Official reviews of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader have begun appearing on the website Rotten Tomatoes. So far 16 reviews have been listed on Rotten Tomatoes. Ten of the reviews have had a positive view of the film and six reviews have had a negative review of the film. The average film rating is 6 out of 10 shields. The film has a 63% rating which places the film on the borderline between a “Fresh” and a “Rotten” rating but is leaning towards “Fresh”. The fan rating is 83%. Keep reading to see quotes from some of the early reviews.
Giles Hardie from the Sydney Morning Herald gave the film a rotten review of two out of five shields:
“Voyage of the Dawn Treader has all the magic of a toy boat in a bathtub — it doesn’t look real, feel real or provide much excitement except for the very young.”
Jim Schembri from Australia gave the film 3.5 out of 5 shields and wrote on TheAge.com.au:
“A big improvement on the first two and a potent antidote to HP7.1, Narnia III is strongly recommended, whatever your Narnian status may be.”
Cara Nash from Filmink in Australia wrote:
“The third instalment is for the most part an exciting and emotionally resonant adventure.”
Full review available here.
Simon Miraudo from Quickflix gave the movie 2 out of 5 shields and said:
“Their mission – for reasons that are not fully explained – is to locate the seven swords of the lost Lords of Narnia, and to use them to save this world from … something. Uhh, quick a distraction! Look, special effects!”
Full review available here.
Louise Keller from Urban Cinefile said:
“The film will no doubt please the fans, with its fantastical 3D special effects and spectacular New Zealand locations, although the storytelling is convoluted and muddled”
Sacha Molitorisz from the Sydney Morning Herald said:
“The Voyage of the Dawn Treader may not reinvent the fantasy genre, it may not transcend the medium, but it is an impressive feat of imagination.”
The main competition for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is Tron Legacy which has received a 71% critic approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe received a 76% critic rating and a 62% audience rating. Prince caspian earned a 67% critic rating and a 78% audience rating. The BBC version of Voyage of the Dawn Treader had an audience rating of 59% which is just 1% less than the new Voyage of The Dawn Treader currently has. To keep things in perspective, there are currently only 15 reviews. As more reviews are added the Rotten Tomatoes rating may change. Early feedback from NarniaFaith.com‘s pastor only screenings was very positive. To read summaries of those responses click on this link. I have seen the film twice and wrote my review of the film here. I do not know if I am allowed to post my official review of the film yet, but I will share my full review with NarniaFans.com as soon as I am able to.
Not all film reviews were negative. @DanielJOfficial sent me links several optimistic movie reviews. The Daily Mail gave the film a five out of five shield rating on this webpage (read down the page to see the review). The Blue Box blog gave the film 8.5 out of 10 shields (full review  here). FlickFeast gave the film a positive review (full review here). An Inidan film reviewer from Koimoi gave the film three out of five shields (full review here). Another Indian review from Indian Express gave the film two and a half out of five shields (full review here). NDTV Movies also gave the film a 2.5 out of 5 shield review (full review here). IBN movies gave the film the same 2.5 out of 5 shield rating, but said that the movie was loyal for fans (full review here). So far the reviews for Voyage of the Dawn Treader seem very mixed. Some people did not like the movie, but others thought that it was the best Narnia movie in the series. Stay tuned to NarniaFans.com because later this week I will post my full review of Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
CRAP!
It’s not that bad.
What I find really funny is the views on the religious side of it: most Christian groups either say that it has an excellent portrayal of Christian symbolism, but a few say it doesn’t have enough Christianity. But at the same time, I’ve read reviews from atheists who disliked the film primarily because they said the filmmakers didn’t even try to veil the obvious symbolism. So on that, the views are all over the place!
I personally hope it’s the first of the three options. That’s what it seems like it’ll be, from the spoilers.
Please do not use foul language. The movie is great as it is.
First, sorry I said that, I didn’t know it would be considered foul language! anyway I was just so mad… I wanted it to get as much as the BIG movies! Second, have you seen the movie Claudio?
Better than “The Last Airbender” at least, which has an RT rating of 8%! xD
from what I’ve heard, that movie deserved that!
oh man…i hope not many people are reading these reviews…these may be the worst ones…i hope it really does well at the box office so they can make the other four stories….narnia is better than harry potter…it will be upsetting if they don’t end up making these beautiful stories…please 🙂
IM SORRY IF IT SEEMS IM GONNA GIVE SPOILERS! I JUST LOVE NARNIA! PEACE! –,)
YAHOOOOOO!!! i just watched Narnia 3 VDT 3D yesterday, December 3 in SM Mall of Asia cinema 3 here in The Philippines! ( wow!that’s a lot of 3’s there huh! Lolz! ) THE EXPERIENCE WAS AWESOMEEE!!! i just hoped that its also available in IMAX ..for sure it wil b a one of a kind adventure. For me, Will Poulter is the best actor! He did portrayed the character of Eustace very well…In some shots of Ben, he looks like Jake Gylenhall in Prince of Persia..but he looks so handsome! Especially Skandar..he is so good looking! The major plot change is in Narrowhaven.. Just check it out! What i didnt like is the special effects when the green mist took the slaves in the ocean.. The special effects is not convincing for me… The Dragon is so cool! Especially when he met Aslan… The most touching part is when Aslan is speaking to them in the end part of the film.. But i think Georgie’s acting is not that good on that last part.. I think i want to see her cry and sob more, Reep is also cool! Nice job Simon Pegg! ;-D
out of 1 to 100 scale, what would you give it? And were the special affects and 3-D what they made it out to be?
