Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1989) Well this was one of the hardest parts of the book series for me to read and even as a motion picture it was kind of slow. I think all the children did a better job performing in this movie than in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The animated effects were of greater quality in this installment of the miniseries as well. Again the filmmakers were very true to the story penned by Lewis and deserved commendation for that. Again my kids enjoyed the story but since it was painfully slow and at times the film didn't hold their attention quite the same as The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

"Prince Caspian" and "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" should be reviewed separately, as they are patently separate installments of the Narnia saga.

"Prince Caspian"

A rather expositionary chapter in the series of seven stories, tying in the "Lion, The Witch..." with later chapters, by phasing out Peter and Susan and introducing Caspian. The production, viewed twelve years after I saw it as a child, is rather disappointing, with no sense of spectacle or proportion at all conveyed. Particularly, the locations used for Narnia are distinctly unimpressive, dour and unsuitable; not beautiful enough at all. The budget for this story was clearly kept to minimum to save for the following comparative epic. What we get is a fairly drab English wood in glum weather conditions. The acting is far from compelling here, with the good but misguided dwarf whose name evades me at present particularly unimpressive, and the badger unimposing. The voices are often inappropriately jokey and lightweight - the dwarves and the badger set. Of course, Aslan is well voiced indeed, by Ronald Pickup, but is rendered immobile by the impracticalities of the B.B.C. producing a talking, walking lion... Miraz, is as Caspian effectively says at one point ("The witch is an evil a thousand times worse than Miraz!") composed of small-fry villainy. The duel between Peter and Miraz is laughably free of any suspense and power. One thing that stands out is that Susan has virtually nothing to do or say at all in this two-part story, and seems tangibly redundant. The main memorable scene, though, is a classic of sorts. It involves "a hag and a werewolf" getting up to some devillry trapped in a cave with Caspian and others. The acting by Barbara Kellerman as the witch is completely OTT and simple words are dragged out to accommodate innumerable syllables; "Who-oo-oo e-e-e-ev-err-r her-er-r-eard o-of a-a wi-i-i-tch that re-e-ea-eally di-iiieeed...!" lunacy! Could have done with being underplayed, and it would have been more successfully scary, although as a child I was scared by this scene, although it was the sombre, weird-looking werewolf creature who disturbed most I suspect. Overall, this story is frankly inconsequential, and just useful for that scene and its exposition, setting things up for the next tale. While far from the best book, it could have been done better than it is here; a very mediocre production.

Rating:- ** 1/2/*****

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"

Where to start? This four-parter is immensely superior in every way to "Prince Caspian". The then-still-flourishing B.B.C. children's drama department shrewdly and inventively dramatized a marvellous book, the fifth in the Narnia series, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader", which ties in the Narnia ethos with a strong impression of Homer's epic narrative poem, "The Odyssey". Each of the islands visited on King Caspian's ambitious voyage is well conveyed, and unique, helped by wise choices of sublime locations, plain good writing and music. The Lone Islands, controlled ineptly by the wonderfully named "Governor Gumpas", and filmed around Sicily I think, are well created; unlike "Prince Caspian" a sense of scale and culture is created, by some use of extras and a wide filming of areas of the island, including vinyards etc. The other islands, including the almost haunting "Goldwater Island", the Dragon one, the Magician one, filmed nicely at a Welsh country house and grounds, and the last one with the dining table, are all well conveyed. Importantly, the actors generally make the most of their parts all the way through this story. Samuel West, as Caspian, portrays him with the right combination of precocious arrogance, gravitas and good humour. Particularly good is John Hallam, playing the role of Capt. Drinian with a wonderful world-weary diction, steady wisdom and charm. He is a completely convincing character, unlike any in "Prince Caspian". Shame that Hallam seems to have had relatively few substantial film roles, as he really is a fine presence in this production. The great C.S. Lewis character, the noble, swashbuckling dreamer, the mouse Reepicheep (wonderfully named!), is wonderfully costumed and acted and voiced by Warwick Davies. His yearnings to see what is past "The end of the world" and Aslan's country, are compellingly conveyed, in verse ("...Where the waves grow sweet/Doubt not, Reepicheep/You'll find all you seek, there, in the utter East"...) and in Davies' likeable portrayal. His temper is short with the obnoxious Eustace constantly moaning on, and their confrontations are often downright hilarious. Eustace's obnoxious, spoiled English schoolboy characterisitics are well played by a child actor also physically perfect for the part. Even his transition towards becoming a well-behaving young chap is well conveyed. Lucy and Edmund aren't as interesting in this story as Eustace, but are reasonably worked into the plot. Lucy, though, is a little wearing in her habit of whining, I would have to say. Other members of the ship's crew are jovially played, as well as Preston Lockwood's magician and the fine Geoffrey Bayldon's star Ramandu, who has a splendid lyrical speech in the last episode when he describes his life. The quality of the incidental music should be noted, especially its hymnal, elegiac quality in the last installment of this four-part tale. The only downsides to this sublime production are the cliffhangers - which are often too similar to each other, usually involving a sea monster, and fail to match a good "Dr Who" surprise cliffhanger - and, the voices of the "Duffers" on the Magician's island are too jokey and distinctly colloquial. Overall, a wonderful sense of adventure and atmospheric mystique is created in this production, which adapts an intoxicating book full of sublime mystery as well as anyone could have expected. The gap in quality between this and "Prince Caspian" is tangible, but the whole series seems worthwhile. "The Voyage of the Dawntreader" is as good a nostalgic, escapist series as the generally well-written and underrated (by the B.B.C. notably) "Dr Who" (any fan of this should check out the Narnia adaptations and vice versa), and a tangible reminder of just how good the B.B.C. once was at making TV drama of all kinds...

