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The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader DVD and Blu-ray set for April

Liam Goodwin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:44:46 +0000

20th Century Fox has announced that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be hitting DVD and Blu-ray April 8th.

Unfortunately for the studio the franchise continued its downward trend at the box office with Voyage making $370 million compared to Prince Caspian‘s $420 million. Although Fox shouldn’t be too disappointed as it was their first movie to pass $100 million in the US since Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel 13 months previous.

No word yet if they will be moving forward with The Silver Chair, but they will likely be waiting on the DVD and Blu-ray sales. Speaking of which, check out the specifications below:

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

Ben Pearson — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 02:05:43 +0000

In what could be the final movie in The Chronicles of Narnia series, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader brings the same epic scale we’ve come to expect from the first two movies and provides a satisfying (possible) conclusion to the film series based on C.S. Lewis’ classic novels.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always my favorite book of the series, so it stands to reason I was more optimistic about this film than the ones that came before it. To be clear, I’m a fan of both previous movies - Prince Caspian more so than The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Director Andrew Adamson is replaced by former James Bond director Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough), and Apted doesn’t skip a beat making this feel right at home in the Narnia series. The tone, visual style, and effects are a perfect fit with the rest of the movies, and though the story is incredibly derivative from seemingly every fantasy story ever told, I still think this is my favorite among the three movies.

This story follows the younger Pevensie siblings Edmund (Skander Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) while they’re stationed in England during WWII. Their older brother and sister have been shipped off to America, but the former King and Queen of Narnia must stay behind, living with their insufferable cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) until they can travel stateside safely. When all three of them are suddenly consumed by the waves of a strange painting hanging in their home, they surface in Narnia, where King Caspian (Ben Barnes) is leading a ship called The Dawn Treader to find seven lost lords as an all-consuming darkness sweeps the land.

Apted does a fantastic job of translating this story to the big screen, and the addition of 3D fits pretty well in this world. Excusing some focus issues and slight blurriness at times, the 3D was well-executed and didn’t distract from the story or feel like a cash grab. The visual effects were surprisingly impressive, from the opening painting scene featured in the trailers to the sweeping vistas of the magical land in which the story takes place. Make no mistake, this is no How To Train Your Dragon – but it’s solid 3D in a movie climate that seems content with dumping crappy 3D on patrons and expecting congratulations for doing so. More impressive even than the visual effects was the way Apted framed the action, avoiding shaky camera work in favor of geographical awareness (a decision which almost always features the best possible outcome). An escape sequence on a seemingly deserted island was especially well choreographed.

Because the film centers around the youngest siblings, it features a great deal of “growing pain” scenes, in which Edmund and Lucy must overcome adversity and mature into adults, mirroring the same scheme used with Peter and Susan in Prince Caspian. For the most part, these moments are well-handled, though the premise of a darkness sweeping the land that tempts people is a bit heavy-handed. Speaking of this evil-incarnate, it serves multiple purposes in the film, from consuming human sacrifices to – in a move straight out of Ghostbusters - taking on the form of whatever fears it. It also appears as a green version of the Smoke Monster from LOST, which was almost as laughable as the concept of the smoke itself. Aside from that aspect being a little too on the nose, I didn’t have many problems with the rest of the movie.

Will Poulter has an interesting arc as the annoying cousin, Eustace Scrubb. He spends the first half of the film begging the audience to murder him with their minds thanks to his brash personality and haughty sense of higher intelligence. But as the movie progresses and he undergoes a bit of a transformation (I won’t ruin it in case you check it out), he actually becomes not only tolerable, but actually empathetic. His relationship with the brave mouse Reepicheep becomes a focal point of the movie and is one of the more entertaining elements on display.

Ben Barnes continues to stand out as Caspian, and I honestly believe he has that movie-star quality about him that could easily earn him some choice roles in the coming years. I expect great things from him, and expect this guy to quickly become a rising star in Hollywood. The other actors bring their same acting styles from the earlier films across here, which is to say that they are adequate but not breathtaking. Voice work from Liam Neeson and Simon Pegg was as good as you’d expect from actors of their stature, although Neeson’s role is much more brief than previous installments in this franchise.

I haven’t read the book on which this is based in probably 15 years, so I can’t speak to the accuracy in that regard, but the film version basically presents us with an alternate telling of Homer’s The Odyssey. By sea, the crew travels to various lands in search of these lost lords and is tested at every turn, from magic spells to cursed food and everything in between in a morality tale about having faith and overcoming temptation. Since The Odyssey is one of my favorite stories, that explains my enjoyment of this movie. The same themes are present to a degree; actions have consequences in Narnia, a lesson learned for when the characters return to the real world.

Issues of faith are tackled head on, with the film embracing its Christian undertones – let’s face it, overtones – and though this movie borders on sanctimonious at times, I didn’t think it ever crossed the line into being overly preachy. This series has proudly flown its flag from the beginning, so you know what you’re getting yourself into here: if you can’t handle a little positivity in your movies, stay home for this one.

