I enjoyed this movie much more than I enjoyed Prince Caspian, but it did not quite live up to my expectations. I have read this book many times and it is my favorite in the series, so I have a high standard for the moviemakers to perform up to.
The technical parts of the movie (the acting, costumes, effects, design, etc.) were all astounding and beautiful. I loved the Dawn Treader and how it looked as I had imagined it to be. The acting was quite well done; I already knew that Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, and Skandar Keynes would perform well, and was quite impressed with Will Poulter's portrayal of Eustace.
My one problem with the movie is with the plot and the storyline. The writers decided to add an element into the story in an effort to unify the plot. However, I found that it merely cheapened it and made it more of a flimsy usual story. My favorite part of the book had been that the adventures were there just to be just adventures - they had a point (to find the seven lords) but it was not a life-and-death, urgent driving force. I liked that Edmund and Lucy had been called into Narnia merely for fun and not to complete a mission, as in the other books. However, the movie does away with this element. I think that without the green mist (a people-eating evil mist) Fox would have made a good movie.
Besides the mist, there are only little glitches with characters that I have a problem with. First, Edmund seems to be a little jealous that Peter left Caspian in charge, in essence making the same mistake that Peter did in Prince Caspian. But it's not a major part of the movie and Edmund fixes his attitude well enough. My second character trouble (which is really just a matter of preference) is that Eustace becomes nice much too quickly. In the book, he's a positive nuisance without one nice bit at all until the island where he turns into a dragon. But in the movie, they show that he does want to be nice, he just doesn't show it (which is perhaps more realistic and makes him more likeable of a character).
Overall, this is a good movie and though it does not follow the book to all the islands, it gets a good deal of adventures in and you get to see the great lion himself. One of the best lines of the book was included in the movie, too: "In your world I am called by another name. You must learn to call me by that name," talking about how Aslan is Jesus in our world.
This was much better than Prince Caspian and I look forward to see how Michael Apted does his next Narnia adventure: The Magician's Nephew.
Review by Beckyelsie
