An Account of Boats, Dragons, and Things That 'Splode in the Night

Last night, I attended a preview showing of Pirates of the Carribean The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  If I had to ascribe a value to it in the form of an arbitrary number, I would give it a 7/10.  Worth watching at least once.  Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favourite book in the series as a child (as far as I can remember).  The movie took a few liberties from the book (all of which were justifiable in my opinion), which resulted in the feeling of experiencing something familiar and yet unique at the same time.  The film was also in "3D", a stupid gimmick that I am not fond of, but luckily it only caused my eyes to bleed for the first 3 minutes or so, and during the final battle.

What I really wanted to talk about was the visual effects in the film.  All of the talking animals in the film were wonderfully made.  Reepeecheep (I have no idea how that is spelled) and Aslan both seem believable as animals, and yet when they speek or have a human expression on there faces, it doesn't come off as unbelievable.  The Minotaur, however, looked completely out of place.  The minotaur was a recurring extra in the film, so you'd think they would have put more effort into making him look as good as any other talking animal.  It isn't that he looks bad, per se, it is just that he does not emote.  His jaw moves up and down without ever showing expression.  Even muppets are capable of more emotion than that.  It was unsettling.  And then there was the fawn, but that will have to wait until another post.

I also want to point out that my favourite video game developers have announced a new game.  I don't think I've ever been this ecstatic before.