Christmas in Narnia

Hello everyone! Thanksgiving is over, and Christmas is coming up fast! I decided to change the header of my blog to something Chrismassy (which I made), and I changed the color scheme as well. If you're interested, here's a post of all of my former blog headers.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a very Christmassy book. Maybe it's because the first three times you see Narnia it is covered in beautiful wintery snow. Or maybe because C.S. Lewis actually added a character called "Father Christmas." Why do you think he did that? I think it's fascinating. He incorporated lots of mythical creatures from ancient folklore into Narnia, such as fawns and dryads and seapeople. But he also added a few characters that we recognize, like Bacchus (in Prince Caspian), and Father Christmas in LWW, who has continued to permeate our culture to this day. Nowadays, Santa Claus displays are everywhere at Christmastime; he is on TV; he meets kids at malls; and most every kid, at one point or another, if not believes in him, wishes he was real. The Pevensies get to actually meet Father Christmas in person (even if it is in another world) and receive gifts from him! In this scene in the movie, Lucy, the youngest sibling and the one with the most faith, turns to her older sister and says, "Told you he was real." I appreciate that Father Christmas in the movie points to Aslan as the true king, saying, "Long live Aslan!" before driving off in his sleigh.

When asked by a young fan what Aslan's "other name" was, C.S. Lewis included Christmas in his explanation:

"As to Aslan's other name, well I want you to guess. Has there never been anyone in this world who (1.) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas. (2.) Said that he was the Son of the Great Emperor. (3.) Gave himself up for someone else's fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people. (4.) Came to life again. (5.) Is sometimes spoken of as a Lamb (see the end of the Dawn Treader). Don't you really know His name in this world?"

That's right, Christmas is also when Jesus arrived on our Earth! And he is way more exciting than Father Christmas! Imagine you wanted and wanted to believe that God was real; then, at Christmas, he gives us the most precious gift he could ever give: his own Son. Jesus, who is God, came to our world as a human! He actually set foot on this Earth! He was God, born as a baby in Bethlehem. I can picture one little shepherd at the stable whispering to a buddy, "Told you He was real."

In The Last Battle, Lucy (Narnia's example of faith) says,

"Yes," said Queen Lucy. "In our world, too, a Stable once held something inside it that was bigger than our whole world."

Once again, an acknowledgment of Christmas and Christianity and Christ in the Chronicles. Yay, C.S. Lewis!!

Maybe you should re-read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this December! Another great story is Luke 1 and 2, the story of the first Christmas. (And the whole Bible, of course! :)) You can conveniently read Luke online here.

And just for fun... Narnia Christmas Gift Ideas:

Narnia Fans Apparel

Fox Shop Official Merchandise

Narnia gifts from Zazzle

Narnia gifts from Cafepress

Narnia replicas and toys on Amazon

Wardrobe Necklace

Narnia Radio Theatre

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader movie

Reasons for Neglect, and making up for it!!

Hello All!
It's almost the end of August, so I thought I'd post something. :) When I started this blog, it was mostly to let my excitement about Narnia out! Especially right around the release of Dawn Treader! :) I also wanted to post things like Character profiles and devotionals and quotes and things. I would love to get to these soon, so stay tuned!

Reasons for my neglect:

1. There hasn't been much Narnia news at all! Here's one of my Aslan's Country friends' interpretation of the situation:



We are stuck at where we were months ago... Waiting for Fox and Walden (or someone else) to decide to do another film! The last thing we heard was they wanted to do Magician's Nephew next. At this point, I don't care so much which one they do next, I just want another one! Actually I want four more!!!! :D

NarniaWeb and YouTube's Glumpuddle posted an analysis on the situation and possible routes the franchise could take. I thought it was really interesting, so I'm posting it here:



2. I'm producing a movie! Yep, you heard me. We've made two smaller-scale films before with friends: "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" in 2006 and "The Silver Chair" in 2008. (I can't believe I haven't posted on this blog about them yet!) Both were so much fun! Over the years, we've learned more techniques through short film projects and a film club our church hosted. Now, with the help of many adults and teens from our area, I am producing, "First Impressions," which is based on Pride and Prejudice. This is the other blog on my profile. (Check it out here.)

