Note: This is a movie review... but I thought it was relevant and important! You may be seeing a few more movie reviews on my blog later :)
I've been looking forward to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader for months now, so of course, the instant school was out on opening Friday, my family all went to see it together. I went again with a good friend of mine the following weekend. I loved it. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the book I remember most of the series when my dad read them aloud to me, partly because of Eustace and how funny he was, partly because of how silly the Dufflepuds were, and partly because of how magical the book felt.
I loved the movie and it’s portrayal of my favorite characters; Iloved Eustace. Will Poulter was delightfully obnoxious, and his performance in the ending scene was perfect- in character, but also evidence of how much Eustace has changed. The Eustace-Reepicheep relationship was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie- it was so sweet, well developed, and expanding on a theme introduced in the books. And Reepicheep! He's always been my hands down favorite Narnian. I thought his portrayal was perfect. His voice change wasn’t noticeable, but certainly his new voice fits him perfectly. The animators did an excellent job with his mannerisms, his swordfighting… actually, all the CGI creatures are so well animated that the animation never once took away from the story. I didn't even think about how well done they were, or the fact that they were animated- I just assumed they were real, which is a very rare thing for me to do, and to me is the mark of good animation. It allowed me to actually feel as though my favorite characters existed.
And the Dawn Treader herself! She blew me away. I loved the shots of her sailing- she looked just like I imagined she would. I was so impressed that every shot that was supposed to be on the ship was actually on the ship. Incredible shots of the Dawn Treader sailing on open seas are breathtaking.
Most importantly, I came away so impressed with how well the spiritual themes translated on screen this time. I've read Voyage of the Dawn Treader for years, over and over, but the movie illuminated new spiritual themes that I had never picked up on in the books- perhaps because I read the books with a child's mind, and now have a more mature mind. I loved the introduction of Lucy and her struggle with outward beauty into a central theme of the story. Not only did it give us as an audience a chance to see Susan again, though she isn't actually in the story, but it was such an accurate picture of what girls her age go through. Aslan's words to her, what he shows her when she attempts to change things, sent tears running down my cheeks, imagining that God was saying that to me. It was subtly woven but well incorporated and developed. (Also, I thought it was so cool how much Susan Popplewell and Georgie Henley actually look alike!)
I cried at the beauty of the last scene, where Edmund and Lucy and Eustace know they have to leave Narnia, Edmund and Lucy for the last time. I cried when Reepicheep, brave little Reepicheep, took up his coracle and paddled into Aslan's Country. The entire last scene seemed as though it had leapt from my imagination onto the screen: the Sea of Lilies, the glimpses of Aslan's Country beyond the waves, Reepicheep's leaving. Lucy's tears when Aslan tells her she cannot come back to Narnia are so real. It speaks so powerfully of C.S. Lewis' brilliant writing that this scene is such a beautiful metaphor for what our own meeting in "Aslan's Country" will be like. I am so thankful that you were so adamant about the goodbye scene being exactly as it was in the book, because it played so beautifully on screen and was such a great visual. Actually, tears still come to my eyes when I think about it. The very last scene as they come home from Narnia was absolutely perfect- the silence of the actors, the draining of the waters, the looks exchanged between Eustace, Edmund, and Lucy. It was a moment to think back on what adventures they'd had, and what adventures were yet to come. I have a good Jewish friend who has never read the books, is unfamiliar with the story of Narnia, and didn't see Prince Caspian. She called me the other day to let me know she had seen Voyage of the Dawn Treader and loved it. She said, "I cried in the last scene in Narnia. It was perfect! And so sad. It makes me want to read the books." And really, isn't that part of the purpose of the movies? To make people read C.S. Lewis' brilliant books, or understand more of his writing?
Overall, I enjoyed the movie very much, both as a stand-alone movie and as an interpretation of the book. I was disappointed in the undragoning scene, but the movie was faithful enough to the book that all of my favorite elements were included (the Dufflepuds, for instance) but bent enough to offer something new to the viewer, like the temptations of Lucy, Edmund, and Caspian.
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