Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Brilliant and touching

A Disappointing Continuation

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Oh yes Dungeons & Dragons a game that I never played and a title I know only from the whole memes, gags and of course nerd fantasies. It's a different kind of fantasy movie, and unfortunately not a good way to sum up this movie in a single word is difficult, but the first thing that came to my mind is the word weird.The first few minutes I found pretty crazy and over-the-top when it came to the two thieves and the sorceress I slowly find the movie interesting to find comma after then new characters came and they always more and more on the fingers first Lord of the Rings film to copy my interest. I quickly started to ask myself questions: how much does this have to do with roleplaying, why is Jeremy Irons so overacting overacting why is the Empress so crass under acting, is Marlon Wayans so extremely annoying again? And of all the weird costume ideas I do not even want to start, the people who saw the movie know what I mean when I say blue lips. Why do so many movies and series have to copy the beginning scene from Hunter of the Lost Ark?But my conclusion is the movie is okay. I do not know how close that is to the original series so I can only say that I found the ideas unique and creative broken are on Playstation 1 level but still bearable most sets look cheap and the drama is reminiscent of school theater but nothing else really is terrible Marlon Wayans can be quite annoying but luckily not so long in this movie at least not until the end Jeremy Irons is super entertaining and during the movie he is almost on the level of Nicolas Cage and now and then the music is too actually pretty much what point would also be as said if it focuses only on our three main characters say the sorceress and the two thieves is actually a good trip.

RELEASED IN 2000 and directed by Courtney Solomon, "Dungeons & Dragons" chronicles events in the kingdom of Izmer where the idealistic Empress (Thora Birch) advocates equality between the mages and commoners while the power-mad Profion (Jeremy Irons) plots to overthrow the Empress with the help of his formidable henchman Damodar (Bruce Payne). A ragtag team is assembled to save Izmer by apprehending the Eye of the Dragon: Two thieves (Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans), a beautiful mage apprentice (Zoe McLellan), a dwarf (Lee Arenberg) and an elf girl (Kristen Wilson).The first shot with Irons hamming it up as the diabolical Profion made me bust out laughing. In other words, the movie telegraphs from the get-go that it's not to be taken seriously. If you can roll with the campiness, this is an amusing throwaway fantasy flick. Imagine the gaudiness of "Star Wars" (1977) if the story were transplanted to a Medieval-like kingdom where dragons & magic are reality and you'd have a good idea of what "Dungeons & Dragons" has to offer. This was a theatrical release that cost a whopping $45 million, but totally bombed at the box office. The 2005 sequel "Wrath of the Dragon God" (with only Bruce Payne returning as Damodar) cost just $15 million and is slightly better because the creators took the material seriously, but it's decidedly TV fantasy fare.The film scores pretty well on the female front with the winsome McLellan and cutie Birch. Whalin and Wayans are entertaining as the two main protagonists, if you can get past their goofiness. People love to hate Snails (Wayans), but I found him to be a likable, amusing character. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 47 minutes and was shot in the Czech Republic (Kutná Hora and Prague). WRITERS: Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright. GRADE: C

The Empire of Izmer is ruled by The Mages who oppress everyone else as Commoners. Evil mage Profion (Jeremy Irons) is plotting to depose Empress Savina (Thora Birch) who is trying to institute some equality. He's trying control the dragons. Thieves Ridley (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans) try to steal from the Magic School. They are caught by inexperienced mage Marina (Zoe McLellan). They find Profion's henchman Damodar (Bruce Payne) killing the master mage while trying to find the Rod of Savrille which controls Red Dragons. Marina manages to escape with the scroll followed closely by the thieves. They encounter dwarf Elwood and elf Norda. Together they battle Damodar in the search for the Rod.This is a bad movie. It starts bad but it gets even worst. Jeremy Irons is horribly overacting. It gets worst in the climax because he is such a big part of it. Thora Birch seems lost trying act opposite his crazy performance. The clunky dialog doesn't help in the least. The climax also has a lot of CGI. The problem with that is the bad CGI. Dragons should be cool but these look cheesy.The meat of the movie is bad but not horrible. The group's quest is a series of adventures that feels manufactured like the game itself. Justin Whalin is a second rate actor doing his best. Zoe McLellan is pretty good. Marlon Wayans sometimes go overboard trying to joke around. The costumes look like Hollywood leftovers. The quest is not that bad for a B-movie, but the climatic battle is simply too horrible to watch. The blame has to be laid at director Courtney Solomon's feet. He should have told Irons to dial back a couple of levels. And somebody needs to take a course in writing.

I hate to love and I love to hate this film.I liked this movie but I also found it to be a disappointment at the same time. Being a fan of Dungeons and Dragons I found the movie to be somewhat of a let down. What I disliked about the movie was the modernism aspect - that was a bit unnerving. What I was wanting from a movie about Dungeons & Dragons was a feeling of being in the middle ages or the hyborian age (maybe a cross-breed of the two). I was looking for something more of the quality of "Lord of the Rings".I also wanted a feeling of being pulled into an ultimate quest - a Dungeon & Dragons adventure of the lifetime which I felt the movie lacked quite a bit. It felt to much like any other sword and sorcery movie and not enough like the Dungeons & Dragon franchise.What I liked about the movie was the idea of a movie based on D&D. I also enjoyed some of the special effects and costuming. I felt the movie was cheesy yet not all that cheesy like "The Sword and The Sorcerer" (which I actually like despite the cheesiness). There is a comical merit to this movie that only fans of Dungeons and Dragon could appreciate if they would give the movie another chance.Although Dungeons & Dragons (2000) received some of the worst critic reviews, I still think the movie is fairly good and unfairly rated way too low on IMDb. No the film is not all that good but it does have entertainment value.7/10