Have you read The Voyage of the Dawn Treader?
If you haven’t, the time to do so is now. Because on December 10, the movie will arrive. (Fortunately, it’s a quick read.)
Want a preview? Well, here it is…
Ladies and gentlemen… I’m happy to introduce, by special arrangement with Walden Media, the first full trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader!
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader Official Teaser Trailer
I can’t get either the embedded video or the linked video to play. Is it “locked” until midnight or something?
Can’t wait! 🙂
I guess what bothers me is that the movies seem to be reinforcing Pulman’s worse allegations. Is a female witch always Lewis’ archvillain? At least by the end of the series we get Tash…But I’m not sure exaggerating the constancy of the White Witch/Jadis is true to the books in any shape way or form.
What, no shots of dragons? And hardly anything of Eustace Clarence Scrubb?
Huh. It looks great, but I don’t remember Jadis in this one.
Pulman’s book really didn’t impress me. Course, I was 12. Maybe. What’s wrong with a witch?
Course…I don’t recall any singular villain in this one. But it’s been awhile.
Sigh. I wish Tilda Swinton’s contract were cancelled as was the the White Witch’s in LWW 🙂 Also, the repeat of the “I am a King” but just a kid trope in England with Edmund is rather disappointing, too, in that it really does some injustice to the character of Edmund, who generally exhibits great humility (aside from a brief moment at Deathwater) learned from his experiences in the first book.
Josh, I don’t know much of of Pullman’s criticism. I imagine they included Ms. Swinton, though, to add dramatic tension and perhaps a more central climax to what is admittedly and episodic story. Plus, they may be wanting to establish a continuing villain aka, you know, the one who shall not be named. One brief shred of support for them in doing this is that Lewis does say that these witches never really die and that the Lady of the Green Kirtle in SC is of her ilk also. Still, I hate that they are choosing0 to do this. Especially as in this case it may really mess with VDT quite a bit and hide its many strengths and insights, especially as it relates to Eustace and his de-dragoning and the growth of other characters through their experiences.
The lilies in the Eastern ocean seem to be done quite well, but I wonder i they will find a fish cooking lamb on the shore 🙂
On second look, the White Witch seems to be in a dream sequence relating to the Dark Island where all of one’s nightmares come true, so there may be some room for them to run there, but, still, I just don’t know how conflicted a character Edmund is i.e. agonizing over the past.
And, yes, David, no dragon sightings at all is rather disconcerting.
I’m a bit confused by the inclusion of Peter and Susan at the end. Have they varied from the book that much?
I love all things C.S. Lewis and Narnia related! As for the White Witch is should at least be symbolically represented as she represents our arch enemy, Satan. Of course the movie will deviate somewhat from the book for artistic purposes and to fill in the folks who have never seen the previous movies or read the books. I say as long as the symbolisms and underlying themes are represented let the Director have his way!
Presumably the dragon CGI is far from complete. But seriously, does the Batman series use the Joker in every film? They need to stop trying to rerun TLTWATW and let each film stand on its own. Still–we need more Eustace.
Yeah, my oldest daughter was mortified/quite disappointed at what this trailer showed. Oh well – we all suspected that these movies were way off track since the first one, and Prince Caspian only confirmed this by going even further afield from the book (Caspian and Susan kissing? Come on, who thought that one up? Certainly not Lewis!) We’ll still see it, but it is indeed sad that more couldn’t be done/the screenplays couldn’t be closer to the books. And yes, jb, the appearance of Peter and Susan threw us for quite a loop as well – bummer, since they aren’t in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as a book.
A few thoughts:
1. This is what is called a “Teaser” trailer. It’s not a full, theatrical trailer that attempts to explain the plot of the film. A teaser is simple what it sounds like: It teases the viewer. It gives them a little peak at what the film will look like.
2. Peter and Susan are not in this film as primary characters. The actors are not part of this film. The shots of them are most likely a dream sequence or something similar. The reason Fox is using shots of Peter, Susan, and the White Witch in this teaser is to connect this film with The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in the minds of the audience. That film was much more successful than Prince Caspian and they are trying to convince viewers to “return to Narnia”.
3. There are no dragon shots because the film will not be released until December 10th of this year. That is 6 months away and there is no doubt a vast amount of special effects work to be done on a creature that complicated. Plus, it’s a new character and I doubt they want to give away too much this early on in the marketing for those that do not know the story.
For what it is worth, an early teaser like this one can sometimes contain footage or dialogue that does not make it to the final cut. I won’t rush to judgement about the quality of this film until I have actually…you know…seen the film.
Thank you, Phil.
I saw so many people respond negatively to the Toy Story 3 trailer and talk about how the studio is slipping and running out of ideas. Well… for now I’ll just say it’ll be fun to see what happens after they actually see the movie.
Josh, if I recall correctly, Professor Lewis employed the tradition of British fantasy from 19th Century writers like George MacDonald & Andrew Lang in the writing of the Narnia books. Evil female witches were plentiful in that genre at that time & Professor Lewis was using a character type that would have been easily recognizable to children (& their parents) when the Narnia books were published. Mr MacDonald was also a Christian who, like Professors Lewis & Tolkien, wrote his faith into his books.
Mr Pullman’s take is, frankly, myopic, in not taking this into account. But that does not surprise me about Mr Pullman & the fact that he is seemingly ignorant of the style & tradition in which Professor Lewis was writing the Narnia books says far more about Mr Pullman than he thinks it does about Lewis. The very fact that Lewis was capable of writing *adult* fictional books like Till We Have Faces or the the Space Trilogy only proves that he was a writer of great skill who possessed a considerable sense of style & genre & who knew how to use such to great effect in his works. Again, that’s lost on Mr Pullman, who only seeks to put forth his anti-Lewis bent due to a hatred of Christianity & is incapable of seeing a bigger picture. Very typical of the so-called New Atheists, IMO.
