Just trying to be a little optimistic about this one.

haha, sorry if I sounded pessimistic... didn't really want to come off as one. In regards of the review not being on RT yet, it's only because RT doesn't publicize the reviews until the opening weekend. This is done to avoid getting sued by the studio if the movie tanks in the box-office due to early negative reviews.

Trust me, rottentomatoes posts reviews before the opening week all the time. I'm not sure if this applies, as reviews might be just being blocked. But I see reviews before the film opens all the time, like for Inception. Reviews were coming in for Tangled a week before it opened. And if you want a movie that was reviewed poorly for this example, look at The Last Airbender.

...the movie have changed the very thing that made it unique and different from other fantasy novels and turned it to a fetch quest for seven swords to save Narnia rather than an allegorical, spiritual journey of finding one's true home. Was it possible to create such a film?

I disagree. The orginal reason for the voyage is the same. They added the 7 swords afterwards (being vague so as not to spoil it for everyone). In both cases these are merely macguffins for the main point of the story, which is, as you rightly point out, the spiritual journey.

Was it possible to create such a film? I believe it was, despite the possible difficulties in doing so.

I absolutely agree that they could have done this without the changes they made. But, they still kept the themes intact even with the additions.

VODT could have been the film that proved to both Narnian fans and casual movie-goers that the franchise can be more than a typical fantasy film. However, this review from a non-Narnian fan tells us that VODT is just more of the same. Not horrible but also nothing special.

I think the reviewer missed alot, (whether he likes Narnia or not) because of his hangups about supposed ripoffs from other works of fiction. Reepicheep, Eustace, Lucy and Edmund are all clearly on journeys here. Too bad he missed those elements, but they are there. Caspian is less clear. But, all in all, the themes of the book are intact. The basic Christian underpinnings are still in the film. The basic messages of faith are in the film. The stuff of C.S. Lewis is in this film. Thus, it is more than a typical fantasy film.

I agree with you that it could have been a better film, by doing without the additional macguffins. But it is still very good.

Another positive review:
http://www.5minutesformom.com/30422/the ... es+For+Mom)

The reviews from the premier start pouring in:
http://flickfeast.co.uk/feature/chronic ... n-treader/
http://blogs.cbn.com/hollywoodinsight/a ... miere.aspx

Wow, those reviews are all so positive! love it! Especially those of the world premiere were encouraging. After all these people only just finished watching it, and apparently they could not wait to talk about it. A bit of a shame that the 3D isn't as good, but the guy who said clearly did not have any experience with it, so that does not have to mean anything.

Reviews are beginning to be posted on RT!
VODT currently have 5 positive reviews out of 5. No negatives have been posted as of yet.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chronic ... n_treader/

One review to note is from The Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/dec ... nia-review

A good, balanced review... not gushing, but fair and constructive.

Update:

VODT's average rating is 6.7/10

Although, the VODT rating is not final, I posted the AR for the other two films for comparison.

LWW's average rating is 6.9/10

PC's average rating is 6.3/10

(source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chronic ... n_treader/)

A couple movie reviews that were sent in via spy reports that I never got posted on the front page.

He there! My husband and my daughter Dearheart attended the Pastor's screening in Los Angelos last night, and I thought I would share some reactions with you. (No spoilers--I think...feel free to edit anything that might be spoilerish!)

Dearheart came home last night glowing like Ramandu's daughter, and gave me a very detailed description of the film (which I obviously won't go into right now). But in a nutshell, this is what she said in her assessment: This movie has a heart that the other two never really had. Yes, the plot changes are annoying. But the characters are so deep and rich, and their relationships so beautifully portrayed on screen, that you can forgive the other stuff more easily. As she put it, "it's the Anti-Caspian"!

As she was describing things to me, her reaction struck me as very similar to mine after seeing The Return of the King for the first time...that although there were some extremely irritating things Peter Jackson and crew did (Frodo sending Sam away?? And Sam GOING?? etc.), the visuals, music and sincerity of the acting all compensated for the few stupid things.

Visually, this movie, from all reports, is unbelievably gorgeous. Dearheart said she lost count of how many times her breath was quite literally taken away by the splendor onscreen. She also said the music is "wonderful" (which doesn't surprise me at all--I loved Arnold's score for Amazing Grace). Skandar Keynes finally has some meat to sink his acting chops into (yay!! We've all been waiting for it!), and Will Poulter is perfection as Eustace. Dearheart said that his acting is so multi-leveled that even in the pre-dragon Eustace, you can see tiny glimpses of who Aslan created him to be--the good Eustace in seed form.

