Plugged In had this to say about the violence in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
“Dawn Treader’s action sequences, though frequent, don’t wander far afield from those found in classic swashbucklers starring Errol Flynn. And they’re far less traumatic than those seen in the previous Narnia film, Prince Caspian. There are swordfights aplenty, and a few slave traders are thrown off buildings or take tumbles into the drink. But there’s no blood and no painfully obvious deaths.
There is, however, a pretty scary sea serpent that attacks the Dawn Treader as it sails toward Dark Island. The serpent is toothy, ugly and ever so mean, and it might well frighten younger moviegoers right out of their landlubber shoes. Also, Eustace, as a dragon, gets stabbed with a sword, and we see the remains of some of the lords Caspian is searching for. (One of them has been turned into a statue of gold. Another is a skeleton.)”
Plugged In concluded the article by saying:
“If The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was cautious and Prince Caspian grim,The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is, quite simply, fun—a cinematic adventure that retains the spirit (both literarily and theologically) of Lewis’ original treasure. It even, incredibly, gives audiences a hint of his humor. As such, it is without question the best of the series so far.”
MovieGuide.org also analyzed the film they summarized the content of the movie (including spoilers) as:
“Strong Christian worldview diminished by magic though the magic is often rebuked, with very strong moral elements, including kindness, compassion, loyalty, real love stressed, and selfishness rebuked, but girl fights in battle against C.S. Lewis’ beliefs; no foul language; strong action violence includes sword battles, attacks by monsters including dragon and sea serpent, people hurt falling, man turned to gold by falling into a lake, boy transformed into dragon and painfully changed back into a human, slaves are roughed up, slaves sent as a sacrifice to the green mist; no sex; fawns and creatures have upper male nudity, but nothing explicit; no alcohol; no smoking; and, green mist preys on people’s sin nature and selfishness.”
Movie Guide gave the film a four star rating for overall quality and a “1+” rating for acceptability meaning that the film is worthwhile as long as there is some discretion for younger viewers. The full MovieGuide.org assessment can be viewed by clicking here.
The end battle with the sea serpent may be a bit intense for very young children, but I highly recommend bringing the entire family to see this movie on Saturday.