Michael Apted directs Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes and Will Poulter in this sea bound Narnia fantasy adventure. 

I have a soft spot for the Narnia series. My developing imagination being stoked by the gorgeous painted, slightly melancholy cover-art of the Eighties paperbacks. A talented man called Steve Lavis visualised C.S. Lewis’ fantastical otherworld by detailing sad lions and ominous ships next to curious teens in chunky knitwear and messy hair. That’s my basecamp for what a cinematic adaptation of the beloved series should be. And the cheap but threatening BBC series of old captured that vibe quite well. So these bland, weightless adaptations do little for me. They want to hit the same audience as Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings but are unwilling to invest the same heft into the world building or deliver thrills of any overwhelming scale. Maybe Lewis’ playpen doesn’t naturally lend itself to the scope and action of Tolkien’s but it certainly matches it in inherent magic and wonder. Dawn Treader has little bursts of excitement, moves at a decent (almost impatient) pace and even has two attractive child performances. Poulter and Henley are both game. But there’s no passion to the direction, lending a feeling to the adventure that nobody loved recreating any particular episode churned out. A bit more personality and care in the perils and chivalry and this might have been more than passable.

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