3. It's summer!!! And this means I'm busy. :) I have managed to dig up a few interesting articles and sites for you though.

First, Did you know you can download the Narnia font?!?! I just found out! It's the one they use for the official movie logo. Click here to check it out! I made the image below with the Narnia font. :)


Second, a Narnia Cookbook is coming out!! The writer of the "Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook" is now writing a Narnia version. Here is the article where she mentions her next book, but I saw it first on Facebook. Can't wait to see what's in it! :)


Third, I'm having fun hosting a contest on YouTube! You make a rules video, then people post their videos as video responses to your contest video, then you get to watch them all and decide who passes to the next round! It's pretty fun. I'm posting my most recent video below. (I've also been neglecting editing because of the film.... :/) You can always find my "Narnia Music Vids" on the sidebar of this blog. :)



Fourth, my sister found this cool site called "Wordle" which you can use to make pictures with words. Just click "Create" up at the top, then put in your blog url! You can customize the words, layout, and colors. :) Below is one I made by pasting in my blog's url. Try it! It's amazing! :)


Last, and certainly most exciting, I GOT TO GO TO THE NARNIA EXHIBITION IN PORTLAND!!!!!!! Yes. I know. It deserves its own post! :) I'll make a post for it when I upload our Narnia Nerds of the Northwest video that Hannah and I took while we were there. For now, let me recap the most exciting parts for me:

1. Getting to go there with the Dokupils was AWESOMENESS. It was so fun to be with my fellow Narnia freak, so we could oooh and aaah together! :)
   
2. Being allowed (after many phonecalls and talking to staff) to take pictures and video inside the exhibit!! Matthew (Aslan's Country boss) called Walden to get permission because we were going to write a report on our site. The OMSI people finally let us, and we got press passes. :)
3. Getting to see the ACTUAL props from the films!!! When we first walked in, we saw Edmund's flashlight from "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Skandar has touched it. I know that sounds weird. We're not weird Skandarfans, it's just awesome to think that that's the one they used in the films! After more costume displays, we spotted The Book of Incantations. Yup. The actual one!! We plopped down in front of that for about five minutes. :) Other original items: The White Witch's dress and crown, Susan's coronation crown, and the door and door frame from Tumnus' house!
4. Overall, it was just so amazing to get to go there. I would have been very sad if I couldn't have gone. If you have a chance to visit, I definitely recommend it. :)
   

You can read our report on Aslan's Country here. Hannah did an awesome job writing it, and Matthew made an amazing slideshow! :) Enjoy! And more coming soon!

April 8 - VDT "Double DVD Pack" review

I did it! I went into the store, saw the display, took some pictures, and bought the 2 Disc DVD! :)

At Albertsons I saw the big cardboard ship display with the DVDs and Sodas on it. Pretty cool.

At Albertsons

But they only had the single disc DVD and the Blu-ray combo pack. And I figured Fred Meyer would have the same stuff, since they were also mentioned in the news story.

So mom drove me over to Walmart. There they had Dawn Treader banners on their "new releases" stand by the check out. They were selling the single disc DVD, Blu-ray combo, plus the "Double DVD Pack" and "Single Blu-ray disc" versions... (which are, i think, exclusive at Walmart, Target and Best Buy.)

At Walmart

Since the 2 Disc DVD ("Double DVD Pack") was the one I had decided I was going to get, I bought it. I was thrilled to find out that inside of their bad cover/sideways/"Perfect Easter Gift" box, was a regular single disc DVD with a pretty cover! YES! and... an "Explorer Pack" single disc case, which supposedly has all of the bonus features the Blu-ray has except for three featurettes. (Click on the second picture to see what I mean.) I don't think this is the case...

 

As soon as I could (after a dentist appointment and my sister's senior photoshoot) I popped the movie DVD into our DVD player. I LOVE THE MENU!! Very cool montage in a frame shaped like the Magician's map. On the main menu you can click: PLAY, SET UP, SCENES, or EXTRAS. I clicked on Extras. There you can watch the four Deleted Scenes or the Director/Producer commentary.

