You can't help but be struck once again by the common elements the Narnia books have with Lord of the Rings produced in the same dark, drab postwar years, attempting to reinforce the moral sense that Lewis and Tolkien presumably saw had been both drained and somehow redeemed by the war and its outcome.
So it's heartening to report that Dawn Treader arrives with confidence and bravado intact – the entirely expected stew of cod-medieval adolescent derring-do, attention-grabbing special effects, and sledgehammer moral lessons with nakedly religious overtones.
Hopes had been high that Narnia could be another Potter, but instead it looked like it had turned into His Dark Materials: the magic of the print works struggled to emerge on to the screen.
