CINEMA: The Chronicles of Narnia – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The third trip to Narnia proves to be the most enjoyable yet with laughs, spills, adventure, monsters and truly wonderful 3D.

This time around it is only the younger two Pevensie siblings — Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) — who make the journey to the magical land where creatures can speak, but they are not alone because their objectionable cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) finds himself unwillingly coming along for the ride.

The three children are sucked into a picture of a ship and find themselves aboard the Dawn Treader, Prince Caspian’s (Ben Barnes) magnificent vessel, bound on a journey into the unknown. Seven noble lords, along with their magical swords, have gone missing and Caspian needs to find them to battle an evil which is threatening to engulf Narnia. The children have to help him on his quest and while Lucy and Edmund throw themselves into the task with enthusiasm, Eustace whines, moans and makes a nuisance of himself. However, as the journey continues and the danger mounts with deadly green sea fog, fearsome sea serpents and fire-breathing dragons, young Eustace learns some rather painful life lessons.

The CGI is truly magnificent and magically transports you straight into this make believe world. In fact, the movie proves to be so engrossing the almost two hour running time flashes by. Will Poulter, who was so good in Son of Rambow, shows real winning talent here as his snotty Eustace really is snotty, before he effortlessly transforms before your eyes into a young man of a totally different calibre.

Director Michael Apted steers a very steady ship, keeping the scenes where the children learn sometimes painful things about their own personalities well balanced by the action segments and overall this is a warmly enjoyable, satisfying film for all age groups, although very young children may find the sea serpent rather scary.