I watched the deleted scenes. The first (In Narnian clothes) I'm glad they cut, because I don't think it would have flowed or been in character for Lucy at all. The second (Eustace is Ill) and third (Mutiny) are both scenes mentioned in the book. The filmmakers didn't stray as far as you think from the story. I'm kind of sad these scenes were cut. The last (Doubt) was one I suspected would be on the deleted scene list after watching the movie a couple of times. Remember the scene right before they reach Ramandu's Island and Edmund and Caspian are in the cabin with the swords? In the movie there is only one line, and it seemed incomplete... I was right. The rest of it is the deleted scene "Doubt." It's basically a time for Edmund to be inspirational... Never give in to temptation, doubt, etc.

The "SET UP" and "SCENES" looked good. I didn't play the movie yet because I didn't have time. :(

The second disc "Explorer Pack" is definitely a fun present for an Easter basket. Do you get Easter baskets at your age? I didn't think so. I stopped at about age 11. That's the age this disc is marketed to. :/ On each Island there is a narrated explanation of the island. There are little explanations about certain Narnian characters, good and evil. And a very easy "seven swords" game that shows you a picture of the sea serpent if you lose and Aslan if you win. Nice... Oh! One new thing I did enjoy was "King Caspian's Guide to the Dawn Treader." Ben Barnes is narrating as Caspian, giving you a tour of the ship and telling how it was made in Narnia (with the help of the mice, dwarves, etc.) I also loved the animated short, which is dedicated to Pauline Baynes. It's not really animated, just some of Pauline Baynes' drawings being used to illustrate King Caspian's (Ben Barnes again) adventure from the time the Pevensies left him as King and then rejoined him in the sea. (Think the Dawn Treader credits.) That was very entertaining. Especially the joust between Caspian on Destrier and Shasta on Bree..... :p ) Anyway, moving on! The only really official stuff on the disc is the Theatrical Trailer, the four Fox Movie Channel Videos which you can download for free on itunes and a short Behind the Scenes promotional featurette called "The Epic Continues." which I have seen online somewhere also. Not much new. Or maybe it's just not new to me since I work for a Narnia site, and I hear about these videos when they appear online. The best video is the "Making of a Scene" Fox video. AWESOME. I want more of that for all of the movie!!

In short, this bonus disc IS NOT your average "Here's how we made the movie! We had lots of fun and we learned a lot! Here's special featurettes of us backstage! Oh and don't forget the outtakes and cast commentary!" I saw none of that. It had NO long Behind the Scenes video, NO cast commentary (we knew about that), and NO outtakes!

But the actual movie DVD disc is VERY cool. And I can't give an opinion on the Blu-ray combo edition, because I don't have a Blu-ray player. Here's Griffle's analysis on NW. All I can say is it looks really beautiful! (All of the fold-out pictures and all!) The Blu-ray does have more good Behind-the-Scenes stuff... like a VFX reel and a "Battle on the Sea" featurette. Oh, and I heard once that there was supposed to be a "Seasick Gag Reel." Everyone thought that was the outtakes. I don't know. If they're on the DVD, they're hidden, and I haven't found them yet.

I'm hoping for a future "Special Edition" or "Collector's Edition" or "Extended Version," etc. that will have a lot more Behind the Scenes and stuff on it. This movie was awesome, and it deserves an awesome set of Bonus Features. I'm afraid most Narnia fans will be disappointed. Unless they buy the single disc DVD. That one is awesome! :)

Two more notes....

Please don't think I regret buying this. No! I couldn't rest until I had seen the display and bought one. It made the day special. Also, If I had bought the single disc DVD I would have "wondered til it drove me mad what would have happened if I had" bought the bonus disc also. I'm glad I got to see it, and I'm sure I'll enjoy watching those Fox featurettes next year, when I've forgotten what they are about. :p

Also, I'm not trying to dissuade you from buying the film!!! If you have already seen all of the Fox itunes featurettes I mentioned, and you don't care about seeing the Pauline Baynes short, then just buy the single disc DVD. Or you could buy the Blu-ray and let me borrow it to see the extra stuff I'm missing! :p Just kidding... The Blu-ray is probably the coolest though. It even comes with a Digital Copy!! If I want a Digital copy I have to buy it off of itunes for $15. Oh how I wish we had a Blu-ray player!!