The film plays an interesting game in its final minutes, effectively wrapping up the Pevensie storyline but leaving an opening for another sequel just in case this one makes bank at the box office. If I were to guess, I’d say this is the last we see of Narnia until the inevitable reboot in 10 years, and I’m OK with that. If you have kids, or you’re a sucker for adventure tales, I’m sure you’ll find something to enjoy with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Until next time…

First Transformers 3 trailer will come with Narnia and Tron Legacy

Liam Goodwin — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 17:42:40 +0000

In a message on his official message boards Transformers: Dark of the Moon director Michael Bay confirmed that we will be getting our first look at the third Transformers movie with The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Tron Legacy next month.

Bay also addressed speculation that the movie was having 3D problems:

Okay Mr. Bay, 3D it is.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be released on December 10th, so we can expect the Transformers 3 trailer to appear online around then.

In the movie the Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a perilous space race between the U.S. and Russia, and once again human Sam Witwicky has to come to the aid of his robot friends. LaBeouf, who admitted he wasn’t impressed with the second film, said “there’s going to be a lot of death, human death. This time, they’re targeting humans,” and says “It’s going to be the craziest action movie ever made, or we failed.”

New trailer for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Liam Goodwin — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:23:44 +0000

20th Century Fox has released a new trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which is probably the best one yet. There are many new shots, including a great one of Eustace (as a dragon) and Aslan on the beach. We also see a quick shot of Susan and Peter.

Watch below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8Ntey7G5E

Here’s the synopsis for the film, which will be released on December 10th:

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International The Voyage of the Dawn Treader trailer

Liam Goodwin — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 18:14:11 +0000

20th Century Fox hasn’t been promoting The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader a whole lot, but with around 2 months until its release the marketing will no doubt ramp up.

Today sees the release of a new international trailer for the film, which contains a lot of new footage and as the special effects will be near completion by now we get to see a few interesting money shots.

Watch the trailer below:

Here’s the synopsis for the film, which will be released on December 10th:

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Second trailer for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Liam Goodwin — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 08:20:41 +0000

20th Century Fox has placed a new trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader on the DVD for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It lasts about a minute and five seconds in total, and it includes some new footage which wasn’t in the first trailer we got in June.

Here’s the synopsis for the film, which will be released on December 10th:

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First trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Liam Goodwin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:59:19 +0000

20th Century Fox has released the first official trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It looks a lot like the previous films despite the franchise being under new ownership, and we even see familiar faces such as Tilda Swinton as the White Witch along with a quick shot of Susan and Peter.

Watch below:

Here’s the synopsis for the film, which will be released on December 10th:

Dawn Treader trailer coming soon

Liam Goodwin — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 19:42:34 +0000

According to The Lion’s Call the first official trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will premiere on June 18th with Toy Story 3. The third Toy Story film will probably be the biggest family movie of the year, so this is a good move by new owners 20th Century Fox.

Fox took over the film after Disney felt Prince Caspian underperformed. It took over $400 million worldwide, but compared to the $750 million made by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe it was seen as a disappointment.

The same cast and producing team are behind Voyage of the Dawn Treader so it should look and feel the same, although there have been a few changes, such as the accent of (now) King Caspian played by Ben Barnes.

Barnes told Mouth Magazine:

Here’s the synopsis for the film, which will be released on December 10th:

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Voyage of the Dawn Treader poster

Liam Goodwin — Sat, 15 May 2010 09:18:37 +0000

20th Century Fox has unveiled the first bit of marketing for The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader in the form of a poster.

In 2008 Disney made the mistake of releasing Prince Caspian in the summer amidst competition from the likes of Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It took over $400 million worldwide, but compared to the $750 million made by The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe it was seen as a disappointment by Disney who bailed on a third film.

20th Century Fox, who were keen on landing a profitable fantasy franchise, stepped in to produce Voyage of the Dawn Treader and set a release date for December 10th 2010. It’s only major competition is Tron Legacy which, along with a more suitable release date, means the third film should do better than Prince Caspian.

Here’s the synopsis:

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The Voyage of the Dawn Treader begins filming

Liam Goodwin — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 19:09:31 +0000

Today filming on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader began in Australia, which I am sure fans will be pleased to hear. Disney ditched the Narnia franchise last year and 20th Century Fox stepped in to fund the film and swiftly set a release date of December 10th 2010. They had to act quickly otherwise the child actors would undertake the natural process of ‘ageing’, which would royally screw things up if they left it too late.

From ComingSoon:

Michael Apted (The World Is Not Enough) will be taking over directing duties from Andrew Adamson, who will be producing.

Disney made a mistake by releasing Prince Caspian in the summer amidst competition from the likes of Iron Man and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. At the moment The Voyage of the Dawn Treader‘s only competition is The Smurfs, which shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

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