I was hoping to love the movie, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader. I really was. Unfortunately, I did not.
Beware ... spoiler alerts lurking.
I actually liked the movie adaptations of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and Prince Caspian.
There were changes but they were acceptable in my opinion. The major thrust of the story made it through.
Unfortunately, things went south with The Voyage of The Dawn Treader. There were numerous changes from the book. That was bothersome, but it was the nature of the changes that caused me to truly not like this movie. They reworked a story of redemption and turned it into an entirely different story -- one of a quest for magical objects, and a story of good versus evil.
The original story revolves around one major story of redemption ... of Eustace ... along with the redemption of the Lone Islands from the slave trade and Governor Gumpas ... the redemption of both the Dufflepuds and Corakin (himself a fallen star like Ramandu) ... the redemption of Lord Rhoop ... the redemption of Lucy ... the redemption of the sleeping Lords ... and the redemption of Caspian.
Of course, the central story of the transformation of Eustace early on in the book by the grace of Aslan was the most moving part of the entire epic. In the movie, it was tacked on at the end in a lame fashion. It had Aslan scratching sand to get the dragon skin off Eustace. It was weird and anticlimactic at best.
The other moving part of the book is Reepicheep's steadfast determination to make it to Aslan's country. Thankfully this was retained in the movie.
The stuff about the magical seven swords and green mist monsters and human sacrifice was a complete distraction to the beautiful story of redemption that is The Voyage To The Dawn Treader.
What did you think of the movie?
I liked it quite a lot. I blubbered all the way through the end of the movie--starting with Eustace and continuing to the end. I suppose you're right--a story of redemption was turned into something else, or at least overshadowed by other elements.
Ordinarily that would bother me, as redemption tales are my favorite and push all my buttons. But, there are also stories of striving and resting and gearing up for the next bit of striving. I guess that's what the movie reminded me of.
Life in this world is one of striving and either overcoming or failing; and then getting up and doing it all again--until we arrive in Aslan's country. Oy! I'm tearing up just thinking about it.
The movie left me with a feeling of hope. That this world is not all there is and God is with us through the end.
Anyway, I find that I've liked each movie better than the one before. The message may not be what I was expecting, but it seems to be the one I need at the time I saw the movie.
Thanks for letting me babble on....
--Cathy
Posted by: Cathy | December 18, 2010 at 19:28
It was clean, visually fun, and easy to follow. That said, I enjoy the audio dramas put out by radiotheatre.org better. I agree the true story of redemption wasn't really told, though it did hit on some other values: overcoming temptation, courage, having faith (though not specifically spelled out as meaning faith in God). And where was Aslan for most of the time?
Maybe some day we will see the Chronicles made into a series of movies that tell the story as Lewis wrote them.
Posted by: Paul | December 19, 2010 at 02:07
You both have expressed some positive aspects of the movie that I agree with.
There is hope. There is the abiding presence of Christ. There is the courage of Reepicheep.
There was a tad too much of "just believe-ism". Reepicheep says in the movie (not in the book), "we have nothing if not belief". That is the very distorted contemporary view that the important thing is to believe in something ... to have faith. I call this a faith in faith, or a belief in belief. In other words, it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you truly believe it ... Santa Claus, tooth fairy, the magic of seven swords, peace on earth, the goodness of man ... whatever...
C.S. Lewis would cringe to hear lines like that.
What matters is not belief for belief sake ... it is the object of our belief that matters.
I wish they would have called this The Search For The Seven Swords instead of The Voyage of Dawn Treader. I would have liked the movie better.
Posted by: Mr. D | December 19, 2010 at 23:36
I liked it so much, I saw it twice...IN THE THEATRE! I can't remember doing that for any movie in a LONG time. Movies never come out like the book, except maybe Star Wars, but that was because the books came out AFTER the movie. Of the 3 so far, I like Treader best...for story, for presentation, and for the GRAPHICS. My wife asked during the movie, "How do they DO that? Is that a TRAINED rat they use?" Aslan in the first was more a cartoon...better in Caspian, but MUCH better in Treader.
A lot of comments about how little Aslan shows up. Yet, he is always with Lucy...in the unseen mansion, in the ship. Her faith was based on what he was doing and teaching in her life. God doesn't lead armies all the time but works within each of us to guide and encourage us in our walks of faith.
The bit about Eustace's redemption coming late in the story didn't bother me. The point to me was that Eustace realized no matter what GOOD he did as a dragon, it wasn't what he was meant to be, but he was unable to change back himself. How easy to slide into temptation, but how difficult to get out of it...even after you realize it brings mo satisfaction at all. Only Aslan could rid him of his dragoness. What a wonderful, but perhaps, too suble touch for a world trying to redeem themselves their own way.
Brilliant!
Posted by: Grampa D | January 07, 2011 at 07:22
Thanks for the great comment, Grampa D.
Have you read the Voyage Of The Dawn Treader?
Posted by: Mr. D | January 07, 2011 at 07:55
I would like to propose not to hold back until you earn enough amount of cash to buy goods! You can just get the loan or secured loan and feel yourself free
Posted by: STEINLeann | February 23, 2011 at 20:02
I grew up with the BBC versions of the Narnia books, having read the books first. Tonight I'm watching the Voyage of the Dawn Treader film with some of the youth group I'm co-running. I can but hope the positive comments shine through! Kirsty
Posted by: kirsty newton | April 30, 2011 at 12:52