A Title So Long, We Couldn’t Fit A Joke In The Headline
We’ve quite enjoyed some of the “Harry Potter” films. And yet, we’re still fairly apathetic every time one rolls around — maybe it’s the sheer volume of the series. So you can imagine the giant collective shrug that comes from The Playlist team in the run-up to the release of a new film in “The Chronicles of Narnia” franchise.
Maybe it’s that the two films so far have been fairly tedious, full of dodgy performances and sub-par FX. Or maybe it’s our problems with CS Lewis’ books, with their insufferable moral stance, thinly veiled God-bothering, and major issues with women. Either way, the final trailer for the third installment, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” has arrived, and it’s not really done anything to change our minds.
To be fair, the spectacle seems to have been cranked up a bit, and it seems appropriately stuffed with dragons, minotaurs, other mythical creatures and battles. The original children are all along for the ride, as well as Prince Caspian (Ben Barnes, who seems to have lost his questionable Spanish accent); this time joined by Will Poulter (so good in the wonderful “Son of Rambow“) as their cousin Eustace
Tilda Swinton also returns to pay for whatever four-hour Romanian movie she wants to go off and do next, Simon Pegg replaces Eddie Izzard as the voice of swashbuckling mouse Reepicheep, and Liam Neeson returns to sanctimoniously lecture the characters, and the audience, as Jesus surrogate Aslan.
Having said all that, we hope the film does well enough to extend the franchise through to all seven films, if only because the final installment “The Last Battle,” which *spoiler* kills most of the characters off in a train crash, would give the werewolf falling in love with a baby in “Breaking Dawn” a run for its money in the batshit-crazy-franchise-conclusion stakes.The film, being released by Fox for the first time following Disney‘s decision not to pick up their option after “Prince Caspian,” is the first in the franchise to be put out in 3D, and is helmed by Michael Apted (“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “The World Is Not Enough“). It hits theaters December 10th, and you can check the trailer out below, or head over to Yahoo to watch it in HD.