The Sinking of the Dawn Treader

Two Saturdays ago our third (17) and I went to see The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ . It was playing at the Ambridge Family Theatre , a small theatre in a nearby town, which has about fourteen rows of eight seats each, facing a 12 x 6 screen, with an old-fashioned pressed tin ceiling. It’s a wonderfully American institution. We were the only two in the theatre, for the last showing, but they very nicely played the movie anyway.

Anyway, the movie was, I thought . . . really bad. Now, before some of you start, I know a movie has to differ from a book, and so on. Of course. But there are differences and there are differences. I was there for a night out with my daughter, so didn’t keep notes, but here in broad terms is my reaction:

There was the Hollywoodized philosophy inserted into the movie, especially the introduction of Hollywood platitudes of the “Be yourself” sort. The only actual Lewisian idea in the movie was the retaining of Aslan’s remark at the end to the children about knowing him in Narnia in order to know him in their world. Which I’ve always thought was a weakness in the book, actually, but at least the director kept it. But the Aslan in the movie is not really a character that would lead one to think of Christ, so keeping it didn’t gain us much.

The Hollywoodized philosophy was bad enough, but they didn’t offer a very good story either. It is an episodic book but the  movie was even moreso, put together with separate set pieces with no real drive, even though nearer the end they tried to introduce a plot that would pull you through with a ridiculous and cliched plot device of the heroes having to collect seven swords in order to prevent evil from completely triumphing over  the world (another cliche). And none of the episodes themselves were adequately developed. The scene with the Dufflepods was particularly lame.

And then there were all the visual cliches, like the curling green smoke, and Eustace’s rising into the air and exploding into flame in the de-dragoning scene, and the dark island complete with lightening, and the fight with the sea serpent. And lots of others I’ve forgotten.

All that aside, though, what is most disappointing (or annoying, depending on your personality) is the rejection of the book’s ideas, which served no cinematic purpose. They could have made the same slambang Hollywood movie with just a few brief conversations from the book and without the “Just be yourself” stuff, and at least, thinking of it from the investors’ point of view, made the Christian viewers happy without bothering anyone else.

But also, ideas are interesting, and dramatically interesting. The movie shows Reepicheep sailing away at the end, for example, which would have been much more effective if he’d been allowed to articulate his desire earlier in the movie. Instead, you just have an adventurous mouse sailing into the unknown.

My daughter nailed it, I think. She liked the movie more than I did, but said that if she hadn’t read the books, she’d have thought it a better than average Disney movie. That is not a compliment. I’m hoping these people can’t afford to make another one.