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« My Thoughts About The Movie | Main | »

December 20, 2010

Further Thoughts About The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader Movie

I have spent some time discussing the movie with other knowledgeable fans of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Here are some further reflections.

The movie seems to glorify "just believeism".  Reepicheep says in the movie (not the book), that "we have nothing if not belief."  This type of belief in belief is glorified in other modern movies as well.  The modern remake of Miracle on 34th Street comes to mind where everyone in New York starts wearing I Believe In Santa Claus buttons during the climax of the movie.  This belief in belief or faith in faith is misguided.   People can place their faith in all sorts of things ... magic, Santa Claus, science, government bailouts, political parties ... whatever.  Having faith for faith sake does not really matter, per se.  What matters is the object of your faith.  Both Lucy and Reepicheep are portrayed in the movie as having great faith, but the portrayal of faith as wishful thinking instead of as trust in one who is trustworthy weakened the film.

The movie rearranged several of the island stops and in the process made a critical error.  The redemption of Eustace happened too late in the movie.  It happens much earlier in the book.  We actually learn to like Eustace because we are given time to admire and bond with the transformed Eustace.  In the movie, his character is transformed rather late and we are not given enough time to begin to like him.  This sets up an interesting problem for the next movie where Eustace is the star.

Like in Prince Caspian (the movie), Aslan seems to get a demotion.  He plays less of a role in the movie.  The story centers around the search for the magical swords and the temptation / testing of each of the characters in their quest against the evil mist and the sea serpent.  In the movie, it seems what ultimately saves them is magic more than Aslan.

Perhaps if they had renamed this movie The Search For The Seven Swords, inspired by C.S. Lewis' Voyager of The Dawn Treader, I would have been less disappointed.

 

December 20, 2010 |

Comments

I read both of your entries on the Voyage movie. I must admit liked it better the first time I seen the movie.

Recognizing the movie would need to be twice as long to cover the entire book, I was not surprised to see changes. It seems to come with the territory. I, personally, did not think that shifting from finding the seven lords to the seven swords was that big of a deal, but maybe I'm missing something there. What did bother me however, was when Reep was said to "deserve" entrance into Aslan's country. After reading this it has also come to my mind that this "believe" thing was another source of irritation that I had forgotten by the end.

Posted by: J. Paul | December 30, 2010 at 00:39

First, my take on Reepicheep's comment on belief was that he was referring to Aslan and that is a most powerful statement. for without Aslan (Christ) we do indeed have nothing. Second, and this might be stretching the point, but I thought Aslan's comment to Reepicheep about "deserving" was not due to Reepicheep's actions but due to his faith and that faith is what allows him to go into Aslan's country. I was extrememly moved by the expresions on Reepicheep's face as he entered the country..the pure joy that was there.

Posted by: Craig Smith | April 24, 2011 at 21:58

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