Rating:- *****/*****

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a film was much easier to follow and understand than Prince Caspian and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The books are even easier to understand if I put it that way. I did understand the basic elements of the movie, though, and I also thought Samuel West (Prince Caspian) was pretty attractive, so, I said "What, the hell, I might as well.) 7.8 out of 10.

OK i'll review the two stories separately since they're both, well, separate

PRINCE CASPIAN:

well, the last BBC version was slow moving and drawn out so this one came across as really rushed and crammed. of course Prince Caspian is the weakest of the four books i've read and it doesn't look like much here.

the acting is very divided. the children are all a little older and more comfortable here. Peter's voice has finally broke so it helps improve how his lines sound anyway. Lucy and Susan are both better in this. Edmund's voice is a little weird and hard to take. now the kid playing Caspian is just...omfg. i can see why Disney went with an older actor for their Caspian since this kid is so bad. and there is no extra E in dwarfs, mate. i didn't realise Barbara Kellerman was back in this but it looks like she's calmed down a bit, playing the hag and actually coming across as creepy. its interesting that Trufflehunter was played by a woman, i liked that idea and 'Big Mick' as Trumpkin was good too. i hated Warwick Davis as Reepicheep simply because you cant think of him as a mouse, he stays a midget in a bad mouse costume. the actors playing Nikabrick and Miraz were decent.

the effects are meh. yet again they use hand drawn animation mingled in with live action but its not used as much here so it works.

the setting is very dull looking. i always thought of Narnia as being exotic but we just have a lot of plain English countrysides here. i do like the claustrophobic element of Aslan's How.

the fight between Miraz and Peter is just bad. no suspense and too quick. they are also missing the other huge battles that happened at the end of the book. and no river god either. when i first saw the end i was surprised how it set up the next one.

in short Prince Caspian comes bottom in the ranking of the BBC versions of the Chronicles of Narnia

VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER:

need i say "wow!"? this is excellent, best of all of them. it was the best book and they put tonnes of effort into this and it shows

the acting is great. Lucy has improved well and Edmund is decent. the boy playing Eustace does a good job too and the older Caspian knocks the younger one out of the water completely. too bad we have annoying life size Reepicheep again. the acting is terrible when Edmund and Caspian fight on the Deathwater island. i love this exchange: Edmund: "it's all quite plain. he came here on a hot day, took off his clothes, dived in--" Lucy: "Don't!" (her delivery is excellent)

the design for the ship is lovely and very detailed. each of the different places they visit look unique and interesting. another thing that makes this version great is that they only have one brief scene of cartoon animation.

the effects are strange. i was surprised they actually made a sea serpent and dragon to use. they didn't look real but they look better than the puppet Aslan. the scene in the dark island was excellently done.

one of the main reasons i think this worked is because Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a very episodic book and so works as a TV series. i was disappointed that they left out the bit with the mermaids though

What is the problem with this movie?? Not the acting, which is fantastic. Not the special effects, which are quite good. Not the general feel, which manages to truly capture the spirit of Lewis's books. No, the one problem with this fairly (if not entirely, but I am a nitpicker when it comes to faithfulness) close adaptation of Lewis's classic is its length. Prince Caspian is give hardly anytime at all to unfold, and seems more of a prologue to Dawn Treader than anything else. Dawn Treader is perhaps the best adapted of the four books, as it was easily the hardest and yet done exceedingly well. However, this is unbalanced by the shortness of Prince Caspian, which is nothing if not unmemorable. For anyone who has read the books, I think most would agree that the book Prince Caspian IS a weaker entry, but still, it needed more time than this. The whole thing is rushed with so little development that people who aren't familiar with the books won't know what is going on. So, here are my ratings: Prince Caspian: 2 out of 4 stars Dawn Treader: 4 out of 4 stars Combined: 2.5 out of 4 stars