I can summarize my views for the third installment of the popular Narnia series in 3D as: “Awesome”. The 3D was quite good. What I most missed in this installment were Peter and Susan and the reason they could not make it to this installment was told in the first part: “Only children can enter Narnia” 🙂 . A new boy was there to be the third musketeer along with Lucy and Edmund, he is: Eustace. Reepicheep the mouse has been amazing in the movie and has got to play a large role in this installment of Narnia.
The basic plot revolved around “The Dawn Treader” which is the ship led by Prince Caspian and is on a mission to help save Narnians from an unknown evil force. The movie’s events unfold in quite scenic layouts brought to life by the amazing 3D compilation by the Narnia guys. The plot starts from an old home in UK and Eustace is a typical complaining and eccentric English boy who does not believe in magic and Narnia. Lucy and Edmund are guests at Eustace’s house and Edmund has an inherent disliking for Eustace. As we proceed and as many of you must have seen in the trailers the children reach Narnia through a painting that engulfs them in water and they are picked on the other side by the crew of “The Dawn Treader” .
As the plot unfolds the ship takes the Narnians to a number of islands across the seas. We get to see the calm seas as well as the choppy ones and they come across a mysterious mist that eats up boats full of Narnians. The real journey and mystery begins on their first island after Edmund is given a coral covered sword to continue with the quest by a wretched “once upon a time” king of that island. The second island is quite interesting and Lucy discovers the book of spells and things take an interesting turn here. On this island they discover the main purpose of their journey being collecting seven swords similar to the one Edmund got on the first island.
From here onwards they continue to a volcanic island and all islands have interesting turn of events where the evil powers test them with delusions and illusions. They are tested against their biggest fears. This is the island Eustace becomes a bit useful (what happens to him is better to be seen in the movie) :). Their journey continues on to the second last island of their journey and by now they have collected six swords in total. The last sword is on the final evil island they are out to destroy and that where the concentration of evil is the highest and the fears of anyone actually take shape of a real thing. Since the beginning the biggest fear of Edmund had been sea serpents and voila a nice compilation awaits the eyes as a green slimy sea serpent actually pops out of the sea.
How they get the seventh sword, what happens of Repicheep, what happens of Eustace, do they discover the land of Aslan, what happens of Prince Caspian and the dawn treader and finally, how they end the evil is better to be seen in the movie. I do not want to spoil all the fun. And from here the plan is laid for another part of the seven part Narnia series. This was the last installment for Edmund and Lucy too as they will be grown ups by the next part similar to Peter and Susan.
Since I did not have an IMAX in reach, I had to do with a non-IMAX 3D option and my suggestion for the non-IMAX theaters is to prefer the center seats in the 4th or 5th row from the front as from the back rows either the people’s heads will be a disturbance or the EXIT signs on the hall front as well as the speakers on the walls.
Go ahead and enjoy the movie, preferably in 3D. I would like to rate it 3.5/5 and a must watch if you like fantasy, magic and fairy tale movies. Though the connect between the first two parts and the third installment is not so high, but its suggested to do the homework of watching the other two parts to understand the characters and their roles well. Have a great weekend.
