@Col Klink  Keep in mind, a lot of the criticisms levelled at The Voyage of the Dawn Treader(2010) on Narniaweb, such as the dialogue being cheesy, the plot being full of holes, the actors' line deliveries (some of them anyway) being flat, were also the typical charges laid against the Star Wars prequels.

You could be right. But perhaps another reason for the criticism was that there was more scope for comparison between BBC Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Walden Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Neither BBC Prince Caspian nor Walden Prince Caspian featured that long procession throughout Miraz's Narnia at the end of the book, before all the Pevensies went home, and in my collection of DVD's BBC, PC is so short that if I blinked, I'd miss it, being combined with the longer VDT, featuring Samuel West as King Caspian. Whereas Walden PC is more filled out.

Yes, the Star Wars prequels might have incurred criticism in comparison with the three original Star Wars movies, but a fair amount of time had also elapsed before the prequels were produced. And by the time the remaining movies came out on film, I was beginning to be all over Star Wars movies, particularly after Carrie Fisher passed away. Did the Emperor Palpatine really need to be killed a second time?

To start with the first part of your question, I think it's worth being clear on some of the stats for VDT and the other Walden movies.

It's not just that there is a handful of NanriaWebbers who have set the prevailing opinion on these films - you can look at any of the user scores (nevermind critic scores) from any of the major review aggregation websites and see the same basic pattern - all three films score decidedly in the "average to ok" sort of range and VDT is consistently the lowest scoring of the bunch 

LWW (2005)

• IMDB - 6.9
• Metacritic - 7.5 (users)
• Metacritic - 75% (critics)
• Rotten Tomatoes - 75% (critics)
• Rotten Tomatoes - 61% (users)

PC (2008)

• IMDB - 6.5
• Metacritic - 6.7 (users)
• Metacritic - 62% (critics)
• Rotten Tomatoes - 66% (critics)
• Rotten Tomatoes - 73% (users)

VDT (2010)

• IMDB - 6.3
• Metacritic - 6.1 (users)
• Metacritic - 53% (critics)
• Rotten Tomatoes - 49% (critics)
• Rotten Tomatoes - 58% (users)

Therefore it does seem unlikely to me that the prevailing opinion on these films is going to ever change all that much, and even less likely that it would shift in Dawn Treader's favour.

As for the Star Wars Prequels, whilst I think there is still a general consensus that they are somewhat messy and incoherent films, I think the thing that people have come to appreciate (especially in light of some modern designed-by-committee blockbusters) is how much unique creative vision and imagination director George Lucas brought to the project, which does still shine through amongst all the sloppiness of the execution.

I really though don't think the same can ever be said for Michael Apted's direction... I think really the only shift in opinion I've seen is that people have a lot more sympathy for how badly the film turned out as a result of learning more about all the behind-the-scenes production troubles with he studio.

Maybe people will therefore become less harsh on it, but I just can't see it ever elevating itself to the status of "good" film.

Those of us old enough to have grown up on the book, the BBC serial, the radio dramas, and saw Walden movies tend to dislike VDT because of the changes to the story with the addition of the Green mist. 

My preview screening of VDT had the Walden Media big wig, Michael Flaherty present and his question literally was "What do you think glumPuddle will think?"

I had to tap dance around and give a politely vague answer. They cared enough to ask after the fact, but they didn't respond beforehand and that's why if I go back and watch it, I watch the entrance to Narnia, Eustace and Reep's showed fight, and the island at the end of the world and that's about it. Those parts are pretty much straight out of the book. That and the ship were the only parts most of us liked about the movie. 

So the book fans will never likely "like" or revise their opinions on the Walden movie. The BBC had far cheesier delivery of book lines, but they were book lines and they mattered because the story was intact and to some, that will always matter.

I've never watched Walden's VDT and still have zero desire to, but I'm certain the three Walden Narnia films, collectively or individually, have never had the same level of cultural impact as the entire Star Wars franchise has had from the late 1970s onwards.

In the interests of full disclosure, I've never watched any of the Star Wars films and spin-offs either. But it's quite obviously a MUCH bigger "thing" than the Walden Narnia trilogy ever was or is or will be. So while VDT will probably always have some fans, I doubt there'll ever be a whole huge wave of new-generation viewers elevating it to classic status. From everything I've heard about it, the film simply isn't that good even as a story in its own right, let alone as a faithful adaptation of the book. 

I think the Dawn Treader movie could have been a much better film if the story adaptation had been improved. I find that some people who criticize the film have not been specific enough in what they believe is wrong with it.  And they don’t consider the better parts of the film such Will Poulter playing Eustace and the realistic portrayal of Eustace as the dragon. The water coming from the picture of the ship was quite real looking.

If people haven’t seen the movie at least once they shouldn’t criticize it either. Certainly there are many flaws in it, but I wouldn’t say the movie is all bad. Some of the scenes like the island of the Dufflepuds do have some interest so they are not actually boring even though they are not a perfect story adaptation. There would be a renaissance if a better Dawn Treader movie were made, but that may be many years in the future. Those who make a new film that is better will know that anything like the Green Mist should be left out.