I watched the above movie on the 23rd Dec - 2 weeks after its release on Dec 9. Oh, I love the movie very much. Having read the whole series by C.S. Lewis and watched the first two movies, this is the movie I've been looking forward to watch.
Here is the review of the movie:
Director Michael Apted
Cast Alexander "Skandar" Keynes (Edmund Pevensie), Georgina Helen "Georgie" Henley (Lucy Pevensie), William Jack "Will" Poulter (Eustace Scrubb), Ben Barnes (Caspian X), Arabella Norton (Gael), Arthur Angel (Rhince), Gary Sweet (Lord Drinian), Billie Brown (Coriakin), Terry Norris (Lord Bern), Bruce Spence (Lord Rhoop), Laura Brent (Lilliandil), Tilda Swinton (Jadis the White Witch), William Moseley (Peter Pevensie), Anna Popplewell (Susan Pevensie), Liam Neeson (voice of Aslan), Simon Pegg (voice of Reepicheep)
Plot
The story begins with Edmund Pevensie queuing up to register to be in the military force, only to be distraced by his younger sister Lucy who claims that "you're supposed to help me with the groceries". The Pevensies return to their cousin Eustace Scrubb's house as they are staying with him, while their older siblings Peter and Susan are in America. Lucy is reading a postcard sent by her sister while Edmund listens. And when water starts pouring from a painting of a ship on the ocean in Lucy's bedroom, Eustace wondered "what's going on here". He then tries to remove the painting while Edmund tries to stop him but to no avail. The two boys and Lucy are dragged and transported into an ocean in Narnia when water flooded Lucy's bedroom.
When Lucy appears at the surface of the ocean and notices a big ship approaches. And she, Edmund and Eustace are rescued by the ship name the Dawn Treader. And the ship crew include their friend King Caspian X and Reepicheep. When the mouse saw Edmund and Lucy, he recognises their presence by bowing and saying "Your Majesties". While on the ship, Eustace finds the creatures there, especially Reepicheep the talking mouse are looking weird and hides in one corner, writing his diary. Then, a bird land in front of him and Eustace tries talking to the bird, whether it can speak like Reepicheep too. But a centaur notices it and makes joke of him. Seeing this, Eustace shooes the bird away.
Edmund and Caspian, meanwhile, are crossing their swords and have a great fight in front of the ship crew. Caspian praises Edmund's improved skills after the battle. Later, Reepicheep challenges Eustace to have a battle with him, using swords of course. Eustace at first couldn't hold the properly but later he chases after Reepicheep. But Reepicheep is quick enough that the boy couldn't catch him. In the end, Eustace is sent to the ground by Reepicheep, knocking down a basket in the process. A girl named Gael is hiding inside the basket and she is the daughter of Rhince, one of the ship crew. Lord Drinian (captain of the ship), Caspian and Lucy warmly welcome her abroad.
The Dawn Treader docks at the Lone Islands, a Narnian colony invaded by Calormen. Caspian and Edmund are captured and imprisoned while Lucy and Eustace are sold as slaves. Caspian then meets one of the lost lords, Lord Bern, who reveals that those who cannot be sold are sacrificed as a mysterious green mist. The ship crew rescues them, and they reclaim the Lone Islands from the Calormen. Bern later gives Caspian one of the seven swords originally given to the lords.
The ship later stops at another island and all the people abroadspend a night there before continuing their journey. While they are resting, suddenly Lucy is abducted by invisible Dufflepuds and is carried to another place. When Lucy finally wakes up, she wonders where she is and starts hearing voices speaking to her. She demands to know where the voices are coming from and what do they want from her. The Dufflepuds asked the girl to enter the manor of Coriakin to recite a visibility spell from his Book of Incantation. A door later opens in front of Lucy's eyes and she enters. After she enters, the door closes and disappear. Lucy finds the book but the letters on the cover of the book are all messed up. She gives it a blow and opens the book after the letters are back in place. She comes across a spell in which after she has read it, snow begins falling from above.
Elsewhere, Edmund wakes up and notices his sister is missing. He wakes everyone up and starts searching for his lost sister. Back to Lucy in Coriakin's manor. She flips to a page that contains a beauty incantation and she sees her reflection on the mirror and wondered if she could be as beautiful as her sister Susan. Then she rips the page from the book and the book flips quickly to another page revealing the visibility spell. After Lucy has recited the spell, Coriakin and the Dufflepuds become visible. Coriakin tells Lucy that he cast an invisibility spell on the Dufflepuds to protect them from the green mist.
Back to the Lucy's search party. Edmund, Caspian and Eustace notice the Dufflepuds are visible and ask what have they done to Lucy. Later, the door to Coriakin's manor reopens again with Coriakin and Lucy come out. Coriakin tells the ship crew that they must defeat the green mist by laying 7 swords of the lost lords on Aslan's table on Ramandu's island, which they can reach by following a blue star. Coriakin serves a warning that "you all are about to be tested". Meanwhile, Eustace notices the Dufflepuds start jumping away which he feels "this place is getting weirder and weirder".
