but it honestly and truly captured the very essence of the book.

What would you say is the essence of the book, and how was it captured in the film?

What I saw seemed completely devoid of anything resembling the essence of the book...including coherent story-telling.

I would say the book is mainly a lighthearted adventure where the people go island-hopping through magical places. There are many christian themes and parallels throughout the story but they are not the total essence of the book. I have heard you GP state that the story is about the longing for ones true home, I partially disagree the only time I felt anything like that was in the last chapter or 2. Everything else was just a fun magical adventure to find missing lords with good lessons thrown in.

You may be seeing more then everyone else in the books but it seems that the large majority of the NarniaWebbers who have seen the movie(I haven't yet) say it captures a whole lot of what they love about the books

I think even as a brainless piece of entertainment, it fails. The story and characters aren't even coherent.

Story example: Why do they bring Eustace to the Lone Islands? Why not leave him on the ship? They bring him along and then complain about him being there. I was confused.

Character example: Caspian briefly mentions his father like twice, and then suddenly at the end he has to face this big choice. But ten seconds later, he learns his lesson and even recites it out loud for us. This wasn't set up at all. Caspian's arc lasts a grand total of 10 seconds. The reason the screenwriters felt the need to have Caspian say what he learned out loud is that it would not have come through any other way. Think about Peter in LWW: There is never a scene where he says "I have learned to step up and take responsibility as a leader in this family." There was no need; it came through in the story.

They made this movie for:
1) Small children
2) People who just want to munch popcorn and stare at special effects, and have their brains occupied for two hours (less actually).
3) People with ADD.

I saw VODT last night at midnight with a group of about 10 friends. I got coffee from Starbucks an hour or two before the movie started (Eggnog Latte with a shot of espresso) and got a raspberry smoothie at the theater. XD I also brought Turkish Delight into the theater with me... I kinda hogged it all to myself.

When the movie came on the screen, I started to hyperventilate and the people next to me shushed me rather loudly... Which was kinda annoying because I wasn't really being very loud.

My reaction to the movie was pretty good. I really disliked the whole green mist/seven swords thing. It was ridiculous and the film makers had no reason to add it to the plot. Also, they left out so many wonderful parts from the book that I really liked. But overall the acting was good, I LOVED Eustace, and the final scene with Aslan was great.

The audience reaction was pretty good I think. People laughed when they were 'supposed' to and everyone started clapping at the end.

Anyways, the movie wasn't the best, but I had fun and that's what counts.

I just got back. The movie meet my low expectations.

Will Poulter = Awesomeness. He was absolutely amazing.

Visually, it is stunning. The colors, the costumes, amazingly well done. And, I saw it in 2D. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything by seeing it in 2D, for what that's worth.

Also, the sets were fantastic. Adore Eustace's room. The sets had so many lovely little nods and tiny bits. Very enjoyable to catch the little things.

The character development wasn't very good. It was tiny build-up, temptation, then *boom* development is done.

Music was nice and fresh. The tingly, Tinkerbell-esque music for the blue blast of glowyness ( ) portions was annoying.

I felt like this was geared towards children learning their colors. Green mist. Blue star. Could we get a bit more creative people?!

Umm, college papers have fried my brain, so that's the extent of my review. I'd say go, it's enjoyable; plus, Will Poulter is worth it, if nothing else. But, don't expect your inner purist to be happy.

Edit: Do stay for the credits; they're cute and double as a consolation prize if you hate the movie.

I went to the midnight viewing......There were about six people there...including me and my sister....I was the only person dressed up in Narnian clothes. Although there could have been more in the 3D viewing since we saw it in 2D. There was one boy who brought two girls who seemed to actually have read the books. The girls on the other hand I don't think read any of the books. But after the movie, he said,''Boy, I am glad Zac Efron wasn't in that movie....I wouldn't have gone to watch it if he was.''
I informed the girls that there was a rumor that he was Eustace. They all were quite surprised and said that would have been weird if he had been Eustace.

YAY for the credits LL!!

I saw the film last night at our local midnight showing along with about 40 other people. Our viewing was in 3D, which was my first film in that medium and I didn't really like the 3D effect, so it's possible that my viewing was affected by that.

I enjoyed the film. It was not a great adaptation, it was not a great movie, but it was a fun movie and an intriguing adaptation.

I was actually surprised, but there's not actually that much that they removed from the plot of the book. I was continually surprised as I was greeted by my favorite scenes realized in full visual display. It all here (except for the Gumpas subplot). They really brought the book to life. What's problematic is what they added.

Overall, I really enjoyed the faithful elements of the story. I don't think the screenwriting was particularly inspired, but it wasn't terrible. I think the film will be very popular with children and I'm excited for my sister to see it. I believe that good children's literature is accessible to people of any age and if we transpose that philosophy to film, I'm not sure that this movie lives up to it. It will appeal to adults, but it will fail to make an impression on them and will probably leave them puzzled about why an embodies mist was chosen as the film's villain. It's a fine film, but not a great one.

I think even as a brainless piece of entertainment, it fails. The story and characters aren't even coherent.

Story example: Why do they bring Eustace to the Lone Islands? Why not leave him on the ship? They bring him along and then complain about him being there. I was confused.

Character example: Caspian briefly mentions his father like twice, and then suddenly at the end he has to face this big choice. But ten seconds later, he learns his lesson and even recites it out loud for us. This wasn't set up at all. Caspian's arc lasts a grand total of 10 seconds. The reason the screenwriters felt the need to have Caspian say what he learned out loud is that it would not have come through any other way. Think about Peter in LWW: There is never a scene where he says "I have learned to step up and take responsibility as a leader in this family." There was no need; it came through in the story.

