If you are a Narnia nut, as I am, you're probably looking forward to the Christmas release of the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia. The trailer for it is out today (see below), featuring two of the Pevensies (Lucy and Edmund) along with a boy that must be Eustace Scrubb, who looks less pinched than I imagined him.
I have mixed feelings about these movie adaptations of the Chronicles of Narnia. For all its visual glory, film has a way of flattening any story first told in prose. I've found in general that the Walden-produced movies have tended toward both the literal and the violent. Lewis was a master of metaphor, and I'm afraid the screenwriters ended up clunky in their adaptations–especially when adding elements that didn't exist in the books. I've read each of the seven Chronicles at least 10 times each, and I find something new every time. Can't say the same for the movies, which seem intent on imposing their own Veggie-tale style "moral" lesson on the stories.
But the arc of Voyage is more introspective than the more good-vs-evil approach of the first two, and the book is more a metaphor for the spiritual journey rather than an adventure. That may be hard to translate to the screen–but I'll probably go find out how it turns out anyway.
Plus, it's in 3D. The spiritual journey in 3D… If only C.S. Lewis were still around.
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader Official Teaser Trailer