She also said that Aslan IS Aslan this time around--not a watered down version of him, as in the previous movies. He is so clearly Jesus, and Holy and you DON'T argue with Him.

The ending is very emotional and the true climax of the film...everything leads up to that point, just as in the book.

And ultimately, this is a film that can be enjoyed by everyone--not just fans of the books, which is what is truly necessary to garner the box office success needed to guarantee the continuance of the franchise!

Bring on The Silver Chair!! 😀 <><

And steve also sent in a review that you can read here.

This morning I checked the (print) versions of SMH and its Sydney (Newscorp)rival, the Daily Telegraph. The SMH version, only some of which has been duplicated in the news reviews on the right, was quite complimentary of VDT, commenting favourably about the strong plotline, among other things, including Apted's deft touch with such matters. The Daily Telegraph review, which, it seems, hasn't been put online, was something else. Under the heading "Voyage off course", the review was less than flattering to VDT, complaining it was less than exciting, and that the whole production was mediocre in the extreme. In the end it recommended the movie only for Narnia tragics and rated it a full star below other ratings.

It said that the actors in the movie should have been thrown to the Lion. And that Harry Potter on a bad day would run rings around VDT on a good day. It took issue with the character, Aslan, in particular, commenting that he sounded like he was talking through a newspaper. And in the end, it commented that VDT was 'marooned in the Deathly shallows'.

It happens that in the same tabloid newspaper, there was an article noting Liam Neeson's attentions to Laura Brent, the Australian actress who played 'Liliandil', at VDT's world premiere. Do you think that this particular review says more about the reviewer than it does about the film?

It sounds like that reviewer has some kind of a vendetta against the Narnia movies since everyone else is saying that Will Poulter's acting was incredible. And a lot of them are saying that this is the best one yet.

Do you think that this particular review says more about the reviewer than it does about the film?

This is important to bear in mind when reading reviews. One can read a lot about a person in a review. Reviews are subjective and should not be taken too seriously.

Nothing for us to personally get upset about. I can't imagine reading a review of my work. Recently been publicly raked over the coals by an individual - no respect for the person in the first place, but it is still uncomfortable.

This review made me smile.

Spoiler-free for the most part:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/columnis ... -22762098/

Does anyone know why metacritic had a review of the film up on their site that was later removed? It was a favourable one, and the only one. Guess they found it was from a paper/site not on their list.

A positive (with reservations about the changes) review from a Christian perspective from Movieguide. Link to review: http://www.movieguide.org/reviews/movie/the-chronicles-of-narnia-prince-caspian-and-the-voyage-of-the-dawn-treader.html

Mini summary: An Entertaining and Redemptive But Re-Routed Voyage

VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER is in every respect a four star movie, in terms of entertainment and production values. Whereas the book is episodic, the movie has a focused goal with a classic story arc. However, the book has been changed in significant ways, and some of the book’s richness and humor has been lost. Even so, the characters are well developed, the dialogue is brisk, the acting is excellent, the special effects are good, and the ending is heart-rending. Though magic is often rebuked, some of it is not, but there are strong redemptive themes, including ones focusing on Aslan’s likeness to Jesus Christ.

I thought it might be interesting to have a thread that listed all the various reviews by different critics as the movie starts its rollout across the world. (I don't already see a thread for this; apologies if there is one.)

This is not for our reviews; this is for what people in the media are saying.

This is the first review I've seen, and it's not a good review, but it's not a complete bashing either.

http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/The- ... m=facebook

Now, please, everyone, don't freak out. This is only one review. It will not make or break this movie. And booing this person down isn't going to accomplish anything. More reviews will come in soon, and I'm betting that many of them might be quite positive. (Impossible to say for sure, of course. But let's keep our heads, yes?) This is only meant as a listing to help people get an idea of what critical reaction is; it's not meant as my opinion or the definitive last word on the movie for anybody.

I'll post more as I see them. Others can feel free to do so as well.

And the last time I checked IMDB, there weren't any ratings listed, but now it's at a respectable 7.1 out of 10 - about the same as the other two movies.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0980970/

Here's a huge lot of reviews, some positive, some not, from RottenTomatoes. The current score is only 57%, but that may change again by Friday.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chronic ... n_treader/

To balance that out, here's Narniafans.com: "Not bad. Not bad at all."

http://www.narniafans.com/archives/10766

I'm not too worried about the critics, however there is a thread for Rotten Tomatoes

http://forum.narniaweb.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2277

and another for general reviews:
http://forum.narniaweb.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2133