Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

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We returned to Narnia yesterday afternoon via our local movie theater.

The 2D version had already left the theater so we saw the digital 3D version. I guess the 3D was cool to some, but it made me a little dizzy. It's also hard wearing the 3D glasses over the ones I wear (and need to see the screen!) I would never want a 3D television that's for sure.

What surprised me the most were the ticket prices. $11.50 for a matinee. I guess it was the 3D that upped the price or maybe movies are that expensive these days. The last one I saw in a theater was the second Twilight movie over a year ago when I was in Denver with my oldest daughter.

I'd heard the screenplay differs from the book so I told the kidlets to just enjoy the movie for what it is, and not worry about what was left out or added. Lesson learned after the Percy Jackson movie.

Here's the trailer for Voyage of the Dawn Treader:



It was fun to revisit the characters from the first two movies and meet new ones, especially Eustace. I hope the franchise continues because they've found a worthy successor to the Pevensie children with their cousin.

The quest plotline allowed a lot of different visual effects to be crammed into the two hours. It was easy to step into and lose yourself in this new part of the Narnia world.

I was happy to see more magic like in the first book and less epic battles like in the second. Much of the book takes place at sea so there is a cool ship, swashbuckling and storms.

There also seemed to be more "character" in this movie than the second. Lucy takes center stage. I really didn't buy her stealing the spell page with Aslan right there talking to her, but it made for a nice moment later on the ship. Edmund is still fighting the White Witch and struggling with being a regular boy back home vs. a king in Narnia. Caspian is a nice piece of eye candy. He smiles much more in this movie and is friendlier. Being king seems to agree with him.

Eustace, however, steals the show. He's so whiny and disagreeable you can't help but hate the kid. But his transformation and redemption is very well done.

The kidlets loved the movie and are already talking about buying the DVD when it's released so they can watch it over and over again. The only part my seven year old didn't like was the sea monster. She covered her eyes through much of that section.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader was a fun movie adventure for my entire family. I enjoyed and recommend it.

Have you seen it yet? If so, what did you think?