Anyway... I hope you enjoyed my long review. :p

Further up and Further in!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow!

It’s the evening of April 7th, 2011.

Tomorrow is the day we’ve been waiting for.

No day has been anticipated this much since December 10th!

Any Narniac could tell you what happens tomorrow.

Or hopefully anyone who has seen trailers and ads on tv or online.

Tomorrow the stores will be blessed with the arrival of…

THE BEAUTIFUL DAWN TREADER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been getting very excited about the release of this film lately.

Probably because of all of the cool promotional websites Fox has launched.

See them here and here and here.

Makes me giddy.

Which is exactly what they wanted to happen.

Or maybe I’m just excited because it’s Narnia.

Either way.

Anyway, today I saw a picture in a news story that thrilled me.

  

It was a giant Dawn Treader model with shelves!

Made out of cardboard.

We ignore that detail.

The shelves held copies and copies of the VDT DVDs and Blu-rays!

They also held soda.

It comes free with the movie.

Tomorrow I plan to march into one of those stores.

I’ll scream a bit if I see one of those displays.

Then I’ll take a picture of it.

Or several.

Matters how many I can handle before people start staring.

Then I’ll have my mom take a picture of me beside it.

Then I will carefully choose my copy of the film.

I can’t wait to see them with my own eyes.

The pictures online of the DVDs all look so different.

I’ve been curious what mine will actually look like.

Oh.

Then I will buy the DVD with money I have saved from Christmas.

Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Then.

I will own the Dawn Treader Special Edition 2 Disc DVD!!!

Later I’m planning on asking the manager something.

Can I keep the display?

When you’re done with its presence gracing your store, of course.

Maybe he’ll say yes.

Then I’ll have to figure out where to put it.

We ignore that detail.

Plans are being made all around the country to watch VDT tomorrow.

I know I will. I’ll probably watch it a lot in the coming months.

Be ye warned.

Anyway, you’re invited to come over to my house and watch it with me!!

Or, as one of my enlightened Narnia friends remarked,

“LET’S JUST GO TO NARNIA AND WATCH IT THERE!!!! :D :D :D :D”

I hope you enjoyed this post.

In my opinion it’s rather random.

And it makes it look like I’m more excited than I really am.

Which is not true.

I’m super-de-duper excited.

Signing off!

One Week Until the Awesomeness!!!

In exactly one week, God willing, I will be holding my very own “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” two-disc DVD!!!!!!!!!

I am hoping to go to Walmart on April 8 to buy one. I’d like to see if the DVD really has a different case than the Blu-ray, which would not be fair. The Blu-ray case is gorgeous!! (As I explained in my post, Beautiful Narnianess.) I’ll also check the prices. If it is a LOT more at Walmart than Amazon, I’ll probably buy it at Amazon and get it on Tuesday. (with free 2 day shipping! ) :D

In preparation for the release, many AC stories have mentioned promotions and new websites, etc. Not as much as right before the movie came out in theatres, but you can definitely tell that they’ve picked up their marketing again. Here are a few links to check out:

The official Narnia.com site advertising the Easter release of the Dawn Treader. It includes a new official trailer exclusively for the release, and ecards with mix-n-match backgrounds and quotes that you can send to friends!

An Italian site that is offering Reepicheep plush toys. (Oh, yeah!)

A new DVD trailer featuring a family who is literally immersed in Narnia!

A couple of Behind-the-Scenes clips (most of which will be included on the DVD) have also appeared online…

Four clips are available for download on itunes: An interview with Georgie and Will. An interview with Liam Neeson. An interview with Michael Apted. And the Making-of the Transition to Narnia painting scene. The last is the coolest!

Moving Pictures Company has posted a video on the VFX side of making Dragon Eustace. There’s also one from Prince Caspian about Reepicheep.

Since the DVD and Blu-ray premiered in Brazil yesterday, some deleted scene clips have shown up. For example, a clip called “Mutiny,” which is mentioned in the disc descriptions. Also, someone mentioned on Facebook a scene where Lucy is dressed in boy’s clothes and Caspian teases her, saying, “Hey lad, you haven't seen a young girl anywhere?”

