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AIBU?

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to shed a tear while watching The Voyage of the Dawn Treader today?

29 replies

BalloonSlayer · 03/01/2011 14:19

It was my favourite book as a child.

I really REALLY wished someone would make it into a film.

Saw it today with the DCs and as soon as I saw the boat - looking exactly like it does on the cover of my old book - I got all tearful.

And the bit at the start with the painting was just fab.

Am I a ridiculous wuss to be moved at seeing my old favourite on screen after all these years?

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borderslass · 03/01/2011 14:21

Not at all so did I.

treas · 03/01/2011 16:01

The film spoilt the book for me - thought Prince Caspian was much better film and book.

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BalloonSlayer · 03/01/2011 17:21

Did it treas? I thought it was pretty good, mind you I haven't seen Prince Caspian and I can't remember much about the book - I don't think I liked it.

I wasn't that keen on The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe TBH. I read one review where the writer said that the second the child touches the snow and doesn't react to the cold it ruined it for him . . . when I saw it I remembered that and thought the same.

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moggiek · 03/01/2011 17:23

I thought it was great. Unashamed tears at the end :)

TrillianAstra · 03/01/2011 17:29

Ben Barnes is nice to look at too (and he's 29 so it's ok).

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BalloonSlayer · 03/01/2011 17:35

Ah yes, the bit when Reepicheep went over the wall in his little boat - that was just like the book too.

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BlackandGold · 03/01/2011 17:38

Tears at the end from me too Smile

DD thought Ben Barnes quite dishy too!

madhairday · 03/01/2011 17:41

I cried too :) Thought it was much better than Prince Caspian.

tribpot · 03/01/2011 17:43

I thought it was a decent film although not wildly faithful to the book. The boat was fantastic though - I even forgave them the glaring continuity error where it was basically smashed to pieces by the scary sea serpent but then miraculously all in one piece straight afterwards Grin. Couldn't work out how they were going to get all those people back home, though.

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BalloonSlayer · 03/01/2011 17:47

I was disappointed with the gold water bit. I love that part of the book - when they think they've found a beautiful statue in a beautiful pool and are trying to get it out of the water, then it dawns on them what's happened. They did it full of menace from the start in the film and it was all wrong.

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Clary · 03/01/2011 17:53

Yes I loved it too.

The boat was really really good wasn't it. I loved the book so so so much - I still read it when really unhappy.

Thought Eustace in partic was excellent. Agree tho re gold water, it wasn't quite right was it.

Didn't cry actually but still was very moved.

tribpot · 03/01/2011 18:00

Yes, I thought Eustace did a good job, a very difficult job to come into an established cast like that. I thought the 'I am Eustace' written in lava was a good touch.

The gold water bit, I agree, was a bit odd, like who would have a full-on row where you knew if one of you lost your footing for whatever reason it was sayonara baby? And yes, too menacing from the start. The moment when they realise what's happened to poor old lord wotsit you're meant to be horrified.

I quite hope The Horse and His Boy is next; one of my fave bits of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is:

Edmund: woah there horsey!
Horse: The name. Is Philip.
Edmund [totally bemused]: Oh. Sorry.

JaneS · 03/01/2011 18:26

Eustace was fantastic! Such a good actor.

I think they'd used the old illustrations for inspiration throughout, hadn't they? Certainly 'Aslan's table' was straight out of my old copy, visually.

I wish they'd do the Horse and His Boy but I heard they don't?

AllGoodNamesGone · 03/01/2011 18:31

I loved it.

There was only one bit that really annoyed me and that was when Reepicheep finished off his rant at Eustace with "Period. Exclamation mark!" - he'd never have said that, he's a Narnian not an American?!

I cried at the end and would have cried more had I not been fending off my 11 year old daughter who was trying, very sweetly to comfort me, when I really wouldn't have minded a good old weep!

JamieLeeCurtis · 03/01/2011 18:31

I thought it was really good. It's one of my favourite of the books (hard to choose, but I also love The Silver Chair), and it did not disappoint. I agree the actor playing Eustace was excellent (he was good in Son of Rambo too).

But I do agree about the gold water bit too. Also, in the book I remember what hit me as a child was when Eustace realised he was a dragon. I don't think a film can quite convey how that felt from the inside, IYSWIM. Also the bit where Aslan scratches his dragon skin off him.

Ben Barnes was phwoar and much less wooden than before

JamieLeeCurtis · 03/01/2011 18:33

Oh God yes AllGoodNames - that really got on my nerves. There were a couple of little Americanisms in the Lion etc etc

Gooftroop · 03/01/2011 18:34

YABU. It was so grossly unfaithful to the original book I was having fits in the aisles. How could they?! Shock

AllGoodNamesGone · 03/01/2011 18:34

Oh and I can't wait for the Silver Chair - my favourite book of the series.

Katisha · 03/01/2011 18:37

I thought it was the best of the three so far but didn't see the need to introduce the seven swords stuff.

I quite like Caspian when he had that Antonio banderas accent before...

Gooftroop · 03/01/2011 18:37

And Aslan looked like a soft toy made in China.

Gooftroop · 03/01/2011 18:39

Yes, wtf was the Seven Swords about? And why did Eustace stay a dragon for the whole sodding film? Has anyone out there weeping actually read the book????

JaneS · 03/01/2011 18:40

Oh, yes AllGood, I noticed that too!

In fact I think Reepicheep was a real low point in this film. I preferred him voiced by Eddie Izzard. I wanted him to be a bit dashing and inclined to stand on his dignity. In the original Aslan is constantly telling him that he is too inclined to think about 'honour', whereas in the film he'd somehow turned into a 'wise old man' character. Very disappointing.

borderslass · 03/01/2011 19:08

I only read the first book wasn't until DD1 was about 7 that I realized there was more than 1 book Blush

JamieLeeCurtis · 03/01/2011 19:12

TBF Gooftrop - I last read the book a long time ago - possibly 30 years Blush. I could not remember the swords bit. It was suspiciously Harry-Potterish

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BalloonSlayer · 03/01/2011 19:33

Oh I thought the changes they made were OK, given that most film versions of books make massive changes that alter the entire plot/feel.

In the book all they do is find the 7 Lords, then go to the end of the world where the book ends with another Christian allegory bit. I can see why they wanted to add something a bit more exciting, and I thought the evil green smoke and seven swords to defeat it did the job without ruining the narrative or turning the story into something it wasn't.

Also with Eustace being a dragon for longer - I think that's such a great bit of the book that it was sensible to make more of it if you are making a film, that is. Agree about Eustace's thoughts and feelings as a dragon - would be difficult to convey on film and would make it seem odd that he was a dragon for about 5 minutes of screen time and had become a changed person,

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