@patrick… I think ill give the movie a 95 out of 100… Or lets just say 4.5 out of 5 (ill give LWW a 5 out of 5 and PC a 4.0 out of 5)… In the 3D aspect however, i think its really not that 3D-ish… Coz when i watched ResidentEvil3D last time, the effects really pop out of the screen, i mean for me, 3D is really that when you actually jumped from your seat coz the thing really pops out , but for VDT 3D, i just noticed 1 effect that made me jump from my seat.. I think that was one of the scene with the Serpent… But for the rest of the film ,everything is just normal… But still the movie is really as good as ever!!! ;-D
And the Serpent is so terrifying! Tilda is as good as ever! Love her! Overall im happy with the film.. One thing though.. I think the soundtrack of the film is not as good as what Harry Gregson did for the past 2 films… And also i didnt find the film to be that very 3D-ish… But its fine… But what i really appreciated was in the end credits, while Carrie’s song is playing, we are shown the pictures of Pauline Baynes art drawings for the VDT book, it was so cool! Whew! What an experience! Im sorry if giving spoilers here … Lolz! IM LOVING NARNIA MORE AND MORE!!! ;-D
In fairness to critics and ‘the voyage of the dawn treader’, it isn’t a type of film that the majority of critics would go see normally (although it’s possible there is one or two Narnia buffs in that profession or family fantasy buffs but critics generally tend to go for other types of films).
Not bad, good and loved it will be what most people get from the film; but even the ‘not bad’ minority are seeing a ‘not bad’ tale adaption of Narnia in the holiday season, which is quite different & better than just seeing another ‘not bad’ film i would think even if not obvious.
Couple more days and i get to see it again 🙂
me too! me too! i’ll watch it again next week… can’t get enough of Narnia! ;-D
OMG!
hahaha! promise! im not kidding, im gonna spend around 1000 pesos or say 25 dollars to watch the movie for around 4 times in 3D.. hahaha! just wana compare as well if what cinema is really the best cinema to watch VDT 3D.. lolz! ;-D
Critics don’t buy tickets. Fans do. If it’s good, people will buy tickets.
Exactly. And the ran rating seems to be good…. =D
Not bad at all, nobody cares about “critics” 😛 especialy when the audience is happy. Obviously critics have never read the books and don’t understand the story, atleast it looks a lot better than caspian was(I had to explain the story to my family for PC).
I hate reading bad reviews. It ruins my day. NOT EVERY MOVIE IS PERFECT!!!!!
EXACTLY WHAT IT DID TO ME! And did you notice that none of them had the same Con about it. Which means that was just their PERSONAL opinion
IMDB.com gave it a 7.5 of 10 rating. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0980970/
I really think everyone should read the books first. First of all just because thats how CS Lewis would want it and second of all it really helps you understand a lot of things. LWW was perfect but i had questions that my son kept telling me i could only get from the book so i started from the beginning, The magician’s Nephew and went through all 7 books. Wow. They are worth it and you’ll get through them in 2 weeks at the most.
I REALLY don’t agree with that!
I think maybe the reason people don’t like it “that” much is that it’s so different from the other movies. BUT, the book was too, so as long as they follow the book I will like it no matter how much the characters or story has changed.
I don’t even know how to say how right you are about that!!! That is EXACTLY what it is with some Michael Apted mixed in.
The rating is back up to 63% positive. I’m hoping that it will eventually at least level out at around the Prince Caspian level (67%). It’s pretty close right now, but who knows where it will actually end up since so few reviews are up now. At least, there are enough positive reviews that we should be sure this is not going to turn into a “Last Airbender” type critical bomb.
Here is the link to my review https://narniafans.com/archives/10707
U know what guys, i think we really have some problems with the soundtrack for VDT… I mean its really not that majestic, i think i got chills when i heard HarryGregson’s theme again in the scene where all of them are rowing into AslansCountry … But for the rest of the film i really didnt heard any majestic theme in any other scenes of the film…
Update: The tomatometer classifies Narnia as rotten with 59% positive reviews.
I loved the movie (watched in the Philippines)
In my opinion, I think the movie is very entertaining; I cried. note that i am 13, but simply because i am a child doesn’t mean that i love it because i am highly imaginative and naive.
However, the problem is; many people simply think that the ADVENTURE and 3D effects and ACTIONS is what makes a movie great. But no.
What makes this movie (and the books) so great and brilliant are the sybolisms of the story. Not many non-christians can appreciate that. The jerky reviewers are very (honestly) stubborn minded and don’t seem to be so open-minded about the whole thing. Narnia is misunderstood by countless others who lack curiousity and enough imagination to make the book/movie great in their eyes.
A book/movie is only great if the reader/viewer can actually bring themselves to see it’s good points and imagine the scenery, tones, and tasks instead of having 3D effects to it for them. That is one thing I admire about kids. We don’t need to try so hard. Why is it that Adults must be pleased by such complicated things?
What makes it better than Harry Potter (Which I love as well) is every single lesson learned. It teaches consequences to our actions, faith, family trust. The only thing I actually learned from HP is friendship and bravery; which is already included IN Narnia along with many other virtues.
a (short or long) review 🙂 i have no intentions of insulting anyone.