Good to see you again mate! I hope you're well.
That Empire article sounds very interesting and remarkably positive compared to some of the reports we've been hearing. Hopefully it will put to death some of the anxiety about the direction VDT was/is headed. It's just a pity that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One didn't get good press as well.

Well, "a lot more psychological" is a very nice quote, and "it's not a big action movie" is also very good to hear. I also find "this is a character story" and "more of an emotional than a swashbuckling adventure" to be very pleasing on the ear....

However, as this is NarniaWeb, i do find myself strangely compelled to ignore those 4 positives and jump straight to the one big negative right in the middle there: "a huge battle at the end with a sea serpent and a dragon". Say what?

It is obviously to with Eustace. If I can remember another quote well, his character changes towards the end of the film? Probablly following this apparent battle with the sea serpent. Aslan's country has to be the actual ending.

Any chance of getting a scan and/or full transcript of the article?

hmmmm, this is interesting. i like the sound of it, sounds pretty faithful to the book...

It is a huge relief to me to hear from the director himself that this movie is not an action packed "epic" but rather a character based, emotional story. That's why Narnia should have been from the beginning. I don't believe I recall hearing such things from the crew about LWW or PC; it was always something like "epic" or "big."

Honestly, if the story and the characters stay true to the book, and the whole movie isn't jam packed with action, I could forgive a little battle between the sea serpent and dragon Eustace near the end. After all, it was Eustace that figured out how to defeat the serpent in the book. I'm just hoping the battle isn't part of a larger plot involving the sea serpent.

I'll always be a,
NL101

I don't really mind Eustace the Dragon defeating the sea serpent. It adds the epic-ness and stuff that movie-goers like, but it doesn't shred the story too much. I am curious as to "at the end of the movie" means. Does he mean it's literally at the end of the movie, or just the last island before Ramandu's Island, or what? Hmm! The latter is definitely preferable, but so far we've have every indication that production has de and reconstructed events quite a bit, so I really don't know what to tell you.

Interestingly, my biggest concern isn't so much the battle between the sea serpent and dragon, but rather that it's towards the end. Makes me wonder if the undragoning of Eustace might take place at the end where the kids see Aslan. That'd just be.... odd.

I can do a full transcript. Not sure of the scan though because I need to work out how to use our scanner

Full Transcript

Of all the Dawn Treaders Empire has climbed aboard - the list is surprisingly brief - this life-sized construction is No.1. Dwarfing a tiny peninsula on the Gold Coast during spring of 2009, the ornate, $23 million, 100-foot-long prop looks and feels like a finely crafted galleon, from its enormous carved mast to the mighty dragon's head and tail that bookend the titular ship of the third Narnia film.

Directed by Michael Apted, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ditches the New Zealand locations of the first two cinematic Chronicles of Narnian for the environs of Queensland's Warner Bros. Movie World. It tells the tale of the two remaining Pevensie kids, Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes), sailing the Dawn Treader with King Caspian (Ben Barnes) to storybook islands in search of missing lords.

"The tough thing of the job is to keep the film consistentl these are real people going into a strange world, and you can't let the people become strange," explains Apted in between takes, clearly tired but too polite to admit he's too busy to chat.

"This is a lot more psychological; it's not a big action movie. There are a lot of different locations and adventures but, apart from a huge battle at the end with a sea serpent and a dragon, this is a character story. The quality of the book, and the appeal of the book, is that it's more of an emotional than a swashbuckling adventure."

Not sure 20th Century Fox will be promoting it that way, in a movie marketplace dominated by huge franchises projecting bang for bucks.

Fox picked up the rights to C.S. Lewis's legendary book series after original studio Disney dumped it in late 2008, following Prince Caspian's box-office tally being some way from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe's takings. However, as everyone involved with Dawn Treader tells us, the $1.2 billion earned globally by the Narnia films can hardly be considered anything but a greenlight for pushing out Dawn Treader.

Getting to wander the vast, Tim Burton-esque set of an island inhabited by invisible one-legged Dufflepuds, and to chat with new Narnia additions, Will Poulter (Son of Rambow) and Gary Sweet (stoked to be part of a huge Hollywood production), Empire can understand why Fox pounced on what Disney passed up. Potential for big ticket sales exists here, which must contribute to Apted feeling more challenged by this Treader trip than by his 007 assignmen, The World is Not Enough.
"Bond was a fantasy, but this has fantastical elements. It's a bigger movie than the Bond one, and gives me more headaches."

The journalist probablly didn't know that Walden hold the rights, Disney did not, and neither does Fox.

Honestly, I find the quote somewhat encouraging, albeit the comment about the battle at the end makes me nervous. I'm just glad there wasn't any mention about the battle having anything to do with pirates or folks from the Lone Islands.

Interestingly, my biggest concern isn't so much the battle between the sea serpent and dragon, but rather that it's towards the end. Makes me wonder if the undragoning of Eustace might take place at the end where the kids see Aslan. That'd just be.... odd.

Agreed. The fact that it includes a dragon and a sea serpent makes me wonder what's going on (though Eustace isn't necessarily the dragon). But still... I had expected them to bring in a fight with the merpeople, but I suppose not. I cannot help but think that would have worked better.

Still, it sounds like the overall feel of the movie is going to be pretty good. This leaves me optimistic after what we heard with the "unfathomable fate".

I definitely hope the battle takes place before Ramandu's Island. Maybe Eustace will become disenchanted at Ramandu's Island, or perhaps it is on Ramandu's island where he learns that they only way he can become disenchanted is if the others travel to the end of the world, and one must never return. (Reepicheep)

I would not like this idea at all, but I can see it as a possibility.

glumPuddle and I just spoke on the phone, and I'll let him share his own thoughts. But I think a lot of this will lie on where exactly this battle takes place (in relation to Eustace's transformation, Ramandu's island, etc.).

here's my comment on the News Story...

"I think this could be a good idea. Maybe Eustace gets turned in to a dragon early on in the movie but then doesn’t become a human again until the end. It would be cool to have him defend the other people from a sea serpent. It would show a changed character since if he was just the rotten spoiled child he was before he would jus cry and leave them to defend themselves. But if he protected them that would definetly show some character growth.

I tend to be a book purist but we all want this movie to be big in theatres. If it doesn’t do well, they might not do the other Narnia movies, and we don’t want that happening. So I think some compromises and changes must be made. Just to attract a bigger crowd besides us Narnia nuts .

I must say I’m really excited for this movie. I have faith in Apted and Gresham. Maybe PC was a failure (at least in my opinion) but we can really believe that this movie will turn the Narnia series back in to a hit. I’m just happy it is more an emotion and character driven movie than just another typical action fantasy movie. B/c of this, I don’t think it will be a typical Hollywood movie. I could be wrong but I have high hopes for VODT . After all, it’s most people’s favorite books and PC wasn’t. Let’s just hope and pray everything works out ."