On a related note, someone mentioned they can’t wait to see these scenes put where they belong when the Director’s Cut version is released. This sounds exciting! Is she just guessing? Or will there actually be a “Director’s Cut” or and “Extended Version”? 

VDT Soundtrack Review

Wow. I told you before that I wanted to wait until I bought the soundtrack to hear it, instead of listening to it on Grooveshark. Let me tell you, it was worth it. Listening to the soundtrack is like watching the wonderful movie all over again! I rate it 5 blue stars! :)

If you have seen the movie more than once you can follow along with the scenes while you’re listening to the soundtrack. I don’t know if every single piece of music is on the CD, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was! Some of the tracks even pick up right where the last one left off. For example “Duel” and “The Magician’s Island.” At the end of Eustace’s “Duel” with Reep, it goes right to the scene where Gael is discovered on the ship (beginning of “The Magician’s Island”).

There are two songs in the movie, which I know aren’t on the soundtrack. One is “In the Mood,” the 40’s piece played during Lucy’s dream about Susan. This is kind of equivalent to “Oh, Johnny!” (a 40’s song by the Andrews Sisters) which was not included on the LWW soundtrack. The second song is “There’s a Place for Us,” which was written and recorded by Carrie Underwood. This song, which plays during the credits of the movie, was also recorded by artists from around the globe for their versions of “Dawn Treader.” That may be why the song wasn’t included on the CD. It just seems a little odd, since almost every other soundtrack I own includes some song at the end of the CD that played during the credits or was an “inspired by” song.

That having been said, the soundtrack really sounds complete without those two songs. Ending with “Time to Go Home” is so emotional. I teared up when I got there! If you really want to hear Carrie’s song after that, you can buy “There’s a Place for Us” (which is very beautiful) and burn a CD of the soundtrack with her song at the end.

But I digress…

The score is beautiful. David Arnold did a fabulous job writing the new themes, mixing them together, orchestrating them, supplementing each scene with the perfect amount of music, and fitting them together to make a lovely soundtrack. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, the music would be enjoyable to listen to, but knowing the story really adds to the experience, I think (as I said above).

Some of my favorite tracks:

1. Opening Titles: He starts off with a high “ooing” voices and low strings (I'm calling that the “Liliandil theme.”) which escalate to a beautiful falling melody I’ll call the “Dawn Treader theme.” This is the perfect beginning to the movie and the soundtrack!

3. High King and Queen of Narnia: This is one of the two tracks credited to Harry Gregson-Williams, the composer for LWW and PC. When Edmund and Lucy are introduced to the crew, David Arnold uses the “Narnia Theme.” I sort of wish there was more of the old themes in this movie, but then it wouldn’t be the same beautiful soundtrack! The movie has a different feel, and the new composer really added to it.

4. Reepicheep: This is not one of my favorites, but it introduces us to the “Reepicheep theme.” (of course!) It escalates to a magical melody that accompanies Lucy and the Nymph she sees in the water. The “Reepicheep theme” is also heard during the sweet “Under the Stars” track when Reep is comforting Dragon Eustace.

8. The Green Mist: This track (and all of the Lone Island tracks) has a very Arabian feel to it. (Each island has its own feel: Magician’s Island is very magical, Goldwater is very dry and scary, etc.) It starts out with an ominous chasing music (An interesting note: the strings underneath remind me of the “Raid on the Castle” track from Prince Caspian.) For the actual “Green Mist theme” he invented a very ominous theme blared out on trombones and supplemented by a choir. This theme you can hear during Lucy, Edmund, and Eustace’s temptations… basically whenever the green mist is seen.

10. 1st Sword: This is a quiet, happy theme (I’ll call it the “Sword theme.”) for the scene where Lord Bern gives Caspian the first sword, and Caspian gives it to Edmund. It vaguely reminds me of the “Father Christmas” track from LWW, which I suppose is appropriate. :)

11. Eustace on Deck: This song exactly fits what it is couple with in the film, a scene of the kids and Reepicheep passing time on the deck of the Dawn Treader. Inserted in is a variation of the “Dawn Treader theme.”

