January 15, 2008

Typically, Game Chronicles doesn’t do movie or DVD reviews unless we can somehow spin them into something dealing with gaming. While the new animated feature, DragonLance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, releasing today on DVD, doesn’t link directly to any specific game title, as a genre in whole, D&D is quite popular on PC, console, and even handheld game platforms, plus, I was a hard core AD&D player for many, many years. I even enjoyed the two live-action D&D movies.

Dragonlance: Dragons Of Autumn Twilight is an epic tale of might, magic, and monsters, that brings the paperback (of the same name) to animated life with striking visuals and a dynamic cast doing the character voices. During this 90-minute adventure we’ll follow wizard Raistlin (Kiefer Sutherland), the priestess Goldmoon (Lucy Lawless), and the half-elven warrior Tanis (Michael Rosenbaum or Lex Luthor if you watch Smallville) on their epic quest to bring back the gods of light. You see, after 300 hundred years of peace, the world of Krynn has descended into darkness. The gods of light have abandoned us (or did we abandon them), and the evil goddess Takhisis and her army of dragons threaten to dominate the lands.

The movie has a great pace to it and hits the ground running. We are introduced to Tanis, a half-elf who hides his heritage (and his pointy ears) behind long hair and beard and his surly dwarf companion, Flint Fireforge, almost immediately, and the traditional D&D party continues to grow throughout the rest of the film. I was impressed at how well the filmmakers stayed within the confines of traditional AD&D “rules” when it came to character races and classes, even to the extent of putting limits on Raistlin’s spellcasting and showing him actually preparing spells for later use. They even go as far as explaining the difference between arcane and divine magic.

Each of the major characters gets just enough exposition to give you a good idea of their history and possible reasons for embarking on this quest. As a viewer, you'll share the same distrust of Raistlin as his own party does. The stories and the characters will grow over the adventure as new bonds are forged. There is a great reoccurring gag where the thief of the party will pickpocket various items from his fellow members and when caught will say, “You must have dropped it during combat…it’s a good thing I picked it up.” I certainly won’t give away any spoilers, especially for those who haven’t already read the book, but the film is full of action, character building, interpersonal conflicts, bravery, loyalty, and other classic values that have always been a part of the D&D franchise.

The characters come to life with some stunning hand drawn animation. It’s a definitely step up from Saturday morning fare but several notches below a Disney feature. In many ways the classic animation reminded me of the art style of Heavy Metal and its use of rich colors and clever shadow effects. Juxtaposed against the classic animation is a lot of CG work for the dragons and the draconian elite warriors. There are also some subtle CG effects at work for smoke, heat vapor distortion, and striking sunbeams. While the mix of CG and traditional animation was interesting, it was also a bit distracting at times, especially when you have these slick dragon warriors (that look like giant lizards) fighting in the same scene with our hand drawn party members. I realize it would have been impossible to hand draw hundreds of draconian warriors in some of the bigger battles, but I have to wonder how hard (or expensive) it would have been to just do the entire movie in CG.

The dialogue was nicely scripted and flawlessly acted by the surprising and impressive cast recruited for this film. There were a few sappy one-liners that stood out, but I was amazed that they made it through an entire feature film without using any modern day slang or expressions. All the speech and conversations fit with the medieval timeline of the story. Even the character names were something you’d expect from real gamers playing real D&D. Sturm Brightblade, Flint Fireforge, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, Fizban, and Riverwind are just a few classic examples.

The audio portion of the film includes a fantastic soundtrack complete with majestic score for some of the more epic and sweeping shots, then it goes into intense battle-style music for the frequent combat sequences. There is also a plethora of sound effects used for all the various magical effects as well as environmental and real-world interactions. It’s all presented in a nice Dolby Digital 5.1 mix.

The film is rated PG-13 which, in my opinion, is a bit excessive. There is nothing here that warrants this rating, either by parental standards or the MPAA. The first few combat sequences didn't even have any blood. Later on the combat gets more brutal but nothing beyond the occasional splash of red blood and one severed arm. I was definitely amused at the obvious targeting of hormonally challenged young males in some of his camera work that focused on the bouncy cleavage and swaying booty of barmaid, Tika, but again, there is nothing here that would challenge the morals of all but the most extreme conservatives, and those people are already against AD&D (on principle) anyway.

The novel, "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" is the first book in the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. The Chronicles are the first trilogy in the series of Dragonlance novels and anthologies that now number close to 150 books, several of which were on the New York Times Bestseller List. Given the stature of the book series and the cliffhanger ending of this particular film, sequels are certainly forthcoming...at least we can hope.

If you are a fan of AD&D, either the pen and paper or the video games, or if you follow the DragonLance books, or if you just want to see a kick-ass adventure movie with some top Hollywood talent and unexpected graphics, then you definitely want to grab a copy of DragonLance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, in stores today.

While Game Chronicles typically doesn’t review movies (this is our third in just as many years), I feel somewhat compelled to score this film in some fashion, so we'll be using our game criteria slightly tweaked for a DVD.

Filmmaking: 9
Directed by Will Meugniot, a man with an amazing background as producer, writer, director, and artist on more than 35 TV and film projects including, G.I. Joe, Spider-Man, Street Fighter Animated Series, Exosquad, Conan: The Adventurer, X-Men, Captain Planet, TMNT, and Batman just to name a few, has put together a fantastic animated feature that symbolizes everything AD&D is about and captures the magic and fantasy of the DragonLance novels.

Graphics: 8
The CG is great and the hand drawn characters and gorgeous painted backgrounds are amazing, but at times these two diverse art styles clash. The CG is fantastic in close-ups but seeing a hundred Draconian warriors all swishing their tails in perfect unison reveals the computer behind the art. The traditional animation is perfect for revealing subtle character emotion and perfect lip-synch for the dialogue. The movie is presented in widescreen format and looked amazing in my PS3's upconverting Blu-Ray player.

Sound: 8
A sweeping score gives this movie a great action-fantasy flavor full of mystery and magic. Fantastic sound effects bring the animated world of Krynn to life and the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix puts you in the party. A solid script puts era-appropriate dialogue into the characters mouths and an impressive list of actors delivers that dialogue with suitable emotion while staying in perfect character. In most animated movies it's all too easy to visualize the actors behind the voice. In DragonLance, these actors become their characters...even when you have a distinctive voice such as Kiefer Sutherland.

Value: 6
DragonLance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight retails for $19.99 but if you look hard enough you can easily find for $15-17, which is what most DVD's are selling for these days. I would have enjoyed at least one commentary track, either from the director or perhaps somebody from Wizards of the Coast. As it is, we only get some test animations and some screens showing character art and development. At 90 minutes and few extras, you may want to rent, at least until the DVD hits the cheaper budget bins.

Overall: 7.9
A great movie, especially for fans of AD&D or the DragonLance novels. It's a fairly straightforward movie and nothing is really hidden nor revealed in future viewings, so you'll likely only watch it once, at least until friends come over who haven't seen it. Impressive CG art and animation and quality voice acting are what really make DragonLance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight feel like a much larger production than it likely really was.