Product Description

Edmund and Lucy Pevensie, along with their cousin Eustace, are swallowed into a painting and transported back to Narnia and the magnificent ship The Dawn Treader. They join King Caspian and a warrior mouse named Reepicheep for a mission which holds the fate of Narnia itself. The courageous voyagers overcome their own greatest temptations, as they travel to mysterious islands; have fateful confrontations with magical creatures and sinister enemies; and reunite with their friend and protector, the "Great Lion" Aslan.

Ever since fans noticed that Dawn Treader was advertised to have a 1.78:1 framed image on Blu-ray梚nstead of the "Scope" 2.39:1 ratio with which it was exhibited in theaters梩here's been a lot of heated internet speculation about the film's 1080p/AVC encode. Some were espousing a worst-case scenario梩hat the sides of the picture had been unceremoniously lopped off, harkening back to the dark pan 'n' scan days of yore. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be the situation. I've taken several screengrabs from the Scope theatrical trailer included on the disc, and when you compare them to the shots from the 1.78:1 film you can immediately see that no cropping has occurred. Rather, what we have here is another Avatar scenario, where the film was shot in 1.78:1, printed in Scope at 2.39:1 for its 35mm theatrical showings, and then re-opened up for Blu-ray. The key reason for this, from James Cameron's perspective, was to make the most use of available screen real estate, and I'm assuming this is also the intent of Dawn Treader's Blu-ray producers. If you take a look at the 19th and 20th screenshots in this review梩he first from the film, the second from the trailer梱ou can make your own comparison.

Now that we've got that aspect ratio business out of the way, on to the real concern梙ow well the movie makes the transition to Blu-ray in all other regards. As I mentioned in the review above, Dawn Treader was shot digitally instead of on Super-35mm like its predecessors, and this has led to an image that lacks some of the lushness and vibrancy we've come to expect from the Narnia series. Film, by its very nature, tends to poeticize an image, whereas the Sony CineAlta digital cameras used to shoot Dawn Treader produce a "realer" picture that just doesn't seem to fit with the movie's fantasy theme. (This, of course, is my opinion; you may feel differently.) That said, judged on its own merits and taking into account the way the film was shot, this is a strong, accurate encode that excels in clarity. The texture of Edmund's leather belt and breastplate stand out clearly, fine facial features are easily discernable, and the fur, skin, and scales of the various CGI creatures looks more than adequately crisp. No complaints here. Color is also largely well represented, although you may notice that the screenshot from the trailer has vibrant, stylized colors, while it appears that the filmmakers decided to go for a more natural palette for the finished product. This is a choice, like any other, and while I may prefer the more pumped-up hues of the trailer梬hich do give the film a more appropriate "fantasy" look桰'm certainly not going to dock the PQ score based on my preference. However, there are a few bright daylight scenes when colors do seem slightly washed out梐s if overexposed梐nd not quite as dense as they could/should be. Contrast is also a bit on the weak side, although black levels are more than suitably inky. I can also say that there are no significant encode issues梟o overt banding, blocking, etc.梐nd that digital noise is kept to an absolute minimum. I like the look of the first two Narnia movies a lot better, but given the circumstances of Dawn Treader's lower budget and all-digital production, the film makes a fairly strong showing on Blu-ray.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader featured a 7.1 surround mix in theaters, but on Blu-ray 20th Century Fox has梖or reasons unknown梥tuck with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. Granted, the percentage of viewers who have 7.1 home theater set-ups is probably a small slice of the film's potential audience, but if you have a ready-made 7.1 mix, why not use it? Still, I don't feel too cheated; two missing channels aside, this is a strong and almost constantly active lossless audio track, one that梒ranked loud enough梬ill certainly put your speakers through the paces. From the start we get WWII-era Spitfires roaring through the rear channels, rushing, gurgling water filling the surrounds during the painting-come-to-life scene, and enough windy, oceanic ambience to convince you that you're at the beach. From here, the sonic insanity only escalates; one-footed Dufflepuds hop around us, their voices circling ominously; storms rage on the open seas, sending rain and spray in every direction; the dragon fight is filled with zipping, cross-channel arrows, leathery fluttering wings, and gut-throbbing LFE undertones. It all sounds wonderful, with rock-solid low-end response, punchy engagement, and clarity throughout the dynamic range. David Arnold's score has similar presence� and sets an appropriately adventurous tone梐nd the dialogue crests cleanly over these wild aural waves, always clean and intelligible. Even without the extra surround channels, I'm tempted to give this track full marks.

3D Blu-ray DVD Movies Disc - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader  Features

Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1

Audio

Subtitles

Discs
50GB Blu-ray Disc

Package Content

3D Blu-ray DVD Movies Disc(50GB) - 3D Blu-ray DVD Movies Disc - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader  x 1