Tech News
News Supplying Robot
Reviewed by Cas Harlow, 30th April 2011.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a slightly disappointing third entry in the adapted C.S. Lewis franchise. It boasts neither the epic feel, nor the driven narrative required to sustain this kind of fantasy adventure, with a strung-together plot of island-hopping and CG mist which simply does not reach the heights of the previous two entries. The plight is not assisted by the restrictions of an overly shiny-looking boat, the loss of the two elder, better child actors, and the presence of Prince (now King) Caspian – only this time jarringly missing the accent he had in the previous instalment.
On Region Free UK Blu-ray the film suffers further from having a director-approved ‘bigger’ image of 1.78:1, following suit after what they did with Avatar, and removing the cinematic breadth of the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.4:1. Add to that the use of digital cameras for the first time in the franchise, and this one ends up looking more like an expensive TV movie than a lavish theatrical fantasy adventure. I guess the lower budget really does make a difference.
In technical terms, the release, ostensibly identical to its US counterpart, still boasts great video and excellent audio, as well as a huge selection of extras which – somewhere in amidst the throwaway 60-second intros – boasts a good few quality offerings. It’s just a shame that they’re peppered across a painful-to-navigate extras menu. Fans of the movie should be prepared for a different look at home than in the cinemas, but will otherwise probably be damn happy with this package; those who loved the previous two movies should go in with comparatively low expectations, treat this as a TV movie, and then maybe it’ll lessen the blow of disappointment. I don’t really know where the series will go from here – there are more books but are any of them viable continuations of the story? – and if the films continue on in this vein I’m not sure I really want to find out.
Read the full review...
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a slightly disappointing third entry in the adapted C.S. Lewis franchise. It boasts neither the epic feel, nor the driven narrative required to sustain this kind of fantasy adventure, with a strung-together plot of island-hopping and CG mist which simply does not reach the heights of the previous two entries. The plight is not assisted by the restrictions of an overly shiny-looking boat, the loss of the two elder, better child actors, and the presence of Prince (now King) Caspian – only this time jarringly missing the accent he had in the previous instalment.
On Region Free UK Blu-ray the film suffers further from having a director-approved ‘bigger’ image of 1.78:1, following suit after what they did with Avatar, and removing the cinematic breadth of the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.4:1. Add to that the use of digital cameras for the first time in the franchise, and this one ends up looking more like an expensive TV movie than a lavish theatrical fantasy adventure. I guess the lower budget really does make a difference.
In technical terms, the release, ostensibly identical to its US counterpart, still boasts great video and excellent audio, as well as a huge selection of extras which – somewhere in amidst the throwaway 60-second intros – boasts a good few quality offerings. It’s just a shame that they’re peppered across a painful-to-navigate extras menu. Fans of the movie should be prepared for a different look at home than in the cinemas, but will otherwise probably be damn happy with this package; those who loved the previous two movies should go in with comparatively low expectations, treat this as a TV movie, and then maybe it’ll lessen the blow of disappointment. I don’t really know where the series will go from here – there are more books but are any of them viable continuations of the story? – and if the films continue on in this vein I’m not sure I really want to find out.
Read the full review...