12. Duel: This track is a “Pirates of the Caribbean” type fiddle piece that fits the scene perfectly, but the theme is never used again in the movie. Although it is suspiciously reminiscent of the “Dawn Treader theme...” :)

14. Lucy and the Invisible Mansion: I would title this track “The Book of Incantations.” It starts out very quiet and mystical as Lucy is opening the Magician’s Book. When it starts snowing, the “ooing” “Liliandil theme” begins, and right before it reaches the “Dawn Treader theme,” is where she slaps the book and the music stops. The beauty spell is next, then the boys’ fight with the invisible Dufflepuds. When everything is appearing again, it is very magical sounding.

16. Temptation of Lucy: (This isn’t one of my very favorites, but it has a lot of the themes in it!) It starts out with a very sweet and quiet version of the “Treasure theme” (seen later) with the “Green Mist theme” (listen for it!) squeezed in. When she transforms in the mirror, we hear a rather sad version of the “Liliandil theme.”

17. Aslan Appears: This is the second track where David Arnold uses the old “Narnia theme.” But this time it is slow and sad, since Aslan is telling Lucy how wrong she was and encouraging her not to be jealous.

20. Dragon’s Treasure: The “Treasure theme” is a bouncy, greedy, almost comical theme played on a xylophone I think. After that the track gets more solemn and we even hear a phrase of the “Green Mist theme.” When Edmund and Caspian find Eustace’s clothes and journal, they think he is dead. David Arnold uses a slow and sadly triumphant version of the “Sword theme" for the mourning Eustace and the finding of the third sword.

21. Dragon Attack: The pounding beginning instantly reminds me of Dragon Eustace flapping his wings up and down, flying towards the Dawn Treader. This develops into a mini battle against poor Eustace. As he flies away, we hear a sad, climbing melody squealed out by the violins. Then we hear a goldwater-sounding chasing theme and as Eustace picks Edmund up to read his message, we are suspended in air, hearing a version of the “Liliandil theme” again.

24. Aslan’s Table: (All of these tracks really are wonderful…. Maybe I should just write about all of them…) We hear a minor version of the “Dawn Treader theme,” which turns into the “Sword theme." As they try to pile the swords on the table a running theme plays over the slow "Sword theme.” Ramandu’s Island is dark and mysterious, until Liliandil appears. She brings with her the lovely “Liliandil theme,” which originally played during the Opening Titles.

27. Into Battle: This is the longest in length at 11:02. It leads you through Dark Island, where the “Green Mist theme” is prevalent, especially when the Serpent appears. There are glimmers of hope voiced by the “Sword theme,” but soon the epic battle takes over. I really like the use of choirs chanting during this piece. The one surprise is when the music suddenly cuts out for the quiet interlude during which Aslan “undragons” Eustace. I think the theme is a variation of the “Sword theme.” But back to battle! Another running theme occurs when Eustace, as a boy, tries to get the seventh sword on the table. The rest is crazy, wonderful battle music (except for one short pause for the witch to talk to Edmund. Did you know there are voices whispering “Edmund” in the music there?) until Ed stabs the serpent. Victory!

28. Sweet Water: Actually this is the victory piece. It starts out with the“Liliandil theme,” but soon crescendos to the victorious “Sword theme.” Then we hear a hint of the “Dawn Treader theme” before finding Eustace is a boy again!

29. Ship to Shore: This is where it starts getting emotional… The music is quiet, because Aslan is talking to them and they are all saying their goodbyes. You can hear some of the “Sword theme.” The clearest though is the beautiful “Reepicheep theme,” especially when Reep sails over the wave into Aslan’s Country at the end of the track. Awww…. Sob, Sob!

30. Time to Go Home: I think this is my favorite track of the bunch. The “Dawn Treader theme” is heard first. It is just brimming with hope, but also filled with sadness and longing. I really love how this movie ends, how Eustace is narrating about how his cousins will be missed by all Narnia. And right at the end, when you think it couldn’t get any better, David Arnold adds in a gorgeous, climbing theme from the violins. (A variation of the “Sword theme.”) They start low and soft, slowly escalating and passing each other, higher and higher, and finally resolving in quiet strains of the beautiful “Dawn Treader theme” as Eustace hangs the picture of the Dawn Treader on the wall. The soundtrack ends exactly how it begins. Quiet “Dawn Treader theme.” Fade out.

