Boredom reigns in 'Chronicles of Narnia'

Time will tell whether J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter will endure as long as C.S. Lewis' Narnians, but the winner of today's popularity contest is clear. Quick: What's the last name of the four siblings who wandered into the wardrobe?

"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the third installment in a fizzling movie franchise, feels like a "Potter" knockoff. That's unfortunate and unjust: Lewis' novel has been around for nearly 60 years, and his eloquent prose soars above Rowling's yeoman-like words. But the same fate has met nearly every recent fantasy film, from "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" to "Legend of the Guardians," and will probably meet many more.

The latest "Chronicle" belongs to the younger Pevensie siblings, Edmund and Lucy, again played by Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley, now boarding with relatives and tolerating their unpleasant little cousin, Eustace Scrubb (Will Poulter). When Narnia beckons - this time the portal is a painting of a sea - Eustace, too, finds himself sailing on the Dawn Treader in search of seven magical swords.

Eustace becomes the film's central figure, partly because Poulter ("Son of Rambow") is so engaging as a pint-size curmudgeon who discovers his better self. But everyone else - particularly director Michael Apted, a long way from "Coal Miner's Daughter" - seems bored to tears. Even when "Harry Potter" ends its movie reign next year, it's hard to imagine "Narnia" taking over the kingdom.