Treading lightly

I've written about The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader twice already, so now that it's coming out, why not one more jab at its silly name?

Alright, alright -- it's not that silly. Mostly just unwieldy. And it isn't the fault of anyone making this movie, since the name is no different than the name of C.S. Lewis' book.

But I did notice that the billboards for this movie up around Los Angeles have tended to emphasize only the word "Narnia," nothing else. You might say they were "treading lightly" about the Dawn Treader.

In fact, most of the billboards are just a horizontal version of the poster you see above, with only the words "Narnia" and "Dec. 10" on them. And I guess, when you come down to it, that's really all they need.

Okay, so maybe I didn't have as much to say in this post as I thought I had. Maybe I just liked the title "Treading lightly" too much to let it pass.

I will add, however, that the trailers for this movie make me wish I'd seen the last entry in the series, Prince Caspian. I'd want to see these movies in sequence, and those trailers make me want to see Dawn Treader in the theater.

A beautiful digital boat crashing through the waves? Check. Sea monsters? Check. A massive tidal wave? Check. Glowing swords? Check. Dragons? Check.

Michael Apted? Yes, Michael Apted. The erstwhile director of the Up movies (21 Up, 28 Up, 35 Up, etc.). The last time he was given the reins of a really big movie, it was one of the worst Bond movies, The World Is Not Enough. Here's hoping he fares better this time.

And here's hoping I can see one of the big spectacles currently in theaters -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Julie Taymor's The Tempest (which also opens today), and this -- before the next big spectacle, Tron Legacy, opens next Friday.