The Third installment in the Chronicles of Narnia series. A splendid adventure that worked far better than the last- Prince Caspian.

The new Narnia adventure begins with a picture in a room that literally captivates the two youngest Pevensie children- Edmund and Lucy along with their bratty cousin Eustace. Soon they find themselves in the Narnia sea being pulled aboard a ship called the Dawn Treader which is lead by King Caspian (Formerly prince). Then the non-stop adventure begins.

Every island stopped at and explored presents a new set of problems plus new characters and lessons to be observed and learned.

Edmund is tired of always being second fiddle, Lucy is obsessed with being pretty like her sister Susan, and Eustace would just like to go home and continues to be a mouthy brat that doesn’t take orders well but the feisty fighting mouse -Reepicheep dogs his every step and eventually shows him the error of his ways.

Evil represented by a green mist in the movie preys upon the weaknesses and obsessions of the 3 children in particular. Eustace ends up being turned into a dragon and everyone aboard the Dawn Treader ends up battling a sea serpent.

Oh yes, along the way they finally meet up with Aslan who puts their whole adventure and lessons to be learn into a useful spiritual perspective.

A great movie for the whole family.

Review

This film was a major disappointment. My grandson and I looked forward to seeing this for months. I was looking forward to see another M. Night Shyamalan masterpiece and this wasn’t while my grandson is a fan of the TV series the movie is based upon. Both of us were completely disappointed.

First of all- the title of the movie should have been ‘The Avatar’ like the TV series but we all know why that just wasn’t possible. It was like an omen of bad things to come.

I don’t think that Shyamalan really ever understood the story and the characters from the TV series. Somehow he must have gotten bogged down in the sets and special effects which by the way weren’t even that good considering that this could have been an epic similar to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ series or ‘Star Wars’.

The biggest problem were the characters. They were never really developed and never got to the place where I even cared that much for any of them.

Aang ‘the Avatar’ was too dark and confused to be a ‘hero’ and the special effects didn’t really do justice to the powers he was touted to command. Prince Zuko was somewhat sympathetically portrayed but my grandson said Katara was a ‘whiny baby’ in the movie where she is tough and courageous in the TV series.

It was way too serious and comedy relief was totally lacking. Humor served the ‘Ring’ series well and also the Star Wars movies along with the Avatar TV series but not in this movie for some reason. In the end the characters were not even really that likeable.  

Religion

Going in we knew that the story would be steeped in Eastern religions and pantheism. Each of the major people groups had their own champion ‘gods’ or spiritual forces. The ‘fire people’ leader could care less about religion and was in to power and domination. The Avatar ‘Airbender’ was supposed to be the one which would bring peace and so-called balance between the different forces and gods—a ‘messiah’ of sorts.

The explanations of this were rather lacking and murky in the film.

Conclusion

The film ended with a victory that was left uncelebrated. The ‘water people’ bowed down to the Avatar and that was it- and who really cares for that matter. Nothing like the celebration at the end of the first Star Wars movie (now they call it the 4th). 

At the end, both of us wondered if we would even bother to see the sequel if it ever happens. Probably not. My advice—don’t waste your time and money on this turkey.           *Top  

One of the best animation flicks that I have seen in a long time. I took my grandson to see it and didn’t really expect much but rather than getting comfortable and taking a nap, I actually watched the whole thing and really enjoyed it.

The film presents a fantasy world where a Viking village is constantly under attack by dragons. the villagers had become expert dragon fighters and expert on dragons, so they thought. Meanwhile, our film hero Hiccup tries to become a dragon fighter but fails. When he finally brings down a dragon he finds that he cannot finish the job and kill him. He is a complete disappointment to his father.

He secretly befriends the dragon he could not kill and in the process learn more about the dragons than anyone else in the village. In his training to learn to fight dragons he is able to hold his own with every dangerous variety known. His only weakness is that he refuses to finish them off. Which is perceived as a weakness by his father.

The girl that he really likes –Astrid, finally finds out about his secret friend and in the end the reluctant warrior saves the day, gets the girl, and gains the respect of his father and everyone else in his village including the dragons.            *Top 

A post-apocalyptic tale that immediately reminds one of the old Mad Max flicks, the violence in particular. The story line plays out very similar to other movies in that genre except Eli (played by Denzel Washington) is on a mission from God.

America is a desert wasteland and it has been 30 years since a world war destroyed civilization. It’s every man and woman for themselves in this stark world of burned out buildings and crumbling highways. Food and water are scarce and it is surprising what is considered valuable. Cannibalism is a problem, violence is the norm, and only the strong survive. A great world to live in.

