Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn (2014)

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The storyline in "Dragon Nest: Warriors' Dawn" was actually surprisingly good and entertaining, especially for one whom has been playing Dungeons & Dragons for over 30 years.The characters were well-rounded and nicely fleshed out, although not everyone obviously had an equally big part in the storyline, or equally much on-screen time. The animated movie had lots of likeable characters that you instantly take a liking to.The CGI was good for most parts, though sometimes it felt like it lacked some natural blending as the characters popped out like a sore thumb in contrast to the background.It had a nicely paced storyline with a good combination of action and character development.Unfortunately, I watched it with an English dubbing which actually was quite alright. And that was a surprise for me, as English dubs usually tend to kill the atmosphere for an Asian produced animation.

I've played the mmorpg a few times, but I hardly remember anything about it, except that I loved the visual atmosphere in it and that was what peaked my curiosity about this movie. Now, In a day and age where most fantasy animations all have the same standart storyline seen dozens of times before , frankly I wasn't expecting much from Dragon Nest the movie, but then it started and I knew immediately this one had something special in it. What caught my eye was that this was a non stop action movie from start to finish but somehow managed to create and develop great characters among all the chaos and most impressively used the action to tell the story and not just to look cool and impress the teen audiences.The plot may be not that original, the characters are all mmorpgs clichés of course, but they are amazing in this story. Simply because they are so well defined and have great charisma , which is something that I wasn't expecting at all. Also their different personalities are very well woven into the story structure and each character development marks a plot point, a twist or a revelation. If this would be a failed and boring movie, Dragon Nest would have just presented the mission plot, presented the characters and then it would have spent the entire movie flashing empty action scenes. Not in this movie folks ! In Dragon Nest the action scenes are the glue that binds everything together. It works and they are amazing. Not just because they look great but above all because they really are inventive and fun to watch. Particularly, because as I said, the action scenes are not empty and are all used to a purpose within the story structure. This is a very, very well planned movie people. It may look like just another kids movie, but this one is really, really well directed !! I was not expecting this at all.It's one of the best action movies I've seen recently and a good example of how an incredible action movie does not have to be a visual editing mess; so this is one flick that director Michael Bay needs to watch to learn how to create meaningful action scenes where the viewer can actually see what happens on the screen and care for the fate of the characters. All characters felt important and we cared for every little bit of action where each of one was involved, which was something that I loved, because it's been years since I had seen animated characters that made such an impression on me. I'm still trying to understand how the makers of this movie achieved this with a plot that is nothing more than 80 minutes of action sequences. Any other movie would be extremely boring to watch, with a structure like this. Not this one. The guys who made this, know how to tell a story !! Dragon Nest is another good example of how oriental cinema is much more charismatic than most of what comes out of Hollywood this days. Oriental cinema knows how to create human characters that we care for, even if they are dragons or have just a few lines to say.Overall I think this is a great fantasy action movie. Not that original in plot, but extremely well done in action and character development. A real case study.The only thing I didn't liked was the abrupt ending...I was having fun waiting for a final epilogue segment and then GONE. Is this the first episode of a television series or what ?!...Also visually Dragon Nest feels a bit limited when it comes to fantasy environments. The fantasy world looks beautiful, but I felt we've just seen small glimpses of it instead of getting that open world feel. It was probably a budget thing. And although the English dubbing is very good, I need to see this in Mandarin now, as I'm not a supporter of dubbing movies as I prefer subtitles. Nevertheless this Dragon Nest movie is a surprise. Also it's definitely the best Chinese animation movie I've seen so far as most of the animation films that come out of China usually fail real bad and so I was also very surprised that this was not a Japanese project as I thought it could be. So overall, if you love fantasy movies, imaginary worlds Dragon Nest is a real hidden gem awaiting to be discovered and I hope there will be a sequel because I do want to see more of these characters please !! And I will be buying this in blu-ray if it ever comes out.Great charming movie and this 45 year old illustrator here loved it !Ps: there's stuff after the credits, so watch it to the very end. ;)

Building a movie from online multiplayer games is not easy. These games are known for social interaction or accessible gameplay, not strong narrative. Dragon Nest animation resorts to utilizing mediocre antics from many other games or movies, then put it in one predictable story and weak animation. It's a dull journey and what few sparks it has, mainly from vista or music, can't save it from mediocrity.Story is very basic, cue in your typical hero-in-training, alliance with other race, some comedy reliefs and potential romantic angle, then you'll have the 101 good versus evil plot. It's a dreary development with just about everything one would expect not to see again in fantasy genre. Granted, this sort of plot has been used many times and it can be to great effect, but Dragon Nest merely stacks them without novelty and hope for the best.Animation isn't its strong suit, the visual looks pedestrian as though it's from last gen video games. Sometimes the audio sounds out of place as the mixing stutters on some parts, dubbing is the usual sloppy mess, especially for supporting chars. There's a bit inconsistency with details as well, shadows or texture don't sync well into the scenes. Frankly, these kinds of problems shouldn't happen on feature length animation of today's technology.If there are some redeeming parts, they are the decent soundtracks and design for the world. They manages to draw that fresh fantasy vibe, although much too briefly before the average animation kicks in again. Watching Dragon Nest offers the same level of excitement as grinding in online game, low at best.

(no specific spoilers mentioned but if you want to go in completely without any comments about the storytelling then don't read, though you should definitely watch the movie if you are unsure, you wont regret it unless you have no interest at all in magic and fantasy world sword fights, at the very least it is a decent story)apparently inspired by a game called dragons nest that I know nothing about.for someone that doesn't know the lore this movie was a great watch, though the ensemble of 'heroes' was a little off 'strictly story wise, though that is understandable by it being based on the lore of a game, essentially character classes that are different from one another having prejudices about each other yet work together to achieve a common goal for the greater good.while the story might not be the most original, if you have any interest in sword fights and combat magic, great animation and a movie with possibly perfect pacing/highs and lows this is certainly worth a watch.compelling story telling for someone that is unfamiliar with the lore, only thing it suffers from is the introduction of too many (main?) characters right away, that might be because there is already an established lore for them I don't know but thankfully the narrative doesn't focus to much on previous events just that "they know of each other".as mentioned a lot of talent went into the animation, they really deserve praise for it.