We saw this movie last Sunday afternoon, along with a packed theater. I found it interesting that our local marquis advertised the film as “Chronicles of Narnia 3” instead of using the title, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.”
I was happy to see so many families watching it together, and I can only hope that the popularity of the films will spur people toward reading the book series by C.S. Lewis. (If you don’t already own it, the boxed set would make a nice Christmas present for someone on your list!)
Some of the action was intense, but we didn’t find it overly violent. I asked my second-grade son if the Sea Monster was too scary, and he said, “It wasn’t scary — it was AWESOME!”
I’m hopeful Walden Media will continue producing the remaining four books in the series. I know the young actors are growing up, so there’s little time to waste between filming. We’re looking forward to seeing “The Silver Chair” next!
Here’s a great interview with the President of Walden Media, Michael Flaherty, which shows you the heart behind the production of this movie. I especially love this quote:
…there are strong Christian themes in the book that were influenced by Lewis’ worldview. Further, Lewis’ main focus in writing “Dawn Treader” was “the spiritual life.” While every book encounters some changes from the page to the screen, we wanted to make sure that the themes that were important to Lewis – redemption, temptation, grace, and our yearning for our true home – were not only preserved, but amplified through the changes that we made with the script.
There were a number of lines from the book that were important to preserve verbatim as well. Most important are Aslan’s lines at the end when he tells Lucy “In your world I have a different name. You must learn to know me by it. That is the whole reason you came to Narnia. By knowing me better here you would know me better there.”
We felt a sacred trust with this scene not only to be faithful to the book, but to be faithful to all of Lewis’ writing.
I hope you have a chance to read this whole interview. Please encourage everyone you know who loves The Chronicles of Narnia to go see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. With kids out of school, this will give you and your family something fun to do together. I would love to hear what you think!
