I’m pretty sure that when Disney was adapting the Chronicles of Narnia movies, their main goal was to milk the adventures of the Pevensies for all they were worth. The reason why I say this is because while Disney could’ve gone in chronological order (which I think maybe would’ve been the better and possibly more interesting option), they chose not to. I get that the books mainly focus on Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, but there were a ton of other stories that occurred in the same timeline that would’ve also been interesting. For example, The Horse and His Boy could’ve given us a look at some of the other kingdoms mentioned in Prince Caspian. An adaptation of The Silver Chair or The Last Battle could’ve given a look at how Eustace continued to grow as a character after the events of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and could’ve served as an end to the Narnia series. Instead, though, we got the movie version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which honestly made the adaptation of Prince Caspian look accurate.
#1: Botched Theology/Conflict
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader adaptation came out in 2011, three years after The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe and there was a stark difference in how they portrayed the theology in those movies.
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe book had a pretty simplistic theology presented in an easy-to-adapt way, that Disney stayed (for the most part) true to. While a few things were changed here and there to reach a secular audience, the core of it stayed the same and I have even seen clips from the movie used in several churches as an entertaining way to try to explain the Gospel. The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is a story of good versus evil, true enough, but throughout it, we see symbolism (presented through Aslan and his relationship with the Pevensies) representing Jesus’ death on the cross to save us from having to pay the price for our sins.
Meanwhile, even though Disney had had no problem staying true to the theology in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, they for some reason couldn’t wrap their heads around the theology in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, even though that theology is just as simple. The theology in the book version of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was best shown through Reepicheep and Eustace.
Reepicheep has always had an unfailing faith in Aslan, so much so that he will do anything to meet him and go to his land, something that Christians should try to aspire to. Of course, that is not to say that he is a flawless character, but he is almost as close to a saintlike figure as we get in the Narnia series, next to Lucy, the most faithful of the Pevensies. He even serves as a sort of mentor to Eustace, who undergoes the biggest character arc in the series.
Eustace starts off being entirely unlikeable to the point where even Lucy wants to throw him overboard. It’s only when he turns into a dragon that he becomes less bratty and more humble and becomes my favorite character in the book. The reason why he is my favorite is because he is the most realistic character. When Eustace is finally turned into a boy again, he tries scratching his dragon skin off numerous times but it doesn’t work. It is only when Aslan intervenes and tears it off of him that he is free of it. He then washes him and when he comes back out, Eustace is a boy again. This was symbolic of how we cannot be freed of our sin by our own understanding. When Aslan tears off the dragon skin from Eustace and washes him, it was representative of casting off our old, sinful life and starting a new life in Christ. That scene was essentially Eustace’s baptism. Did that mean that Eustace was now perfect? No. The book makes it clear that even after the whole dragon incident, Eustace still sometimes would slip back into his old ways, but this time was sorry for it and tried to become better. One of the problems many Christians face is the idea that once you become a Christian, you’ll all of a sudden be a saint. C.S. Lewis knew this wasn’t true and Eustace was a representation of how you need to work on changing with God’s help.
However, apparently Disney thought that was too complex not just for them, but the viewer, and decided to get rid of that almost entirely. While we do see Eustace be stripped of his dragon skin by Aslan, it lacks any of the symbolism formerly mentioned and just seems more like a nice thing that he did for the plot. On top of that, Disney dumbed the story down from being an adventure story of Prince Caspian and Co. looking for the seven lost lords into a “good vs. evil” story of the main heroes fighting against an evil, green fart cloud while they look for (wait for it) glowing blue McGuffin swords. Why are these swords important? Because somehow they’ll defeat the evil swamp gas when they’re put together on Aslan’s table on Ramandu’s Island. Aslan even gives a piece of “advice” to Lucy in the movie that wasn’t in the book that in order to defeat the green gas, everyone would have to rely on the strength within themselves. I’m not making this up. Not only could Disney not agree on how to defeat the swamp gas, but something that C.S. Lewis would never have approved of was put into Aslan’s mouth for the sake of secularism being pushed. But apparently, CGI fart clouds that can bring back a phantom of the White Witch to tempt Edmund (even though she wasn’t in the book) and weird sea serpents that can be summoned up by thinking (also not making this up) were simpler to understand and film than an allegory for baptism or faith in God.
If you’re wondering what that sound is, it’s the sound of my skull being smashed repeatedly into a concrete wall as I wonder what the hell Disney was thinking.
#2: STOP SHIPPING SUSAN AND CASPIAN!
This is somewhat of a pet peeve, but why did they feel it necessary for Caspian to still have a crush on Susan? I realize that she was very beautiful, but as I mentioned before Caspian and Susan had no romantic attraction to each other. This is almost as bad as the Sauron/Galadriel ship in Rings of Power or the Toph/Soka ship in the Avatar: The Last Airbender fandom.
#3: That Island with the Slave Traders
Disney did a good job with making the city look evil and imposing (in fact, they did a good job with making all the set with the CGI and materials they had in the 2010’s), but did not do a good job making it look as it did in the books. In the book, the island was very green and pretty, which was why Lucy wanted to stop there for the night. In the movie, it looks like it’s in a desert for some reason. When they get ambushed, it was even worse since they were captured easily in the books when they come up to talk to the slave trader. While in the movie version and the book, they do find a lord, what happened to Caspian establishing him as the new governor of the island? Why does everyone look like they’re from Calormen? What’s happening?
#4: Timeline
The timeline in the movie is completely botched and I’m still confused by it. The directors constantly switched around events that happened canonically, made them last longer than they actually did in the book, added new events, made some of the old events and the new events seem more important than other ones that were actually important in the book, or did all four things at once. Even the events that were happening in the real world were confusing. In the movie, Edmund was trying to enlist in the British military to help fight in what I’m assuming was the later part of WWII, judging by the planes and posters. However, the book says that WWII was over at that point, since Susan and her parents were in America. Why was the timeline as hard to get right as the theology apparently was?
Conclusion:
While The Voyage of the Dawn Treader book was really good, the movie sucked, and made the Prince Caspian adaptation look great. Artistic liberties can’t even save it since it was so far from the book. Seeing as this was 2011 Disney, this makes me very concerned for what’s going to happen to Narnia with Netflix, a company that’s also going for the woke awards in 2024-25 when the remake directed by Greta Gerwig comes out.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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