saw the new d&d movie. Would go and see it, if only to see a fatass dragon. Otherwise it was a passable movie. References galore and all that fun spell casting jazz. Not too highly rated but not low either. Enjoy Chris Pine.
heads up—- spoileds ahead. Dont know how to write a spoiler tag in this site.
[spoiler] I read the NYT review and with full marks I say the movie was almost meant to be more scary than comedic. A red dragon cult is a terror to behold, something which a slapstick d&d comedy has a struggle to hold. I was actually pretty intimidated by the big bad, a 300 year old wizard. Since I didnt really watch any of the promo material, I just knew I was in for a thrill. I guess I was expecting more zombies and less undead cults, but it was still certainly something to behold. I quite liked the whole movie, though apparently predictions are that it will open low? I’m not surprised, but I hope it does slightly well. I think the dragon was scary but fun, a friendly kind of hungry guy. I have to say I liked the main cast and all the subplots, but maybe the comedy wasn’t perfectly handled. I think that’s in part because some of the magic involved didn’t lend itself very well to comedy. As with all writing, since the reality and the fantasy are somewhat different (the fantasy moment), the long and tedious explanations of d&d are perfectly captured by the item descriptions, the spell lists, the barbarian multiattacks, so on and so forth. It’s nice and fun that d&d finally gets its moment in the light, instead of being a basement dweller’s lame castle game.
Personally, I love magic artifacts, the more op the better, and a bona fide portal gun walking stick hits the mark. I actually felt like laughing during some of the more jovial scenes— for instance, the brain walkers not attacking the party because they lacked any characters with a high int, but this is maybe less funny since the premise of the movie was about saving a princess, not really about the books or all the treasures in the world. There could have been a greater prize being stolen for, maybe to make the movie the slapstick it had the potential to be.
Otherwise the main cast did well. Like any great campaign, it felt like players were coming and going at will. That’s a big bonus to a group: one of d&d’s strengths is how players can join and leave the table. Overall, I thought the movie was quite true to the emotions of a game. Funny and indeed all over the place, addressing some of our fears and inside a fantasy, beating up your enemies and evildoers, winning in a way you didn’t really expect to work.
Special shoutouts to druidtransform btw. Idk who the actress was, but there’s some great small aspects to interrace and innerrace love which can be missed by so many others.
ciao,
Jacklyn Yeh