Eli is traveling to the west coast where he believes that a voice from God told him to go and deliver his treasure- a book.  Turns out that the Book is a King James version of the Bible with one more wrinkle I won’t mention. It is supposed to be the last Bible in existence. The Bibles were all burned after the world war for some reason never fully explained.

Meanwhile, a town warlord –Carnegie (played by Gary Oldman) has roving armed bands attacking travelers looking for a Bible. He hopes to use it to control people better and expand his empire. The battle begins when Eli shows up in his town with a copy.

Eli makes it out of town and Carnegie and his goons pursue him. Also a young woman, Solara, ends up as his companion and helps him to his destination.

Lots of twists and turns in the story but Eli does complete his mission but Carnegie does get his hands on a copy of the Bible but one he cannot use as his little empire begins to fall apart.

At the end, the Bible is published again and takes its place on a library shelf right next to a Koran.

Many Christians might like this movie in spite of all of the violence. I did. I found it rather inspiring to see Eli make the best of bad situations and continue to pray and read the Bible. Is Eli a sort of prophet? Yes, in an Old Testament way and one who dishes out judgment in the process. He seems to have supernatural power at times in overcoming his enemies on the road. Way more than good luck or military training could ever account for.

Yes, I even believed that Eli did hear from God and was on a mission from God. In fact I had the feeling that he had actually been blind at one time but received sight to carry out his long journey. I swear at the last when his mission was done he looked like he was blind once more.            *Top

Genre: Action, Thriller; Theater release:November 13, 2009 by Columbia; Directed by: Roland Emmerich; Runtime: 2 hours 38 minutes; Cast: John Cusack (Jackson Curtis), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Adrian Helmsley), Amanda Peet (Kate Curtis), Oliver Platt (Carl Anheuser), Thandie Newton (Laura Wilson), Danny Glover (President Thomas Wilson)

The ultimate disaster flick. Nearly all of humanity is killed and only a few 100,000 are saved but you really don’t get too concerned because the hero’s family survives under the most incredible circumstances. The computer generated graphics are taken to the next level as you view the entire world destroyed before your very eyes.

Chiwetel Ejiofor is a steady binding influence throughout the entire movie in his role as the head scientist Adrian Helmsley. Woody Harrelson is wonderful as the outrageous comedy relief/apocalyptic nut. Danny Glover was steady but unremarkable as the President. Oliver Platt is totally believable as the diabolical government bureaucrat. John Cusack, Amada Peet and the kids are the main focus and ‘heroes’ of the story if there really is such a thing.

There is absolutely no new ground sowed in this movie—you have all seen this plot before in dozens of recent disaster movies and at least once a week on the SyFy channel. But guess what, it is entirely fun anyway.

Read what else I have to say about this movie, particularly about how religion is portrayed, on my main page: “-2012: The Movie, Humanity, and Religion” *Top

An incredible ‘reboot’ of the Star Trek franchise with a whole new young crew of actors playing the familiar characters and ready “to go where no man one has gone before” once more!

The film features an innovative way of using time travel to wipe out the familiar ‘time line’ that trekkie’s like myself have watched for over 40 years. A change right at the beginning of the film—the destruction of Kirk’s father and his ship as James T.was being born sends the franchise into a new alternate time loop and makes it possible to do it all over again—differently.

James T.Kirk grows up without a father to guide him along and becomes a regular small town trouble maker before meeting up with Capt. Pike, a former friend of his fathers, who challenges him to seek his destiny with Star Fleet. We also get a glimpse of a young Spock—a half human picked on by other Vulcans and joins Star Fleet as a reaction to the lack of respect he receives from his Vulcan elders.

One by one we are introduced to all of the familiar Enterprise characters—played by a new bunch of young actors—Uhura, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov—way younger than they ever were even in the original series. But that is the point—an all new Trek for an all new ‘younger’ generation.

Just when the whole story seems rather confusing, the ‘old Spock’ (Leonard Nimoy) comes to the rescue and explains it all. Usually there is some kind of moral theme or commentary on current culture inherent in a Trek story line. This time the whole story is merely a vehicle to introduce the new crew and get them all together for the next adventure.

The special effects and the sound track are fantastic—far beyond where Trek has gone before. The film is fun and enjoyable on a number of different levels. It is a stand alone story that can be enjoyed by those who have never ‘Trekked’ before.

For me, it was great to see my grandson enthusiastically enjoy the film —he didn’t really care for the past Treks–and now looks forward to the next—and I look forward to seeing it with him-–to boldly go and do it all over again.

The movie features animals which are extinct, and a variety of human cultures which never existed side by side or even in the same era or continent. Nevertheless, the story was interesting and at times almost magical.