Conclusion:

1. Watch the movie several times.

2. Buy the soundtrack.

3. Listen to the soundtrack several times.

4. Buy the movie. :) It's coming out April 8!

Beautiful Narnianess!

Amazon has released the official cover art for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader DVD and Blu-ray! They are purple and beautiful! :)



The Blu-ray one has a frame (that looks like part of the Dawn Treader!) around the edges, but that's the only large difference.

The one design issue that I don't like is the Witch. Why does she have to be on there? Ok, you can put her in the trailer for advertising, since everyone knows who she is, and she didn't ruin the movie that much, but WHY put her on the cover? Caspian would have been a lot better!! Oh well. It works.

Another thing to note is that the Blu-ray copy comes with a DVD copy too (or maybe Blu-rays just play in DVD players?) and a "Digital Copy" (which means you can download it into your computer and play it on there and sync it to your ipod.) Cool!

Conclusion: The covers are both brilliantly beautiful. I approve! And they make me want to pre-order the DVD right now!!!

Here are the links to see them on Amazon: DVD ~ Blu-ray.

Dawn Treader Soundtrack

The soundtrack for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader isn't that noticeable at first. Which is how soundtrack music should be. Of course it does have some of those "big hero theme/epic battle music" moments, which you notice, but the music works as a team with what you're seeing on screen. After seeing the movie multiple times, I've come to love the music a lot. It really is perfect for the film, and the themes are a good balance of new themes and a few old themes. I agree with the review I've included part of down below. :)

Anyway, I thought I'd let you know, in case you're interested in hearing the soundtrack, that it is available to listen to on Grooveshark. Grooveshark is a site where people upload their music so that they have it wherever they are. But it benefits other people who want to hear a song before they buy it or just have a playlist of music on while they're working online. I personally don't want to listen to it on Grooveshark because I want it to be new and fresh when I buy it and hear the CD for the first time. :) Speaking of buying the soundtrack, here's a couple links: Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

And here's some news on the Soundtrack: Click here to read a story from Aslan's Country containing two reviews of the soundtrack (part of which i've pasted below) and an interview with the composer, David Arnold. In the interview he talks a bit about the musicians who play the music. Did you know they don't see it until they show up to rehearse it for about 5 minutes, then record it? Wow. They're pretty talented. Read the interview for more. :)

From Mfiles: Stylistically Arnold’s music is different Gregson-Williams’ but clearly from the same genre, so it feels like the new music is an evolution rather than a revolution for the Narnia series. The first thing you may notice about Arnold’s music is that much of it is quiet and gentle – a refreshing change from the relentlessly dark fantasy scores we have come to expect recently. Nevertheless this helps to reinforce the magical element of the C. S. Lewis books, and musically it allows the whole orchestra to shine. Rather than the heavy use of brass and strings, we can hear some much subtler orchestration with woodwind, percussion and harp shining through. Secondly although there is recurring thematic material, this is not one of those scores which constantly reiterates a single main theme. The effect is that the music is traditional but inventive, totally supportive of the film and yet carefully avoiding genre cliches.

Arnold’s new thematic material is a group of ideas presented in the “Opening Titles” with a characteristic descending figure. “The Painting” briefly turns darker with some rhythmic material before resolving back to the main theme, while “High King and Queen of Narnia” establishes the film’s place in the world of Narnia with a short recap of Gregson-Williams’ Narnia theme. Arnold’s new main theme recurs in various guises throughout the score (e.g. “Land Ahoy” and “Eustace On Deck”). “Reepicheep” and “Lord Bern” are excellent examples of the magical understated orchestration, with the harp arpeggiating the main theme in the latter. “Temptation of Lucy” is perhaps the lightest track of all, with harp, celeste and gentle woodwind creating a most ethereal cue. One of the consequences of keeping the score quietly in the background is that you get maximum contrast when the mood changes, for example “The Lone Island” is mostly quiet with a brief action interlude – a great contrast. Similarly there are some dark moments in “The Green Mist” which features some choral writing.