Not many authors could write books as varied as Narnia, Till We Have Faces, The Great Divorce, & The Screwtape Letters, etc. Pullman included, despite his considerable writing ability.
The trailer looks great to me! Can’t wait!
. Ed has issues like Peter last time
2. Eustace should not pull the painting off the wall, yet the shot of Lucy coming up out of the water is breathtaking
3. Why a minotaur?
4. Caspian is still too old
5. The flying map
6. Jardis!
7. No seven lords
8. Why is it snowing inside–it does look cool
9. What have they done with Ramandu’s daughter?
10. A glowing sword?
11. Battles
The dufflepods are cool
12. PETER AND SUSAN!
Now, to be fair, I have been looking forward to this movie for a long time. It just seems that Andrew Adamson left too much of a mark on the previous movie for the new director to have the courage to return to accuracy, which made the first film such a success. Narnia is not and never will be LotR. Why can’t the director appreciate it for what it is, instead of trying to pander to other fans? While I am a LotR fan, I do not want Narnia to imitate it.
Neil and Gene,
Let me elaborate. I am well aware of the literary tradition that Lewis was continuing. Like you, I’m a huge fan–not just of Lewis, but of Tolkein, MacDonald, and the rest.
For those who are unaware, Pulman accuses Lewis (both implicitly in his fiction and explicitly in his interviews) of being anti-feminist–and worse! While I agree that Lewis et. al. used the time-honored trope of using witches as a means of depicting evil, they also branched out quite a bit from that particular characterization. For example, it’d be quite impossible to be having this conversation about MacDonald, who unashamedly exalts the power of the feminine at every possible turn (perhaps a bit too much, his critics could even allege).
My concern with this film series, again, is that the filmmakers are consolidating Lewis’ vision (perhaps understandably) by continuing to bring Ms. Swinton repeatedly back. While on one hand I can understand that (Swinton is an undeniably charismatic figure–who considers herself a tragic hero in the story, if my memory serves correctly), I fear that the filmmakers are doing a grave disservice by thus simplifying Lewis’ vision.
Even if the White Witch just appears in a dream.
For my money, the children offer more than enough continuity to the story. Why bring the White Witch back?
Regardless, while I am not a huge fan of the movies to date, I cannot help but now hope that the producers get to The Magician’s Nephew–if only to provide a better background on the existence of evil in Narnia!
I’m worried about this one. Of all the books in the series, this is the one I love the most. Part of the problem in adapting this is that the book is set up as a series of journeys on various islands that are loosely related. I can see this being an issue in a film where a strong narrative is often needed to sustain the attention of the audience. Therefore, I think they could tag on some ancillary plot that connects everything but, at the same time, comes across as contrived.
Also, the White Witch returns again? Twilda Swinton is great as the White Witch, but she had her moments to shine in the last two films, now let it go and move on.
Still, looks like they will be visiting a lot of my favorite moments and I love that the book that Lucy reads is in there as that might be my favorite scene in the whole series. I’m cautiously looking forward to the film, if only because it might be a moment to rein-vision some of my favorite moments of the book.
I agree, Josh. I still think that if Pullman would point to a filmed version of Lewis’ work to support his point it would only diminish it even further. As an author himself, he simply could never assert that the addition of a character to a film not in the original book, for whatever reason, supports his views regarding Lewis being anti-woman. Logically, Mr Lewis, being dead, no longer has control over what’s done to his intellectual property & I don’t think it can be said that the producers of the Narnia films are necessarily being 100% true to his vision. It would be somewhat akin to saying Shakespeare was trying to say something negative about Puerto Ricans after they saw West Side Story. The real problem is that Pullman seems to be incapable of realizing that his view of Lewis is untenable.
Having said that, I totally agree with you re: the use of the kids as continuity &, as I think you might, I suspect that the producers are just hoping to keep everyone’s memory of the White Witch alive until Magician’s Nephew. That’s also why I suspect Peter & Susan are in VotDT, too. Effective? We’ll have to wait & see. I guess H’wood things we’re so used to an iconic bad guy (Darth Vader, Sauron, Agent Smith, etc) that we need one in these movies as well. I sure hope they don’t try to insinuate her into A Horse & His Boy!
BTW, Josh, I hope I didn’t offend in my point about Lewis & the literary tradition of Brit fairy stories. Frankly, I assumed you were aware of MacDonald, etc, but I like to get his name out there for those who aren’t. It’s obvious you’re well-read. And thank you for the point re: Pullman – it is very important to keep in mind.
Eh. It’ll be The Silver Chair that gets interesting, as none of the original four are in it. And then there’s The Horse & His Boy and The Last Battle…
I guess we’ll see. I could probably make a case against Lewis as some kind of misogynist, but hey.
Absolutely no offense taken (quite the opposite). Just wanted to be sure what I was trying to say was clear–that I’m concerned that the movies may lead to more problematic misunderstanding of Lewis’ work and his worldview. Makes me almost misty-eyed for the BBC (cheese) of my youth…
Appreciate your points–they’re well stated!
Thanks for sharing the trailer! It’s too bad that trailers these days contain so many spoilers and big reveals intended to get people into the theater. I remember the tremendous anticipation as I experienced the book’s approach to the “end of the world”. I had no idea what I and the characters would find there. Now, viewers can see some of what will be found there even before they go to the theater. 😉
My guess is the shot of the White Witch is on the “dreams come true island” where they find Lord Rhoop.