Caspian leads his crew back to the Dawn Treader. Back on the ship, Lucy wakes up from her sleep and takes the beauty incantation page and casts the spell on herself, transforming herself into Susan. She finds herself at a party with her two brothers, who recognises her as Susan and do not know of Lucy or Narnia. Realising that she no longer exists as Lucy, she awakens from her vision of the party to return to her normal self. Then she sees Aslan's image appearing in the mirror, reminding her not to doubt herself as if it wasn't her, her siblings may not know what Narnia is.
The Dawn Treader later visits a volcanic island where all the crew members spend a night there. The next day, everyone wakes up and checks out the island. Not everyone, Eustace is still sleeping soundly. Lucy, Edmund and Caspian discover a pool that can turn anything to gold, including Lord Restimar. Edmund spots his sword and tries to scoop it up. Then, he and Caspian fight over who should own the pool. While they are crossing their swords, Lucy interrupts them, warning them that they both are being tempted.
The scene changed back to Eustace wakes up and finds he's alone. So he decided to look for his cousins. While he's on his way, Eustace stumbles across some valuable treasures. Tempted, he begins stealing a handful of the treasure. And when Edmund, Caspian and Lucy returns to the shore, they notice Eustace is not around. So Edmund and Caspian search for him. But they only manage to find one of his shoes and his diary, sensing something bad must has happened to the boy. Apart from that, they discover Lord Octesian's skeleton and get his sword. Suddenly, a dragon, which comes out of nowhere, attacks the Dawn Treader and abducts Edmund in the process. The dragon brought Edmund to where it has blown fire on the ground. Edmund notices the words on the ground "I AM EUSTACE". The Pevensies, Gael, Caspian & Reepicheep spend the night on the shore with Eustace the dragon. Reepicheep comforts Eustace that everything will be back to normal again.
When Gael wakes up the next day, she spots the blue star and wakes up Lucy who is sleeping beside her. Lucy and her then wake the rest up. The Dawn Treader sets sail again but was attacked during the journey. The ship cannot continue travelling unless the windsurfer is fixed. Then, the ship crew hears a loud bang and wonders if the ship hits something. But it turns out not, it is Eustace the dragon who drags the ship forward with his tail. Everyone is grateful for his assistance.
The ship arrives at Ramandu's Island and Caspian and the Pevensies discover Aslan's table. Around the table, there are three lost lords sleeping with their swords besides them. Edmund and Caspian gather their swords together with the ones they have found earlier on Aslan's table, but they are short of one. The blue star, in which they have spotted earlier, descends from the sky and transforms into a beautiful young lass, Lilliandil (Ramandu's daughter). Caspian asks her where to find the last sword and Lilliandil directs them to the Dark Island, liar of the mist.
The ship travels ot the Dark Island where they find Rhoop, the last surviving lord. Rhoop warns them not to think of thier fears but Edmud fails, his fear manifesting as a sea serpent that attacks the Dawn Treader. Rhoop betrays the group by throwing his sword in Eustace's direction, stabbing him on his back. Eustace then flies away, landing on a sandy island and encountering Aslan, who transforms him back into a boy and sends him back to Ramandu's Island with Rhoop's sword. The mist tries to tempt Edmund by transforming into Jadis the White Witch. But Edmund does not fall into her temptation that "I can make you my king and much more".
When Eustace wakes up, he finds himself a boy again and discovers Rhoop's sword beside him. Without hesitation, he runs to Aslan's table with the sword and places the sword there. But the mist tries to hold him back. But Eustace overcomes the mist and places the sword on Aslan's table. When the 7 swords are united, a bright blue beam is flashed out from the swords. The 3 sleeping lords awake, the mist disappears, the sea serpent dies and the sacrificed people reappear.
After that, the Dawn Treader returns to Ramandu's Island and the Pevensies are reunited with their cousin Eustace, who is happy he's a boy again. Later, the 3 of them, Reepicheep and Caspian sail to the silver sea, finding a shore before a massive wave. They walk towards the gigantic wave and Eustace observes that Aslan is walking beside them. Aslan tells them that his country lies beyond the wave, although they amy not return if they go. Reepicheep decided to enter Aslan's kingdom and lays down his sword on the ground. Aslan blesses him and the mouse happily paddles a coracle above the wave.
Then Aslan roars, opening a portal in the wave to send Lucy, Edmund and Eustace home. Aslan also tells the Pevensies that this is their last trip to Narnia as they will never return again but he encourages them to know him in their world by another name. Edmund and Lucy bid farewell to Aslan and Caspian before joining thier cousin as they enter the portal. The portal transfers them back to Lucy's flooded bedroom, in which the water recedes and flow back into the painting. Eustace's mother then called him, saying his friend Jill Pole is here to visit him. Eustace hangs the painting back in place and he and the Pevensies watch the ship disappear behind the waves before exiting the room. *THE END*
