My Thoughts on "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

D'Angelo and I decided to go see a movie today and this weekend's pick ended up being "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" -- which is a really, really long title, IMHO.  I wanted to bring Leslie along, but he opted to stay home and play video games, for what it's worth.  Here's the nutshell: Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia along with her peevish cousin Eustace (AKA Eustace the Useless) to be reunited with King Caspian on an epic journey to locate seven missing lords and to visit the lion kind Aslan's homeland.  They travel the seas on the Dawn Treader, served by a host of human sailors, a minotaur, and a talking mouse named Reepicheep.

The movie is based off C.S. Lewis' book by the same name.  I've read the book at least three or four times in my lifetime, but it's been a while.  It would have been instructive to have re-read the book before seeing the movie, if only to see what's been changed and what hasn't.  However, a quick review of the book's wikipedia summary confirmed my sagging recollection that the book was less about saving Narnia and more about mapping out the uncharted oceans.

I was surprised at how much D'Angelo really didn't enjoy the movie.  He didn't hate, but he certainly didn't love it.  He enjoyed the big serpent battle at the end, as well as the random bits of comedy spattered throughout the film.  Beyond that, however, he wasn't into the film.  I, on the other hand, really had a good time.  I enjoyed watching the movie and witnessing the transformation of one of my favorite childhood books from the written page to cinema realization.  I thought that the actor hired to play cousin Eustace Scrubb (William Porter) was inspired.  I'm also continuously impressed by the level of special effects employed in movies these days.  Reepicheep's inclusion always felt natural to me and never the product of inserted computer animation.  I now believe a mouse can fence...

I found the storyline easy to follow and I don't believe that someone with no previous knowledge of the Narnia books or prior movies would have that much difficulty settling into this tale.  The Voyage of the Dawn Treader clocks in just under two hours and seemed to exercise a fairly comfortable pace throughout the film... to me, at least.  D'Angelo did find it plodding at points, such as when Lucy began playing around with incantations on the ship.  All in all, I would recommend this movie to those looking for a little adventure.

Favorite Trailer:  "Thor" is looking pretty good to me.  This movie adaptation of Marvel Comics' Asgardian superhero seems to have it all: Gods, Magic, Adventure, and Explosions.  Plus, Thor looks pretty hot.

Fun Pre-Movie Story:  D' and I got to the mall a bit early and decided to wonder around a bit.  Keep in mind that it'd been raining pretty steady all day and we were both pretty wet.  Anyway, we came across one of those "Hurricane Winds" machines and decided on a whim to experience hurricane-strength winds for $2.  It was a fun experience, though I found myself wishing for a little more.  However,... that machine did wonders for blow-drying our soaked hair and also managed to mostly dry off my wet jacket.  It was pretty nice going to the movie with dry hair and clothing.  :)