The Chronicles of Narnia- Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Dawn Treader, the third big-budget adaption of C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, follows Edmund, Lucy and annoying cousin, Eustace, as they journey with Prince Caspian through the outer reaches of Narnia. While in the book, the islands are only loosely related to each other, the movie unifies them by adding a new concept, the “green mist”. This new addition, although not in the book, ties the movie together nicely. The “green mist” appears many times throughout, indicating evil, but Aslan’s presence is also felt throughout. All through the movie, especially with Lucy, this good vs evil is played out. We can easily see this struggle in our world as we combat temptation. This movie, much more than the previous one, Prince Caspian, has strong and very apparent Christian themes. Aslan even says, “You must learn My name in your world.” Although The Dawn Treader is not entirely true to its source, what it had done with the story in necessary, and still retains much of the essence of the book. While a book can slowly build its characters, and shift through the story gradually, a movie must maintain its audience. Many elements of the books are there, but instead of small episodes on each island, it is rolled into a complete package. The movie definitely retains the message of the book, if not the plot line. Finally, the movie provides a great ride through the magical world of Narnia. It has taken the book, and turned it into a great movie. Along the way, it keeps many of the themes from the book, turning the movie into not just another “quest” movie, but a great Christian movie.