They made this movie for:
1) Small children
2) People who just want to munch popcorn and stare at special effects, and have their brains occupied for two hours (less actually).
3) People with ADD.

THANK YOU!! Okay unlike Glumpuddle I actually enjoyed the film, but this is what I was talking about a few weeks ago when I said it had a kiddy feel to it. I had a hard time describing why I felt that way and everyone else attacked me for my viewpoints. In glumpuddle's review he nails what I was thinking.

Five years from now, this DVD will be sitting in the $7 bin at Wal-Mart next to "Air Bud: Santa Buddies" and "Tinkerbell 2." Kids will be begging their parents for it and parents will be groaning.

I went with my mom, sister,brother, and his friend.I had so much fun!!!!!!!! Me and my sister wore our costumes!! There were not many people in the theater with us and I was to focused on the movie to stop and consider how they were responding LOL!! I plan to go see it again!!!!!!

I just returned from seeing it. While not a direct adaptation, I will say they did a much better job at VDT than PC. Granted, VDT has a lot more to work with from the original source than PC, but still. I personally did like the Dark Island becoming the 'villain' of the story, but I did miss the Narnian results of the tale. (like Caspian reuniting with Lilliandil, and the seven Lords return to Narnia). But VDT the book doesn't have a real solid story, so the adaptation is bound to be different. Lewis got it for LWW, SC, HHB, and LB, but the others have weaker stories, so adaptations are not going to be perfect. I personally really liked it, even more so the LWW and PC.

Now for the nitty gritty. Acting was by far the best in the series. That was in part due to the lack of William Mosely, whom I still hold as the weakest of Narnian actors. Skandar and Georgie stood out even more and Will Poulter was excellent. Ben Barnes was slightly better, but he actually seemed to play more of a minor role. Reep was a star and will be sorely missed in future films.

The dragon side of Eustace was incredible. Graphics were awesome, but I loved how they made his show his emotions and thoughts without having him speak. BBC couldn't pull that off, and had Eustace's thoughts in the background. This one was awesome. The undragoning was also incredible. The only way they could have made it better would be to show Eustace trying to descale himself throughout his part. And of course the whole side story of Eustace and Reep could not have been better IMO.

I did like the rearrangement of the islands, and even the combination of DeathWater and the Dragon Island. The visualization of the islands blew me away, and I understand for time's sake they couldn't stay at each island longer.

This is a very fast paced film. There are hardly any down times, which is great for action lovers. But for those seeking long and heavily developed characters, this is not a stand-alone film for that. Most of Lucy's, Edmund's, Caspian's, and even Reep's character were developed in LWW and PC. So VDT is not meant to be a mere stand alone film.

As far as everything else, this will never be an Oscar winner save for in the graphics department (thought I'd love to put a nod for Skandar or Will Poulter for an acting award). This also would not win a 'best adaptation' award. It is a fun, adventurous movie and one I plan to see multiple times.

As far as I'm concerned, I thought that if they had quit banging you on the head with the theme of temptation, it would have been excellent.

What we ended up with, though, was a dumbed-down theme that produced pretty much all of the poor lines of the film.

That aside, I thought VDT was quite fun and exciting, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again and again in the future.

I saw it and I loved it!

I've been following Narniaweb since 2004 but never felt compelled to join until today.

Unfortunately, I agree with what glumPuddle has to say overall.
Is the film visually amazing? Yes. Are there improvements in acting? Some, yes. Were there parts that were done well? Maybe. There were even some changes that I thought made sense for film (combining Dragon Island and Deathwater Island for example). I did not leave the theater having cried tears of disappointment, but I did leave thoroughly confused.
This film's adaptation made it almost unrecognizable from the original story. Nothing was developed. The only ideas that came even close to being well-formed did not come from the book at all. The green mist and seven swords, which were supposed to be the 'glue' that held the adventures together, were poorly done. Lot's of time was spent building up this idea, but the defeat of this 'evil' was so anti-climatic. Eustace places the final sword on the table, 'Ooh, look the green mist is going away! Hey, there's Aslan's country! Let's go!'
There were sprinklings of events that were true to the story, but they were so rushed and under-explained. I have been reading these books for over 20 years and thought I knew the story. This is not that story.

I could go on and on... but I'll stop here.

Okay, so I saw the movie with my family, and we had a nice post-movie talk. Here's are overall feelings on the positives and negatives:

Negatives:
~ Skirmishes added at every opportunity.
~ The editing is waaayy to fast. Esp. during the Dragon Attack scene and all the fight scenes. You don't have time to see what's happening before the shot changes.
~ Seriously? Caspian and Drinian let everyone lay down on a strange shore, all spread out, and just go to sleep!? (on Magician's Island) No one on watch, no guards, nothing?! Total incompetence. And Caspian + gang looked silly creeping around Narrowhaven.
~ The first half of the movie everyone making fun of Eustace. Not very chivalrous of them.
~ Aslan's mane sometimes looked like frizzed faux fur.
~ The visit to the edge of Aslan's country felt like "Heck, we're this close, let's check it out."

Positives:
~ The Dawn Treader herself is absolutely stunning! That shot of her cresting the storm wave has got to be one of my all-time Narnian favorites. Indescribable!
~ Will Poulter as Eustace is wonderful. If SC gets made, I think he should hold an audience just fine, esp. with a great Jill to help out with that!
~ The Sea Serpent was freakish beyond my wildest dreams. I've never seen anything as sickening as when it ripped open like a cobra. *squirms*
~ Gael wasn't as unpleasant an addition as I expected. I really liked her acting in the Serpent scene - very believable. I wanted to rescue her!
~ The ending almost made me cry.