Reviewed by Lamar Kukuk
12/29/10
While it is an epic fantasy
series and the first installment The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
was an International blockbuster, Disney bailed on the Chronicles of
Narnia franchise after sequel Prince Caspian
underperformed. It's not hard to see why: Caspian was
the only other one of C.S. Lewis' Narnia books to include the entire
LW&W cast and indeed only one more book includes ANY of the
humans who appear in that first film. But 20th Century Fox stepped
in to breathe new life into the series for at least one more try, and The
Voyage of the Dawn Treader is best viewed as the climax of a Narnia
trilogy no matter what additional films might be made. For the first
80-odd minutes, the film ambles along amiably like a slightly bigger-budget
version of the old NBC Robert Halmi Hallmark fantasy miniseries like The
Odyssey and seems like a fairly unnecessary continuation of the Narnia
brand. But once the climax kicks in and a lovely coda wraps up the
affairs of the Clan Pevensie, Treader has earned its place alongside
its predecessors in what has always been a flawed but enjoyable franchise.
Just don't get me started on yet another theft of the ticket dollars of
the people seeing it in 3D...
Back in our world once again,
Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) find themselves
stranded with relatives during the Second World War while their siblings
are studying abroad. Bored to tears by the utter lack of adventure
after their epic battles in Narnia, they are constantly tormented by their
odious nonbelieving cousin Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter; and yes, the name
is designed to sound as much like “useless” as humanly possible).
Lucy spies a painting of a Narnian-looking boat riding the waves and before
you can say “Aslan”, they're being fished out of the ocean by now-King
Caspian (Ben Barnes) and his loyal crew, including a couple minotaurs and
the talking mouse Reepicheep (voice of Simon Pegg, taking over for Eddie
Izzard, who did the honors in Caspian). Caspian's mission is to seek
out seven missing Lords whose magical swords hold the key to turning back
an evil mist that is spreading over their world. Lucy and Edmund
are happy to help, but Eustace is nothing but trouble, even before he's
transformed into a dragon by cursed gold. Each of them will be tempted
by evil, but even if they pass, time is running out to save Narnia.
A brief and simple synospis
for a movie that's heavy on incident but light on plot. The Voyage
of the Dawn Treader apparently changes the plot of C.S. Lewis' book
(unread by me) far more than its predecessors, but still ends up with more
of the wandering, episodic feel of a novel than either of the more faithful
adaptations. Caspian and the kids visit a few islands, encounter
a few strange characters and then move on to the next with an extra sword
or two in tow: and even so, the script has to really pile on the
swords late in the game to get to seven. For the first two acts,
Treader lives up to its name by being virtually devoid of narrative
momentum.
But that being said, it's
always an easy movie to watch. The little adventures our heroes have
on those islands are mildly diverting if for no other reason than the novelty
of seeing pirates have the unmitigated gaul to try and sell Lucy Pevensie
into slavery or a race of invisible dwarves who hop around on single, giant
feet. Director Michael Apted has a lot more experience working with
actors than Wardrobe/Caspian helmer Andrew Adamson, and gets
a lot more depth and pathos out of his cast. It helps that the script
by Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely and Michael Petroni gives Henley
and Barnes more character traits to play than the last time around, and
makes the most of Edmund's struggle with his festering megalomania.
While older Pevensie sibblings Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Peter
(William Moseley) are barely seen, Popplewell does get a nice bit where
she gets to play Lucy for a couple scenes for reasons best left for you
to discover.
I also felt like the filmmakers
finally licked the problem of Aslan (voice of Liam Neeson) & The White
Witch (Tilda Swinton), Lewis' fantasy stand-ins for Jesus and Satan.
That problem being that since both exist only as invisible influences on
human actions in our world, a cinematic metaphor where they occasionally
show up to lead armies and kick ass isn't really all that metaphorically
sound (although the climactic ass-whooping Aslan lays on Caspian's
villains is still the movie's highlight). But here, the balance is
just right, with Aslan showing up only when needed to give characters wisdom
and strength and the Witch saved for the climax to be that taunting voice
in Edmund's ear.
And quite a climax it is,
with the Dawn Treader battling a maelstrom and a terrifically imaginative
sea monster simultaneously while Eustace races to put those swords back
together. The sequence is full of sound, fury, courage and character
payoffs and is the best action sequence in any of the Narnia films.
Once it's done, we're off to the Edge of the World for a fateful meeting
with Aslan, who offers explanations for much of what we've seen, including
a lovely little notion about why children are brought to Narnia that should
really delight admirers of Lewis and his work, as I thought of the lines
having double meaning coming both from the Lion and his author. All
in all, the final half hour makes a splendid cap for the Chronicles
Trilogy.
I'd be remiss not to get
in a little grumble-fest about the movie's 3D, as it's the latest in a
long line of 2010 releases to be cheaply retrofitted for the purposes of
charging higher ticket prices for the privilege of watching the entire
movie with glasses on. Narnia's 3D is among the year's flattest
and least interesting: while they did get the back-conversion of
the water a little better, it still doesn't come close to liquid effects
in genuine 3D films, and none of the effects are memorably enhanced by
the mild separation of foreground and background we get. It's because
of movies like this that we now have trailers getting tagged “In 3D...
and 2D in selected theaters”. I never thought I'd see the day!
While we're set up in the
end for a return of Eustace (Poulter, for the record, succeeds a little
too well at being an irritant in early scenes, but has ingratiated himself
by the end) in additional sequels, for now the Narnia cycle has
been wrapped into a neat little cinematic bow. Never mounted on the
same level of casting or conviction as the Harry Potter or Lord
of the Rings films that inspired their greenlight, the three Narnia
movies gave us a diverting blast of fantasy spectacle every couple years.
Nothing wrong with that. |
