The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

[Disneykid]

Oh, thank God we're finally moving forward. While I'm a bit nervous at how much Fox might get involved creatively, I'm just relieved that the production is commencing. Here's hoping it's enough of a success to both tick off Disney and greenlight production on The Silver Chair. As long as they release it around Christmas (giving Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I a good month to rake in its own cash), I don't see how it can fail.

[Barbossa]

But what do you mean by "they have learnt their lesson"?

"they" as in Walden and whoever else they're releasing it with. I was referring to the release; they're switching it back to a holiday release rather than a summer release - one of the big factors that hurt Caspian. It just sucks that it's unlikely we will get a boxed set of the movies in the future.

[a-net-fan]

Im so glad to hear that the movie has been picked back up! I cant WAIT for this release and I hope it is a boomig success and Disney kicks itself in the a** for letting it go.

[Neal]

I blame Walden Media for losing Disney. It sounds like Phil Anschutz was too pushy. Yes, Disney released the film in the wrong season, but other than that it was fine. He went after them for the darkness level, etc.

Hopefully this goes well at Fox. Just happy to see it made.

[supertalies]

It just sucks that it's unlikely we will get a boxed set of the movies in the future.

It sounds stupid, but when I read all the news about Fox taking over, I thought the exact same thing!

[kbehm29]

I'm glad the movie is still getting made, and I hope they continue with the series. It's too bad it wasn't announced that they had committed to more than one Narnia picture. Regardless, I've come to accept that there won't be a boxed set - I'm just happy I still get to see it. It's a good day.

[2099net]

I blame Walden Media for losing Disney. It sounds like Phil Anschutz was too pushy. Yes, Disney released the film in the wrong season, but other than that it was fine. He went after them for the darkness level, etc.

Hopefully this goes well at Fox. Just happy to see it made.

Talking of Darkness, I watched my Prince Caspian for the first time a week or two back and I thought it was an expensive monumental misjudged disaster of a movie.

I don't understand why in this day and age (in general) people think Darker = Better.

I don't know about you lot (most of you seemed to enjoy it) but I don't think that there's something quite right about seeing what are basically children (yes, even Peter... I've no idea how old he's supposed to be in character though) fighting in such bloody (yet oddly bloodless) battles. Yet the lack of blood may have kept some over anxious parents happy, but to me it did nothing to hide the brutality of the fights - this was no Saturday Morning Cartoon in the 80's full of in-organic robots to be cut and blown up as fodder to keep the do-gooders happy.

And then there's the question of racism. Had the invaders been black then it simply wouldn't be allowed. End of story. Somehow, being Hispanic, magically no offence is supposed to be taken. How does that work?

I know I'm one of the people who constantly bangs on about how we shouldn't prejudge Disney or anything it attempts, but Prince Caspian was just wrong... it doesn't work as a family movie full stop, and if Disney wanted to appeal to an older audience, they should have put it out under under one of their other labels... Not that they've been used that much recently.

[Disneykid]

And then there's the question of racism. Had the invaders been black then it simply wouldn't be allowed. End of story. Somehow, being Hispanic, magically no offence is supposed to be taken. How does that work?

Avoid both The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle at all costs, then, especially in this post 9/11 world...

I, personally, don't see what's so offensive about basing the Telmarines on Spaniards. Heck, I'm 1/3 Spanish (and 3/4 Puerto Rican, which amounts to the same thing in the long run) and I wasn't offended. Andrew Adamson wanted to make the Pevensies feel like outcasts in Narnia. The only way to really convey that is to make the Telmarines a different race from our white, British heroes, especially since they're SUPPOSED to be a different race. Had they been white ala the BBC miniseries, it would be difficult to get across the idea that the Telmarines come from a land outside of Narnia (unless you made them American, but then a statement is still being made...). Besides, how many war films out there make other races out to be the enemy? At least in Narnia the Telmarines aren't shown as 100% evil.

I can understand being unsettled at seeing kids fighting in a violent war against adults, but for some reason, I found it more acceptable in this film than in the first one, probably because they're older here. You won't have to worry too much about this becoming a signature trait of the series, though. Only The Horse and His Boy and The Last Battle have extensive war climaxes, and from what I recall, the child protagonists aren't even active participants in The Last Battle's war.

[Neal]

I totally want 'The Magician's Nephew' because 2 straight hours of Swinton as Jadis would be amazing! I love Tilda Swinton!

[rs_milo_whatever]

People will get offended. They always do; there's always ignorant people that love to rant when they feel offended for something they shouldn't be offended by. I'm hispanic, I find no reason to be offended by Caspian, and I'm also part Arabic, and I haven't felt offended by anything after or before 9/11.


Well, actually I do hate seeing people setting us back and building up stereotypes within my heritage. But that's a whole different story.

[2099net]

I, personally, don't see what's so offensive about basing the Telmarines on Spaniards. Heck, I'm 1/3 Spanish (and 3/4 Puerto Rican, which amounts to the same thing in the long run) and I wasn't offended. Andrew Adamson wanted to make the Pevensies feel like outcasts in Narnia. The only way to really convey that is to make the Telmarines a different race from our white, British heroes, especially since they're SUPPOSED to be a different race.

And yet, the Prince himself isn't Hispanic. So it sort of muddles that logic. The Telmarines have to be a different race (which I can accept), but casting a non-white actor in the title role will alienate the audience apparently (but oddly, getting him to speak in a hodge-podge accent won't). I fail to understand the logic of the film at all.

