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

I personally liked The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but I wasn't so taken with Prince Caspian, while not a bad movie it could have been much better. I love the books, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was always my personal favourite, but Voyage of the Dawn Treader I loved just as much.

As for this adaptation of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, while not completely perfect it was the best yet for me. It was a little too long however, and there is some wooden dialogue at times with Caspian's dialogue not as well fleshed out as it could have been. That said, there are some improvements over Prince Caspian. One is Ben Barnes, I found him bland and a bit too eager to please in Prince Caspian but here he is much more charismatic and warmer too.

The pace is another improvement, I found it rather lethargic in the previous two entries particularly in Caspian making the story not as engaging as it should have been, but in Voyage of the Dawn Treader the pace is brisker and the story as well as truer in spirit is easier to get into. The direction feels more confident as well.

The strengths of the previous two movies are also in abundance. Once again, Voyage of the Dawn Treader is visually stunning. The scenery is beautiful with a etheral and almost epic feel particularly in the sweeping action sequences, the cinematography is fluid and skillful and the special effects alone are what makes this entry the best of the series so far particularly with Dawn Treader which is gorgeously realised. The score is pleasant to listen to and memorable, it doesn't intrude too much and fits well with each scene.

The acting is pretty much very good. Georgie Henley has improved hugely having grown in so much confidence, although Skandar Keynes isn't quite as enthusiastic this time around though he was decent. Will Poulter is delightfully obnoxious and selfish as Eustace, but his character transformation contrasted beautifully towards the end. Reepicheep comes close to stealing the show voiced very well by Simon Pegg, Tilda Swinton is still quite chilling in her brief appearance as the White Witch and Aslan is majestically voiced by Liam Neeson. The ending is also very well-done and quite moving.

All in all, a surprisingly good film and the best of the series so far. 8/10 Bethany Cox