On the high seas with the dawn treader

The Chronicles of Narnia Voyage of the Dawn Treader

This book marks the last official adventure for the youngest two Pevensies, Lucy and Edmund. The next 4 books of the Narnia series kind of go into the actual first induction into the world of narnia but that comes later.

In this book Susan and Peter are in America with their father, WWII is still going on and the Pevensie children have been separated by the Atlantic ocean. The movie starts with Edmund trying to sign up for the war effort(like many other young boys of his day, it was a common occurrence in America too where young men would falsify their ages) and Lucy walking up and basically ratting him out. As has been the case through the first two books The Pevensies are staying with relatives. This time their Cousin Eustace, Eustace seems to be a "logical" type, kind of Ebeneezer Scroogish. He does not seem to be too interested in flights of fancy, he is a rather neat little boy(brags later on in the movie about winning his schools hygiene award 2 years in a row), who collects bugs and has a thing for sweets. Our first introduction to Eustace has him writing in his journal complaining about his annoying cousins and wishing that he could treat them like he does his bugs.

After an argument between the cousins Lucy and Peter adjourn to an upstairs bedroom where they speak about missing Narnia, when Lucy notices a ship in an ocean painting. She remarks that it looks like a Narnian ship with brings Eustace into the bedroom to complain about them constantly talking about their insane fantasy world. Eustace is tired of their prattling on and him and Edmund start having a row while Lucy continues to stare at the painting, all the sudden water starts running out of the picture. Lucy tries to get Edmund's attention but of course he and Eustace are still going at it, that is until the water splashes onto he and Eustace. Eustace panics, so they fight over the painting it gets tossed on the floor the room fills with water over their heads, they swim up out of the water only to be on the open sea. Now any who have read the books or seen the previous movies know once the impossible happens you are of course in the land of Narnia. They come up for air in front of the ship Lucy and Edmund had notice in the picture.

Now there are usually rules for the Sons of Adam and the Daughters of Eve coming to Narnia, usually it means Narnia is in need of help. Except this time when the are pulled onto the ship by King Caspian and crew well it seems that Narnia is in pretty good shape(or at least as far as the king knows). It seems that Caspian has been running successful military campaigns to reunite the many countries of Narnia that were broken up when his uncle started his wars against the magical folk. Caspian has decided to go on a Voyage to find the 7 lords who had run off when his Uncle took power in fear for their lives. They arrive at the Lone Islands to see what seems to be a deserted land, Caspian, Eustace, Edmund and Lucy travel inland while leaving some of the crew members and the brave Reepicheep the heroic talking mouse(from the prince Caspian story) to secure the boats. They enter a large tower where they are set upon by bandits, and while they appear to be fighting bravely against them(and possibly winning, Caspian, Edmund, and Lucy are used to fighting battles against overwhelming odds) until Eustace is brought in as a captive(this is Eustace's first trip into Narnia so he has yet to be trained with a sword and is not the world's most apt fighter).  Edmund and Caspian are put into the dungeon while Lucy and Eustace are most likely going to be sold by the slavers.

The next day comes Lucy is auctioned off and Eustace is on the block, Edmund and Caspian are being moved when the crew comes to the rescue, but while the crew has come to the rescue Narnia's rulers now realize why they are all here, there is some weird green mist that is kidnapping people and they must travel east in the Dawn Treader to try and find the causes of this great evil. For those who do not know the children are brought into Narnia when the land needs them and they need to learn a lesson or two.

The basic premise of this book is that Edmund, Lucy and also Caspian have been doubting themselves Edmund his worth since he is the younger brother. Peter was always in charge, Peter was the one everyone looked to when decisions needed to be made, and now coming back the king is Caspian he may be High King Edmund but he still has to answered to the much younger Caspian(I say much younger because time moves differently in Narnia than it does on earth, between their first foray into Narnia and meeting Caspian I think 400 years plus had passed in Narnia.). Lucy does not feel her value and wishes to be her older sister Susan, as she is starting to become a young woman the beautiful Susan is her idol. Caspian the young King misses his father and doubts his role as king and this seems to be just the mission to show them all who they are and how valuable.

There is a mysterious evil far to the east almost to the land of Aslan, and they must place seven swords at Aslan's table to break the spell.

This book would be the one where folks could really point to and say this is the proof that these are books basically using christian doctrine/mythology to tell a children's story. I really like the way the directors have stuck so closely to the books with these movies(I haven't read the books in at least 3 years), I noticed a lot of silly almost unnecessary moments in these movies that help you fall in love with characters in a book but are often left out of the movies because of well the attention constraints of the audience. The building of the relationship between Eustace and Reepicheep, Eustace finding his courage, the whole further quest to Aslan's country.  These books have endured for decades, I say the subject matter speaks for itself let the movie draw people in the same way.

This is a good movie, I was ready to be hard on this movie because of the last few "aimed at children, from successful childrens franchises" movies that have come out where basically the adults turned them into merchandising fests and ignored the story. Once again though I have been pleasantly surprised by their dedication to the story, and the characters. yes some things have been cut out, things are always cut out, some things were expedited slightly, but no so egregiously that you can't enjoy the story whether a newbie or someone who has read this books from early childhood and is seeing the movies in their 30's. The lion, the witch, and the wardrobe has been animated many times, acted out in live action as well. As I own a compilation book I of course know how the story ends. IF they do all 7 movies I will be happy, it was a good story and I love how it is all wrapped up in the end.

If you have a problem with magic, mysticism, mythological creatures and fantasy settings don't go watch this movie with your closed mind, you will not understand it. Hell by the time you got to the last book and realized what this story was really about it would have been such a waste of your time to have to backtrack and apologize for your tunnel vision that I'd rather not even have you begin the journey. If you have an open mind, are a fan of CS Lewis' work, or enjoy entering fantasy worlds go see this movie, hell take your kids.It's a good story, with a decent message, and a plot that will keep you guessing til the end