Movie Review: <em> The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader</em>

By Bill Wine
KYW Newsradio 1060

Certainly passable as kidflicks or family outings, the earnest Narnia fantasy adventures get the job done, but don't stick to the ribs or in the memory the way, say, the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movies do.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005) and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008), both based on the series of 1950s books by CS Lewis, were epic fantasies about escaping from daunting reality via magical passageways to alternate universes and magical kingdoms that also served as Christian allegories.

Dominated to a fault by combat action and special effects, they succeeded as handsome spectacles but struggled as emotionally involving tales about courage and loyalty. Each installment offered visuals stronger than the narrative that contained them and each lost something in the translation and overstayed its welcome at least a little.

The same things could be said about the third and possibly final installment, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. It's of most compelling interest and probable enjoyment to young completists who have seen and enjoyed the first two adventures and would fancy a return to Narnia.

Like its predecessor, this sequel is pretty much equal.  And -- stop me if you've heard this before -- this one's in 3-D.

This time out, Edmund and Lucy Prevencie (Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley), with their older siblings off to America, revisit the fictional world of Narnia, accompanied by their obnoxious and disbelieving cousin Eustace (Will Poulter), with whom they live in England during the early days of World War II.

They enter through the portal of a painting on their bedroom wall, to be welcomed as royalty and join forces with Caspian (Ben Barnes), now the king, aboard his royal ship on a treacherous journey in search of seven swords belonging to the seven lords his uncle banished when he usurped the throne.

A host of mythical creatures and supernatural happenings as well as some familiar old friends await them on their lots-larger-than-life adventure.

Versatile veteran Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist, Coal Miner's Daughter, The World is Not Enough, Enigma) takes over the directorial reins from Andrew Adamson, and does a workmanlike (as opposed to inspired) job of delivering a finished product that has superior production values and little electrifying spark.

The special effects are certainly adroitly handled, but they eventually consume the story instead of merely supporting it.  And the dialogue, shaped for easy consumption by young viewers, has a few too many wooden or awkward stretches.

Still, there's enough visual stimulation to keep the easy-come, easy-go narrative from seeming befuddling.

With box-office returns for the second installment much lower than those of the first, this third voyage just might, depending on its commercial acceptance, signal the end of the film series.

True, there are four more books that could be adapted if there is a reversal of fortune, but it must be said that even by the third dip in this on-screen pool, all the supposedly extraordinary and magical happenings seem head-scratchingly commonplace.

So we'll triple 2½ stars out of 4 for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  This middling, by-the-numbers third journey will offer closure to those who see it as the end of a trilogy, re-whet the appetite of those who just cannot get enough of Narnia, or stand as a trip to the well once too often for enough-already viewers like this one.