D’Leh is the hero of the story, living in a tribe which hunts woolly-mammoth and reminds one of North American Indian culture. A group of horsemen raid the village and carry off a bunch of folks including Evolet, D’leh’s blue-eyed and beautiful girlfriend. D’Leh and a group from the village pursue the raiders. On the way they encounter sabre-toothed tigers and a type of pre-historic lizard that reminds one of the Raptors in Jurassic Park.

They finally come upon a village of black people, that is reminiscent of 18th century central Africa, which has also been raided and they join together in the pursuit. After a one day journey across a vast desert, they come to what looks like an Egyptian city along a large river (probably the Nile) with a huge pyramid being built by thousands of slaves and an advanced complex culture of noblemen, military, and priests.

The movie features one-dimensional characters which are either all good or all evil.  D’Leh, our designated hero, proves his moral character at the beginning by refusing to accept glory and honor that came his way by accident.  Even though he would have gained Evolet for his wife in the process. The Egyptian raiders exhibit no such redeeming characteristics at all.

It finally gets down to a real battle with panoramic fighting scenes on top of and flowing off of the pyramid. However, there is also an unseen religious power encounter going on at the same time.  Behind the battles scenes, there is a ‘spiritual’ battle going on between the Egyptian priests and prophets, verses the native North-American type village witch doctor lady who exhibits a New Age/ Star Wars Jedi type of vision/power projection. Guess who wins the day!            *Top

  The good part: Jones is back with flair even in his older age. Marion Ravenwood, played by Karen Allen once more, brings a confident familiarity to the film. All the action and adventure of the earlier films are there. Also, it is really good to see Indiana make a real commitment in the end. Plus, the surprise that Marion drops on him adds a new dimension to Indiana’s character.

Now for the not so good: Cate Blanchett’s ‘Russian’ accent. Plus, Steven Spielberg’s penchant for making this Indiana Jones movie a remake of “Close Encounters” also–a twofer. The alien connection just doesn’t work for me. I really did miss the religious themes and connections which characterized the previous three films. Oh well, it was fun anyway!           *Top

The film opens with the ageless Vietnam vet hunting down snakes for a living and running a longboat service on the Salween River. Along comes some medical missionaries from Colorado and solicit his services to take them up river into Burma to help Christian Karen villages in the midst of persecution and civil war.

He asks them if they plan on taking weapons to the villagers and of coarse they say no. He responds: "Then you ain’t goin’ to change anything! Go home".

He declines to take them but one of the leaders, Sarah, talks him into the trip. Along the way , river pirates attack and our hero kills them all to the consternation of our missionary folk who are oblivious to how close they all really came to death. Rambo gets them there and leaves with scenes of the missionaries doing their jobs helping take care of medical needs in the Karen village and teaching Bible stories to the children.

A couple of weeks later, a Pastor from the church that sponsored the missionaries knocks on Rambo’s door hoping to hire him to take some mercenaries upstream to rescue his missing group.

In the process, the rather subdued John Rambo becomes the hero once more, rescues the missionaries, shows the mercenaries a thing or two, and almost single handedly eliminates an entire base of Burmese soldiers.

This really is a violent story and the ‘R’ rating should be taken seriously when it comes to young children. In one scene, the entire Karen village–men, woman, and children–are brutally mutilated and exterminated by the Burmese troops.

The story is said to realistically portray what is really going on in Burma (Myanmar). It is a little much, but it’s Rambo all over again, and man can he still dish it out!

At the end, the only question left unanswered is–can a man like John Rambo ever go home again?  Stick around for the credits, if you really want to know.

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A totally fun action romp like the first ‘National Treasure’. Our heroes this time break into Buckingham Palace,the White House Oval Room, and kidnap the President for a few minutes on the way to a grand finale at Mount Rushmore.

Ed Harris provides this episode with a serious diabolical enemy in the beginning and becomes a somewhat sympathetic foe in the end. Helen Mirren comes aboard as Benjamin Gates mother. This provides some interesting by-play between her and Voight’s Patrick Gates character who is her ex-husband.

The story revolves around a supposed ‘Book of Secrets’ which is passed on to each succeeding President and contains national secrets that are for presidential eyes only. Gates is out to prove that his great-great grandfather was a patriot and not involved in the Lincoln assassination which Mitch Wilkinson (Ed Harris) contends and provides some evidence of. The search for documentation that will clear the Gates family name takes them to a new treasure in the end.

In the last ‘Treasure’ movie, we left Benjamin and Abigail happy together living in a huge historical mansion. In this episode, we find them separated and Benjamin jealous as she dates a White House agent. Next, we find their side-kick getting his Farrari repossessed. Along the way, they all get back together in another non-stop run for the treasure.

There is nothing new here accept fun and plenty of it.             *Top