Enjoyable, as long as you don't think about the book!

I've enjoyed seeing The Voyage of the Dawn Treader at the cinema today. Welcome respite after the busyness of the Christmas celebrations.

The film raises issues regarding the adaptation of books to screen as much of the original story has been lost in the transition to film, the story's sequencing has altered and new elements have been added to the story. Jeffery Overstreet has written:

"... this is the most enjoyable movie of the series, so long as you don’t think much about the book. Granted, the book was too episodic and meandering to make a great film. They needed to revise the story considerably. But this revision, entertaining as it is, muddles, mangles, and leaves behind many of the book’s most profound moments."

I agree with this assessment. This is an excellent and enjoyable film which works well on its own terms. The story is exciting, the script is well written with particularly subtle use of humour, and the special effects, while often stunning, support the narrative. The acting is particularly strong in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader with the performance of Will Poulter as Eustace being outstanding; something noted in The Telegraph's review:

"It helps that the spotlight falls this time on the two younger and more appealing Pevensie children, Edmund and Lucy – played by Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley, who are also the more talented actors in the quartet ...

the most arresting new presence on view is that of 17-year-old British actor Will Poulter, still fondly remembered for his comic skills in Son of Rambow. He plays the Pevensies’ obnoxious cousin Eustace Scrubb, and Poulter does not hold back: Eustace dismisses his cousins’ fascination with Narnia, and complains bitterly when he unwillingly becomes involved in the Dawn Treader adventure.

In his endless complaining, Poulter adopts the disgusted tones of an ex-Army officer from 50 years ago, and does it brilliantly. He virtually steals every scene in which he appears; it’s a lucky break for Fox that Eustace takes centre stage in the fourth Narnia story."

So, as the Telegraph put it, Narnia has got its sparkle back.

One of the narrative elements which is becoming clearer across the filmed series is an emphasis on personal temptation. This is a major theme in both the book and film of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe because of Edmund's betrayal of the others through the influence of the White Witch but the theme continues in the subsequent films with the Peter/Caspian power tensions/temptations in Prince Caspain (an added element to that film) and here in Lucy's temptation to beauty, Edmund's repeat temptation by the White Witch, and Eustace's temptation to riches. Much of this theme is an addition to the stories, although one which is consistent with the Narnian world and history which C. S. Lewis created and also with his own beliefs.

It would seem that this theme has been developed by the filmakers because it offers more visually and dramatically than do the major themes of the second and third books themselves. In Prince Caspain a major theme of the book is that of doubt and belief when Lucy is not believed as she begins to glimpse Aslan leading them on their journey to Caspian. While included in the film, it is not developed in the same way presumably because it is more difficult to visualise and is not a strongly dramatic narrative development.

A related issue occurs with a key scene in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which is also subject to significant change. The film rightly, as we have already seen, makes the transformation of Eustace a key element in the story. Yet his eventual change is differently conceived from the book. In the book Eustace attempts to tear off his dragon skin but cannot do so in a way that gets to the core of his being and restores him to himself. Only Aslan is able to do so and only with pain. Lewis is here picturing the impossibility of freeing ourselves of our sinful nature without the grace of God, and that being hard won and painful. In the film Aslan achieves this change differently and, although the scene in book is referred to obliquely, in a way which is easier and which does not convey the sense that something integral to Eustace has been torn away. It may well be that cinematic demands dictated this change too, as visuals of Aslan literally sinking his claws into the skin of Eustace's dragon may have been too gory for the PG rating that the film requires if it is to tap its core market.

Both these changes mean that each film loses some of the spiritual depth which the books contain in order that the narrative and visual impact of the films are heightened. As a result, the films are exciting and enjoyable but do not have the same spiritual depths as the books. Lewis never wanted these books filmed because he knew that the technology did not exist to genuinely realise the imaginative world which he had created. Now that that technology does exist, Narnia is able to be brought to visual life. What Lewis may not have anticipated, however, is that the different demands of storytelling in a visual medium would necessitate adaptations and additions to these narratives which alter the spiritual themes explored through those narratives.

To some extent this is the fate of all adaptations and the reason why screenwriters are necessary even for the filming of classic stories. Films are a different medium from books and use different means of telling a story in order to succeed. There is a difficult balance to be struck between the original story and the way in which it can successfully be told in a different medium. The Narnia films are fascinating illustrations of the challenges and compromises from which successful movie adaptations emerge.

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Sinead O'Connor - Only You.