The Chronicles of Narnia movies, based on the books by C.S. Lewis, have always been something akin to a red-headed stepchild in the world of the epic fantasy film. The movies have always been profitable, but have (rightfully) never achieved the same level of audience or critical enthusiasm as the far superior Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter franchises, whose successes were largely responsible for the Narnia series being green-lit in the first place. The third and most recent entry in the series is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a movie that owes a lot to the Pirates of the Caribbean films in addition to the ones previously mentioned. Falling somewhere in between the enjoyable The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and the very weak Prince Caspian, the film is entertaining thanks mostly to the unsurprisingly impressive visual effects and a fun performance from young newcomer Will Poulter, but ultimately does little to distinguish itself from the dozens of other post-Potter cash grabs that have littered our screens in the past few years.

Michael Apted (the Up! series, The World is Not Enough) takes over the reins from previous series director Andrew Adamson, but mostly retains the style and tone of the earlier films. The story begins, as always, when the Pevensie children Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley), along with their objectionable cousin Eustace (Will Poulter) are transported from their everyday lives in WWII era England to the magical land of Narnia, for reasons that are never quite made clear. Once there, they join King Caspian (Ben Barnes) and Reepicheep the mouse (voiced by Simon Pegg), along with a horde of other Narnians aboard Caspian’s ship The Dawn Trade, on a voyage to relocate seven mystical swords whose power will help Caspian defeat the malevolent forces of the Dark Island, and the evil green mist that is kidnapping his subjects. In a series of poorly connected action beats, the crew of the Treader do battle with slave traders, dragons and sea-serpents, encountering new mission and obstacles as the script necessitates, often just as the prior conflict is conveniently wrapping up.

One of the biggest problems with the film is its very formulaic script. From the requisite last minute rescue sequence, the training duel in which a previously inexperienced character finds himself suddenly an expert swordsman, to the cringe-worthy scene where Edmund and Caspian almost come to blows over leadership, there is nothing in this film from a narrative stand-point that we have not seen many times before. This is a film in which characters learn their lessons at precisely the moments one would expect, and where deus ex machina reigns supreme. Edmund continues to be tempted by the spirit of the White Witch (the great Tilda Swinton getting rolled out again in another thankless cameo), while Lucy is plagued by insecurities that she will never be as beautiful as her older sister Susan. The latter could have been an interesting sub-plot, but is mostly abandoned after the halfway point and then called back in an atrociously cloying scene at the end of the film.

The dialogue is also very stilted, and does not allow the actors much room to maneuver. Ben Barnes is fine if rather unexciting as King Caspian; he natural charisma and good looks do most of the work, while Keynes and Henley remain only mediocre as the Pevensie children. Simon Pegg brings some life to the film as the voice of Reepicheep – at the very least you can tell he’s having fun. The standout however is Will Poulter as the charmingly irritating Eustace Scrubb. A rude and pompous English schoolboy who does not believe of Narnia despite being trapped on one of its boats, Poulter has almost all the entertaining dialogue in the film, and although he plays an enormous stereotype (one can almost imagine the directors notes to Poulter – “more British-y” they’d read), it is definitely an amusing one. Of course by the end of the film his character learns the error of his ways and becomes just as noble and uninteresting as his relatives.

The other big gripe I have with the film are the painful religious undertones; although it might seem slightly redundant criticizing the Christian messages of a story by C.S. Lewis, the moment in which Aslan tells the children that he exists in our world by another name, and that they need to learn to believe in him, was insultingly unsubtle. Likewise, having a character descend from the sky with an ethereal glow when our heroes are in need is both thematically questionable and narratively lazy. Most troubling was the treatment of Eustace; jokes about his obnoxious personality aside, as the only character in the film who puts stock in science, he is an object of ridicule and scorn to both audience members and characters within the film, and only becomes a hero when he abandons everything he believes in and instead embraces faith.

Unsubtle and uncreative writing aside however, I cannot deny that I still had a fair amount of fun with this film. The special effects and production design are all top-notch and often very creative, and there are several exciting if unrealistically bloodless action sequences and moments of swordplay peppered throughout. Most importantly, director Michael Apted, in what is probably his biggest creative contribution to the film, brings the story in at just under two hours as opposed to bloated running times of the previous films. As a result, even if you do not entirely buy the story or the actions of its characters, you will probably be engaged enough to find something that you like.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will be in theatres in the US & the UK from December 10th