Narnia

I saw the newest Narnia movie, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader when it came out, and I really liked it.  It was such a good movie, and I was very impressed with lots of things - the storyline, the characterization, the effects.  It was very well done.  Here are some interesting comments I found on Justin Taylor's blog on the movie as compared to the other, previous movies.

First, I want to show you the logo for The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  It's a variation on the classic Narnia logo.

I love the typography of the "Narnia" text.  The way it all intertwines is excellent and well-executed, and I think the style of the type looks extremely Narnian - a little mystical and a lot royal.  The 3-D text of the logo is actually a nice effect.  It seems to mirror the fact that the movie was shown in 3D.  However, I'm not crazy about the drop shadows.  In logo design, I think drop shadows tend to be just another effect, and I think that, in this logo, it would be better if they were made smaller and less obvious or even eliminated completely.

The "Narnia" text also seems to be tilted backwards a little bit, so that the perspective you see is not straight on, but from slightly below.  I'm not a huge fan of the way this varies the type.  Personally, I think it would have been better straight on - but I do commend the graphic designer behind this for thinking outside of the box and trying something different.  I guess I'm just more of a traditionalist when it comes to type angle.

The graphic design of the movie and the posters, etc. was quite good, too.  Here's one poster for the movie.

I love all the wonderful detail in this poster.  It's fabulous!  I love how, even though it's pretty jam-packed with pictures and graphics, it's pleasantly packed and not super overstimulating.  And there actually is some white space (blank space) down at the bottom on the "deck" of the ship.

I also want to point out just how great the photo merging is.  It's seamless and it makes sense.  None of the combinations or transitions between photos of characters look awkward or are arranged in a confusing, unrealistic way.

I really like the way Aslan is in the forefront of the poster, because Aslan really is the central character in the Narnia stories.

So, what are your thoughts about the graphic design elements of this movie, or about the movie itself if you saw it?