But it's uncomfortably close to other films such as Aladdin (dark bad guys, lighter good guys) and the upcoming Prince of Persia (non-Arabic lead role). In fact, considering Hispanics have such a presence in the US, I'm amazed that I cannot, off the top of my head, think of one male lead actor who is Hispanic.

Being as they cast a more or less unknown in the role, it would have been an ideal opportunity to cast a fresh, new face and they basically ignored it. Look at Slumdog Millionaire and how that single film has put Dev Patel "on the map" from previously only being on a UK TV series with a couple of million viewers. Disney and Walden could have given a young, male hispanic star the same chance.

[Barbossa]

Let's just hope Fox doesn't mess this up like they did The Dark is Rising. The Seeker? What was that... That could've been a good series of movies too.

[Mickeyfan1990]

I had a feeling Fox would release the 3rd film. It's just odd on how another company has taken over rights from Disney. I think that's the first time this happened.

[roswellian]

In fact, considering Hispanics have such a presence in the US, I'm amazed that I cannot, off the top of my head, think of one male lead actor who is Hispanic.

The first name to pop in my head was Freddy Rodriquez but he never really has a starring role. Just really fantastic supporting roles like on Six Feet Under and Bobby.

[The_Iceflash]

People will get offended. They always do; there's always ignorant people that love to rant when they feel offended for something they shouldn't be offended by.

Exactly. There's absolutely nothing in Prince Caspian that is even remotely close to being a race issue with it.

[2099net]

People will get offended. They always do; there's always ignorant people that love to rant when they feel offended for something they shouldn't be offended by.

Exactly. There's absolutely nothing in Prince Caspian that is even remotely close to being a race issue with it.

Of course there is. I say again, were the Telmarines Black, or Chinese or Japanese it would be blatantly obvious. And then, allowing for the fact the Telmarines were cast as Hispanic "to show that they were different" the main character, who is not only Telmarine, but Telmarine royalty is not a member of that race himself! It also shows most (almost all in fact) of the hispanics in the film as being untrustworthy and greedy. The fact that the only "heroic" Telmarine in the film is not hispanic only makes that fact blindingly obvious.

Again, can you imagine if the Telmarines were Chinese, African, or Indian and their Prince was a Caucasian? Do you not think that would be an issue?

[rs_milo_whatever]

May be Ben Barnes isn't Spaniard, but his character was. You're right, People probably didn't say anything because visually, they weren't that different. Personally, I don't like the fact that if the villains are Caucasian, people have no problem with all the characters' flaws;It's just a huge double standard.

[Disneykid]

And if we're going to get really technical, not everyone cast as a Telmarine was hispanic. Sergio Castellito (Miraz) and Pierfrancesco Favino (Glozelle) are Italian, and most of the extras playing the soldiers are from the Czech Republic, I believe.

While I understand the argument about casting an actor of actual Mediterranean heritage as Caspian, I'm not so sure Ben's casting was a conscious race decision. Saying that the Disney's thinking would've been more obvious had the Telmarines been black or Asian doesn't really wash. Had that been the case, Disney simply would've cast a Caspian who looked like one of those races. They can be pretty stupid sometimes, I admit, but not so stupid as to cast a white kid as black, Asian, Middle Easter, or whatever. Heck, Hawaiians are cast as Asians all the time in films, even donning fake accents.

[rs_milo_whatever]

I always thought that Caspian being blond made no sense. The telmarines were descendants of island natives and pirates. this would have meant darker skin tones. They were going for an Italian/Spanish look, it isn't really stretching the racial boundaries from Caucasian.

[2099net]

May be Ben Barnes isn't Spaniard, but his character was. You're right, People probably didn't say anything because visually, they weren't that different. Personally, I don't like the fact that if the villains are Caucasian, people have no problem with all the characters' flaws;It's just a huge double standard.

Well back in the late 80's/early 90's there actually was people complaining that a large number of big Hollywood movies did have Caucasian villains: namely British. There was rather a trend for it at the time, and yes, that includes Jeremy Irons Scar in the Lion King, along side such villains as Anthony Hopkins in the Hannibal Lecter films, Alan Rickman in Die Hard et al, or 'that bloke from 3rd Rock' in Cliffhanger, etc.

It's all to do with lazy scripting and casting. You want somebody to be a villain - you make them different from the lead character[s]. It's an audio/visual and storytelling shortcut. Ever notice how all the non-Romans (the "goodies" - bar Judas) in The Last Temptation of Christ are American actors, while the Romans (the "baddies") are British actors?

The reason most films don't have people complaining that the villains are Caucasian is because so too are the heroes. So things are generally balanced.

And if we're going to get really technical, not everyone cast as a Telmarine was hispanic. Sergio Castellito (Miraz) and Pierfrancesco Favino (Glozelle) are Italian, and most of the extras playing the soldiers are from the Czech Republic, I believe.

Talking about Romans (as I was in a round about way) I could have said "Latinos". It's really missing the point. The point is they were all portrayed as being of Spanish origin.

The fact Caspian looked similar and had the same accent as the other actors isn't really the issue. With today's make-up you could cast a white actor as a black man (or vice versa) but it wouldn't been seen as the right thing to do.

Again I draw attention to the fact that there's a large population of people of Hispanic/Latino decent in the United States, and there's hardly any well known leading make actors. Disney and/or Walden Media did nothing to change this situation.

What's worse is there's plenty of well known actresses of the same decent, but basically they're only as popular as they are through their desirability, which in some respects is even more offensive.