zkonedog A few years back, I was absolutely transfixed as Hollywood magic brought to life my childhood recollections of Narnia's "Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe". Sadly, that effort was followed by the less- than-stellar "Prince Caspian" . Luckily, "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" brings back the old Narnian magic in this installment!For a basic plot summary, "Voyage" sees the younger Pevensie siblings, Edmund (Skander Keynes) & Lucy (Georgie Henley), as well as their cousin Eustace (Will Poulter), once again drawn back into Narnia in order to help Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes) defeat the last remaining threat to Narnian peace by sailing towards Aslan Country in search of lost citizens.The action/adventure is breathtaking and is a great change-of-pace from the slogging "Caspian". The visuals are stunning and should be viewed in HD if at all possible. Plus, the general storyline is taken from what is considered to be one of the better Narnia novels, so it is filled with imaginative twists/turns/characters that will keep you in awe. Basically, this film really brought Narnia "alive" for me again.All of that being said, "Dawn Treader" is still a child's movie through and through. It isn't real "deep" (just like its novel counterpart), but that allows it to appeal to a very wide audience.Thus, watch this one with the kiddies or just watch it alone with nostalgia...it really doesn't matter! I just hope that this installment will find success and allow the remaining four novels to also be translated onto the big screen. It might not be as good as "Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe", but it really gets the franchise back on the right track.

Filipe Neto This movie is the adaptation of a C.S. Lewis book. In this film, Lucy and Edmund Pevensie return to Narnia, for the last time, accompanied by an inconvenient and annoying cousin named Eustace, to assist Caspian to find seven lords of Telmar who disappeared at sea.Directed by Michael Apted, it has screenplay by Michael Petroni, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The cast was headed by Georgie Henley (Lucy), Skandar Keynes (Edmund), Ben Barnes (Caspian), Will Poulter (Eustace) and also features the voices of Eddie Izzard (Reepicheep) and Liam Neeson (Aslan)."Chronicles of Narnia" is a trilogy that started badly and ended worse. If the first two films were bad due to the inability to properly explore the original books and the incompetence of the director and writing team, they knew at least compensate it: the quality of the actors and their performances, the costumes and extraordinary scenery or the bright and colorful picture were aspects that granted a certain beauty for these movies that managed to forget the mistakes and made them into something good. Well, if they were not completely good, at least they were acceptable or reasonable. This film does not. This film ran over C. S. Lewis with the force of a train and just rewrote the story. I was not there to see it, but I bet that was Michael Petroni's fault because, back in 2002, he had done much the same thing in "Queen of the Damned", which I consider the worst vampire movie ever, even worse than the Hammer's B movies of the seventies. So, I believe Petroni loves to destroy books in the movies... but, if Petroni is relapsing into this crime, the remaining writers are, at least, accomplices in "literary murder", as the director, who would have certainly done better if he had made another movie with monkeys! In addition to the rewriting of the history, this film has other flaws: the special effects are unconvincing and the climax of the film is an unusual fight against an evil island, which makes no sense because the film does not explain anything or put things in context.This film, however, we need to recognize the quality of the sceneries and wardrobe, and above all the excellent performances of the actors. Ben Barnes, in particular, greatly improved his Caspian, now without that weird accent and a greater psychological depth. Absolutely amazing was Will Poulter, who made a superb interpretation and has shown that it may prove to be an excellent actor when he reaches his maturity.

Python Hyena The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010): Dir: Michael Apted / Cast: Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter / Voices: Liam Neeson: While considerably weaker than the previous two films, this adventure about finding self focuses on Edmund and Lucy's return to the magical land of Narnia, which is accomplished through a water painting. They are joined reluctantly by their uptight cousin Eustace. From there they embark upon a voyage that involves a green mist that brings reality to their greatest fears. Director Michael Apted has accomplished much in his long career with films such as Coal Miner's Daughter and Amazing Grace but here he is backed by phenomenal special effects that highlight the dangerous voyage of sea serpents, dragons, treasure, and the invaluable presence of the lion Aslan. The screenplay unfortunately is not as tight as previous films although the leads are on top. Georgie Henley as Lucy desires the beauty of her sister Susan but must learn to accept herself as is. Skandar Keynes as Edmund struggles with greed and the position in Narnia verses his home life on Earth. Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian is underwritten here and only seem along for the ride. The biggest problem is Will Poulter's stern bully attitude as Eustace that is forced and over the top. His dragon transformation bares interests but his switch to nobleman seems predictable and contrived. Liam Neeson once again provides the wisdom of Aslan. Corny and beneath the other two, otherwise this outing is an entertaining quest of the inner struggle of self. Score: 7 ½ / 10

LoveIsAStateOfMind 1. My first feature film in 3D. Honestly don't know what the fuss is about. The 10% of the time that the 3D-ness was actually used, it was pretty cool but most of the time, it's just an excuse to charge more for the ticket. I mean the adverts that came before used more of the whole 3D effect.2. Lucy's obsession with wanting to look like Susan was a bit weird. Lucy actually ~becoming~ Susan was even weirder. Still, it meant that we had Anna Popplewell on screen. (Has anyone read the book more recently than me and can tell me how close the film followed the book and what was changed? Was this entire storyline completely invented?) 3. The picture Lucy had of Susan and Peter in the photo frame in her room was one of my favourite behind-the-scenes photos 4. Cousin Eustace was really annoying for the first half of the film but then *spoiler* happened and he was less annoying.5. Caspian/Edmund vying for power .... total throw back to Caspian/Peter having the same fight. Edmund has a serious inferiority complex. He was much less annoying in this film though.6. Tilda Swinton always freaks me out.7. Reepicheep and Aslan ..... SO FREAKING CUTE. Yes, I know that they are animated characters but I want to hug them.8. Most importantly, WHAT THE FLIPPING HELL HAPPENED TO CASPIAN'S DODGY European ACCENT?!?!?!?!? He's back to being British all of a sudden! Did they watch Prince Caspian through and realise how awful it was that they just decided to scrap it?! HAVE THEY HEARD OF CONTINUITY???!?!?!?!?! Is there an interview out there where this question is brought up? Please say there is! (ETA: Found it ....... they just realised that CS Lewis was a quintessentially English writer which is why the Telmarines became British instead of some flavour of Spanish all of a sudden?!?!?!).Anyone else feel like this film was Pirates Of The Caribbean meets The Hobbit meets Harry Potter (especially that scene in the Magician's House) with a tiny bit of Narnia thrown in for good measure? Lol. It was good, though. The CG work was amazing.