AMPLIFY

(was going to be but the computer wouldn't let me :-( )

My review of Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the movie).

My overall take on the movie (henceforth known as Treader): ehh...pretty good (which is not bad coming from me, especially as an adaptation of a book :-) 'my brethren, let us not all be book adaptations, for they shall receive stricter judgment' ...paraphrasing James 4 :-))

Personal opinion: moviemakers should hire literary analysts as consultants so they can know what message they are sending. Despite their attempts to stay close to the book, the events that the moviemakers chose to amplify and the storylines they diminished hindered their effectiveness in conveying Lewis' meaning. (Note: if you have neither read the book nor seen the movie this will probably not make sense to you. And if you haven't read the book... shame on you :-) Go read it :-))

Two examples of this, and then what I liked about the movie afterwards...
1) Eustace's dragoning and un-dragoning. We miss a lot of Eustace's emotion here, making his transformation less explainable, but that is not the fatal flaw of this plotline. First, they make Eustace spend a lot more time as a dragon than he did in the book. We'll get to why I don't like that in a minute :-). Second, the beautiful picture of salvation in the book is lost in the movie.
Instead of this scenario: Eustace, longing for the lovely bath in the pool, tries to shed his dragon skin time and again, but is unable. Finally, Aslan asks 'will you let me?' Eustace agrees, and Aslan strips him to the skin (awfully painful, but, O, the relief! Eustace expresses later) and then he can bathe, and is human again.
We have this scenario: Aslan scrapes his paw in the sand, which miraculously scrapes at Eustace as well, and he becomes human again.
2) The green mist. A lot has been made of this... "a disappointment to Lewis fans" etc. However, I don't consider it as much of an addition (as most see it) as an amplification again, this time of the dark island. In the book, the dark island is an instrument of fear and sin, just as the green mist/dark island is in the movie. I really don't have as much of an argument with its presence as with two components of the storyline involving it:
>Its temptation of Lucy is another amplification of a small incident in the book, but it is believable. Meanwhile, its temptation of Edmund (also based on a small incident in the book) is not very. What was portrayed in the book as bewitching by a magical pool (the swordfight between Caspian and Edmund) becomes part of a larger theme of Edmund's desire for power, yet unlike Lucy's temptation to be beautiful, Edmund's temptation doesn't ring true. It's probable, yes, in general, but not for Edmund. Choosing to use his haunting  by (I assume) the white witch (who offers him power) would have been better used to tempt him to despair because of past mistakes, which would have worked better with his personality and would resonate more with the viewers, I think.
>Its dispersal. In the book, they sail into the dark against their wishes and better judgment, only to despair. Lucy cries for help from Aslan and he sends a bird that leads them into the light and scatters the dark forever. In the movie, Eustace (freshly "undragoned") adds the final magical sword to the pile of magical swords, breaking the power of the darkness. This is part of the movie's emphasis on human volition, opposing Lewis' stress of human incompetence (hence my 'moviemakers need literary analysts' comment :-)). I'm not so much arguing with the need to cull material - even though the book is short, the movie still needs to be shorter, because it takes longer to convey information by hearing and watching - it's just that the particular events and interpretations they chose to cull were quite unfortunate :-).

However, I was generally pleased. I haven't seen either of the other Narnia movies, but I thought they did a good job portraying Narnia. The actor for Eustace was spot on; the other actors were also good. Reepicheep in particular was superb. I believe I will always think of the end of this movie when I hear of the death of a Christian. The picture of the fond leave-taking between the children and Caspian, and Reepicheep, then Reepicheep climbing into his coracle and sailing over the wave towards Aslan's country - sad to go, but so happy to be going - yes, that is a lovely picture of the death of a Christian. Remember that we, like Reepicheep, own the prophecy: "Where sky and water meet, Where the waves grow sweet, Doubt not, Reepicheep, To find all you seek, There is the utter East" (in other words, we will find "all we seek" in Heaven, "Aslan's country," "the utter East"). We may do many things, fight many battles, in Aslan's name, but in the end our lives are nothing but a journey ever "Eastward."

Onward!