Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund Pevensie (Skandar Keynes) return to Narnia with their annoying cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) reluctantly in tow. There they reunite with Caspian (Ben Barnes) aboard the royal ship The Dawn Treader and join him on his quest to find seven missing Lords.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is the Narnia film I’ve seen the least. In fact, I think I’ve only seen it once before this viewing and that was not long after it was released on DVD so watching it now was almost like the first time I remembered that little about it.

Having the adventure set at sea with the heroes travelling from island to island, with each island being different and having their own mystery or problem to solve, keeps the film interesting and it evolves the world of Narnia. However, this island hoping is a double-edged sword as none of the places or creatures they discover feel fully developed, and a lot of them feel like checkpoints as they travel to their final destination.

The special effects creating sea creatures and dragons are great, but it’s a shame some of the practical effects and make up used to bring creatures like minotaurs to life in previous films, is swapped out for computer wizardry. Having watched the Narnia films back to back, little things like that stand out.

Perhaps another thing that’s more obvious as I’ve watched all the Narnia films in row, is that some of the characterisation is a bit off. Edmund seems to have picked up some of his brother’s traits of feeling more entitled about being royalty – both in his own world and in Narnia – when previously he’d been more accepting of what had happened to him. This leads to conflict between Edmund and Caspian, conflict that’s exacerbated by outside forces, and neither of them talk about it again or apologise which felt weird and wrong for both their characters.

Eustace is not a nice person when he arrives in Narnia. He’s a tattletale, spoilt and complains about everything, so naturally his time in Narnia offers him a chance to grow up and become a better person. The script and Will Poulter’s performance both do a good job at actually making you care about Eustace, as he is really annoying to begin with. He goes from being a character that’s entertaining to dislike, to one that actually has some redeeming qualities and surprisingly is one you find yourself liking.

It is a shame the powers that be never continued with this film series. Well, there’s supposed to be an adaptation of The Silver Chair but who knows if that’ll ever come to fruition. While the setting of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is a lot different to the previous outings in Narnia, a lot of the heart and charm is still there. 3/5.