT*

In other words: go see it, but read the book too. :)

Rating: 4/5 Stars