Climbing Higher Pictures

Need your fantasy fix to get through the 8 month wait between Harry Potters? 20th Century Fox is banking on it, building an impressive marketing campaign for the 3rd film in the Narnia franchise. Without the moment of the Potter films, will we ever see a 7th Narnia, or has the series lost its magic?

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader Review

By Ryan Hamelin

Movie: B-

The Narnia franchise is nothing if not complicated in its production history. The first film, based on the 2^nd book in the chronology of the series, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, opened up against Peter Jackson’s King Kong and came out the clear winner, earning ¾ of a billion dollars worldwide. The sequel, Prince Caspian, underperformed when compared directly to its predecessor, but still managed an impressive half a billion. The decline was enough to scare Disney out of wanting to pursue the franchise for a third installment, given the exponentially increasing budget and downward trend in revenue. 20^th Century Fox scooped up the property and immediately put it onto the fast track, as they had lost valuable momentum in the downtime between chapters and the actors were growing up.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the first film in the series not directed by Andrew Adamson and that is a very good thing. Though he demonstrated a great directorial eye for the computer generated supporting characters (a continuation of his previous film work as co-director of Shrek) his work with a largely live-action cast felt lacking. The kids are much better here, and though the four aren’t ever on screen at the same time, it doesn’t make the story feel out of place. In fact, since Narnia is a world based around the imagination of its leads, the idea that characters will grow up and move on without Narnia is incredibly poignant, and that loss of innocence registers particularly strong. Liam Neeson is great once again as Aslan, and Industrial Light and Magic continues their quest for the most believable talking lion in cinema history, a crown they already cemented with Caspian.

The big issue, and what keeps the movie from feeling even slightly satisfying, is a major structural issue. It’s been years since I read the books, and I don’t know if it’s a problem with the source material or the adaptation, but Dawn Treader feels like watching the middle of a much longer and much more interesting film. We spend almost no time in the real world, blasting our way into Narnia less than 15 minutes into the overall runtime. From there, we’re stuck on the boat for most of the film, though without the moment of deciding to go questing in the first place, we don’t really know why or care. The big battle that ends the film does do a good job of a slow burn build, yet it resolves very neatly and incredibly quickly, making you think that there’s a lot left for the film to say when there really isn’t.

Oh right. I almost forgot. It’s also the first Narnia flick rendered in 3D. I can tell by the groan that you’re all really excited to see the return of Avatar-style legitimate 3D filmmaking with Tron Legacy, but in the meantime we still haven’t gotten through the wave of post-processed crap which has crammed the Hollywood release pipeline. Luckily, this is far and away the best post-processing I’ve seen so far with about half the shots looking gorgeous and bright, while the rest have the same edge and movement issues that ruined Clash of the Titans. There may yet be hope for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II’s transfer, but based on the huge success of the gorgeously photographed 2D first act, I’d hope that Warnerbros. has the wherewithal to finish out the franchise the way they started.

Narnia has always been the ugly stepchild of bigger and better fantasy franchises. Envisioned by Hollywood producers as the next Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis’s world may not be the best fit for the modern family friendly crowd. The new film is the prettiest, the most surreal, and the best acted of the three, but when all of that is not enough to leave the audience fulfilled, you know there are bigger issues at play. The editing also seems very studio driven, and it is well documented that Michael Apted was not happy with the post-processing or many of the last minute editing changes. As with The Golden Compass, I’d love to someday see the Director’s definitive cut of the movie, though the studio would have to put up the money to complete more effects shots and admit that their notes may not have helped the overall product… something they will never do. My advice is to enjoy it as a diverting and sporadically entertaining fantasy fluff piece and avoid attachment which will leave you disappointed. Or just go see Tron Legacy instead. That’d probably be better.