As other reviewers have noted, Dragonheart does provide some noble and uplifting themes. It *is* nice to see a medieval fantasy movie, especially one released the year after Braveheart, where not all is dark and sinister, blood and pain. There is humor here, and a positive message.
Unfortunately, Dragonheart suffers from several problems.
The special effects were pretty good; the dragon was seamlessly integrated into scenes, for example. However (and granted, maybe this is just a problem with my DVD or player), it seemed as though the animation stuttered, like stop-animation. That was distracting -- a disappointing sight in a film that came out four or five years after Terminator 2, which introduced fluid, realistic computer-rendered animation. The dragon reminded me of something from Harryhausen - it would have looked great twenty years earlier, but not in 1996. And aside from the dragon, not much else in the movie's effects seemed all that special, including the overdone ending.
The writing and the acting, too, leave much to be desired. Right from the start, the situations and the characters' reactions to them are often just not believable. The dialog in particular often seems forced - especially that of the dragon. It didn't seem to make a difference whether the dialog was intended to be serious or humorous; it often came across as contrived or wooden. Connery has done better work.
The combat scenes are somewhere above average, though some of the swordplay (presented as serious combat) echoes the fakery of the spear-catching scenes, creating unintended humor and drawing the viewer out of the illusion of the movie.
The humor is generally satisfying (with some exceptions), and many moments *are* genuinely touching here, though I found myself affected more by the *idea* that Draco was the last of the dragons and less by anything that the story presented or that the acting did to evoke pathos. The scenes meant to tug at the heartstrings were mostly either overdone or simply fell flat.
In all, Dragonheart is an entertaining enough movie - good enough for killing a Saturday afternoon, but substandard compared to other films of the genre. I felt my time was better spent watching the recent TV miniseries Legend of Earthsea, despite its shortcomings. The writing there was somewhat better, and the acting was more believable.
G-
5/10: average, but could have been much better.
Unfortunately, Dragonheart suffers from several problems.
The special effects were pretty good; the dragon was seamlessly integrated into scenes, for example. However (and granted, maybe this is just a problem with my DVD or player), it seemed as though the animation stuttered, like stop-animation. That was distracting -- a disappointing sight in a film that came out four or five years after Terminator 2, which introduced fluid, realistic computer-rendered animation. The dragon reminded me of something from Harryhausen - it would have looked great twenty years earlier, but not in 1996. And aside from the dragon, not much else in the movie's effects seemed all that special, including the overdone ending.
The writing and the acting, too, leave much to be desired. Right from the start, the situations and the characters' reactions to them are often just not believable. The dialog in particular often seems forced - especially that of the dragon. It didn't seem to make a difference whether the dialog was intended to be serious or humorous; it often came across as contrived or wooden. Connery has done better work.
The combat scenes are somewhere above average, though some of the swordplay (presented as serious combat) echoes the fakery of the spear-catching scenes, creating unintended humor and drawing the viewer out of the illusion of the movie.
The humor is generally satisfying (with some exceptions), and many moments *are* genuinely touching here, though I found myself affected more by the *idea* that Draco was the last of the dragons and less by anything that the story presented or that the acting did to evoke pathos. The scenes meant to tug at the heartstrings were mostly either overdone or simply fell flat.
In all, Dragonheart is an entertaining enough movie - good enough for killing a Saturday afternoon, but substandard compared to other films of the genre. I felt my time was better spent watching the recent TV miniseries Legend of Earthsea, despite its shortcomings. The writing there was somewhat better, and the acting was more believable.
G-
5/10: average, but could have been much better.
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