A flight into fantasy

NARNIA is by any reckoning a strange place.

Peopled with humans, talking beavers and sundry interlopers from Greek mythology, in thrall to a spiritual leader in the form of a lion, and ruled by a monarch who appears to have little or no army to support his rule, it’s perhaps no surprise to discover that Narnia is permanently trembling on the verge of anarchy and heavily dependent on the interventions of children to sort its affairs.

Here Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) return once more to Narnia in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (US/PG/112 mins). This time they are accompanied by their brattish cousin Eustace (Will Poulter), only to discover that King Caspian (Ben Barnes) has embarked on a voyage on the Dawn Treader in search of the seven lost lords of Narnia, whose combined swords are required to combat a pernicious evil that has infiltrated the kingdom.

The voyage makes for a visual treat, as director Michael Apted employs the majestic ship to marvellous effect, and each island the heroes encounter is more fabulous than the first. The film is less epic and emotionally engaging than the first but far more enjoyable than the confused clutter of its sequel.

Here the narrative is straightforward, in effect a series of action sequences linked by Eustace’s coming-of-age drama as he realises that logic and self-interest are somewhat frowned upon in a realm where faith and sacrifice are more highly prized.

Poulter puts in the star performance as Eustace, and gets a show-stopping metamorphosis into a fire-breathing dragon for his efforts, while Barnes is equally impressive as the young king.

Henley and Keynes are somewhat less convincing as Narnian royalty, their performances stiff and irritatingly precocious, although Simon Pegg seems to have a whale of a time voicing the adventuring mouse, Reepicheep.

Those who find the religious allusions hard to swallow will get a bellyful here, however, as the cracking pace is all too often interrupted for a homily on the necessity to believe in a faith in a higher power. Fans of the CS Lewis novels may disagree, but the appeal of the Narnia movies is that they are essentially swashbuckling adventure tales.

If the choice is between listening to Liam Neeson growl vacuous pieties and watching a rapier-wielding mouse ride a dragon into battle against a hideous sea serpent, I’m with the mouse-dragon combo every time.

FRANK (Johnny Depp) is a broken-hearted maths teacher on holiday in Venice. Elise (Angelina Jolie) is a glamorous thief on the run from Interpol. Ivan (Steven Berkoff) wants his $2.3 billion back, and some vengeance on the side. In theory, acclaimed director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) should have crafted a classic thriller from those raw materials in The Tourist (US/12A/103 mins), but the finished product is an unsatisfying blend of half-hearted romance, unconvincing action sequences, and risibly hammy acting.

Jolie, attempting to cultivate a Garboesque quality of mystery, appears to be sleepwalking through proceedings, while Depp lurches from one scene to the next desperately searching for something interesting to say.

The story has fun with role-reversal, in that it’s Jolie who plays the hard-nosed heroine constantly bailing the hapless Depp out of trouble, but the various escapes are improbable at best, and particularly the laughably bad speedboat rescue, which must surely qualify as the slowest getaway of all time.

If you’re not too fussed about gritty realism, however, or indeed any kind of realism at all, then you may well enjoy the sight of Jolie swanning through Venice in a series of jaw-droppingly gorgeous frocks, although Depp’s bearded wimp is definitely a let-down for the ladies.

HOLLYWOOD actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) is living a dissolute life when we meet him at the beginning of Somewhere (US/15A/97 mins), although he’s quickly forced to clean up his act when his ex-wife takes off, leaving Johnny to look after his teenage daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning).

Johnny’s affection for Cleo is never in doubt, but writer-director Sofia Coppola is interested in the nuances of how their relationship gradually develops into something deeper and more profound. It’s an interesting set-up, but the story never really develops beyond its first act, with Coppola happy to string together a series of set-pieces in which Johnny and Cleo bond time and time again.

That’s a pity, because Dorff and Fanning show early promise, and are entirely believable as daughter and estranged father. Rather than invest in such dramatic staples as conflict, reconciliation and redemption, Coppola instead maintains a restrained pace throughout as she explores the subtleties of the pair’s tentative attempts at finding one another.

It’s a thoughtful film, certainly, but like the narcissistic Johnny Marco, it’s a little too in love with its own cleverness to be truly fascinating.