I'd first like to say that I am a huge fan of the Dragonlance series and have great respect for Margaret and Tracy.
That being said... This movie is abysmal. I don't like to even call it a movie, because it doesn't really qualify. I think Tracy hit the nail on the head when he said it would have been best to split the 1st book into two movies.
For readers of the books they will obviously have a fondness for the characters. For non-readers, like my wife, the characters are completely cardboard and lifeless. The story is way too rushed and leaves out many important parts that brought the book to life. Parts such as Flint almost drowning were dropped. There was no sense of urgency when Sturm was wounded on the road to Haven. They dropped the whole white stag story line. There was no capture of the heroes and wicker dragon scene on the road to Xak Tsaroth. Xak Tsaroth itself was too abbreviated. They dropped the scene of Riverwind getting attacked by the dragon. There was no interaction between the gully dwarves and Draconians. The slide scene into the flour store and descent down the cliff was cut. The heroes were not betrayed by gully dwarves. They even cut that beautiful escape from Xak Tsaroth using the giant pots on the chains! The escape from the slave carts was abbreviated as was the interaction with the elves. The Sla-Mori adventure was completely cut out and Tanis doesn't get the sword from Kith Kanan while fighting the giant slug. There is no chain scene with Tas and Fizban or the entire flight from the dark elves. The "death" of Fizban is severly botched and has no emotion. There is really too many thing to even list here...
Overall the use of the cartoon type animation just ruins the movie. I'm aware that the support was not there to make a live action movie. This may have been a case where not going forward would have been a better idea. Because it's a cartoon it just comes across as childish. I would have been fine with this if it had stayed that way. At least that way my kids could have enjoyed this. Unfortunately they tried to add enough violence, blood, and bouncing boobs that it was just not right for kids either. In essence this movie has no appeal for adults or children. I'm not a fan of animation, but there are good animated movies out there and this just isn't one of them. It was very much like watching GI Joe or He-Man. The animation, except for a couple of 3D scenes of dragons and draconians (which showed some promise) was so bad it was actually hard to watch. It almost seemed as though they had hoped to do the entire movie in 3D, but ran out of money very early on in the development process. The interaction, or dialogue, between the characters was so bad it made me want to cringe. Some of the word choices seemed oddly out of place. It just didn't have an ancient feel to it. The dialogue actually seemed modern day to me.
There is some good however. The music is FANTASTIC! I really think it is on par with a movie like Lord of the Rings. The voice acting is passable. A couple of the character's voices didn't seem to fit, but the women in particular were well done. The cartoon also did stay fairly true to then novels. The main characters, the heart of the novels in my opinion, are there. The story follows the proper timeline and doesn't take any crazy turns. Other than the animation the biggest problem with this cartoon is that 90 minutes is not enough time to properly tell this story.
I hope enough of the fan base buy this cartoon so that the powers that be see there is enough support out there to make a real movie. If that happens then this project will be a success. I'm afraid that if enough non-fans see this however that it will actually damage the franchise.
I love Margaret and Tracy and didn't say any of this to try and hurt them. (Even though it shouldn't because I don't think they had that much to do with it, but I may be wrong) I just wanted people to know what to expect when they go out and buy this.
That being said... This movie is abysmal. I don't like to even call it a movie, because it doesn't really qualify. I think Tracy hit the nail on the head when he said it would have been best to split the 1st book into two movies.
For readers of the books they will obviously have a fondness for the characters. For non-readers, like my wife, the characters are completely cardboard and lifeless. The story is way too rushed and leaves out many important parts that brought the book to life. Parts such as Flint almost drowning were dropped. There was no sense of urgency when Sturm was wounded on the road to Haven. They dropped the whole white stag story line. There was no capture of the heroes and wicker dragon scene on the road to Xak Tsaroth. Xak Tsaroth itself was too abbreviated. They dropped the scene of Riverwind getting attacked by the dragon. There was no interaction between the gully dwarves and Draconians. The slide scene into the flour store and descent down the cliff was cut. The heroes were not betrayed by gully dwarves. They even cut that beautiful escape from Xak Tsaroth using the giant pots on the chains! The escape from the slave carts was abbreviated as was the interaction with the elves. The Sla-Mori adventure was completely cut out and Tanis doesn't get the sword from Kith Kanan while fighting the giant slug. There is no chain scene with Tas and Fizban or the entire flight from the dark elves. The "death" of Fizban is severly botched and has no emotion. There is really too many thing to even list here...
Overall the use of the cartoon type animation just ruins the movie. I'm aware that the support was not there to make a live action movie. This may have been a case where not going forward would have been a better idea. Because it's a cartoon it just comes across as childish. I would have been fine with this if it had stayed that way. At least that way my kids could have enjoyed this. Unfortunately they tried to add enough violence, blood, and bouncing boobs that it was just not right for kids either. In essence this movie has no appeal for adults or children. I'm not a fan of animation, but there are good animated movies out there and this just isn't one of them. It was very much like watching GI Joe or He-Man. The animation, except for a couple of 3D scenes of dragons and draconians (which showed some promise) was so bad it was actually hard to watch. It almost seemed as though they had hoped to do the entire movie in 3D, but ran out of money very early on in the development process. The interaction, or dialogue, between the characters was so bad it made me want to cringe. Some of the word choices seemed oddly out of place. It just didn't have an ancient feel to it. The dialogue actually seemed modern day to me.
There is some good however. The music is FANTASTIC! I really think it is on par with a movie like Lord of the Rings. The voice acting is passable. A couple of the character's voices didn't seem to fit, but the women in particular were well done. The cartoon also did stay fairly true to then novels. The main characters, the heart of the novels in my opinion, are there. The story follows the proper timeline and doesn't take any crazy turns. Other than the animation the biggest problem with this cartoon is that 90 minutes is not enough time to properly tell this story.
I hope enough of the fan base buy this cartoon so that the powers that be see there is enough support out there to make a real movie. If that happens then this project will be a success. I'm afraid that if enough non-fans see this however that it will actually damage the franchise.
I love Margaret and Tracy and didn't say any of this to try and hurt them. (Even though it shouldn't because I don't think they had that much to do with it, but I may be wrong) I just wanted people to know what to expect when they go out and buy this.
Seriously though I do agree with you that the 3D animation was much better than the 2D work. Your review was fair and like us you're certainly entitled to your opinion.
. Which was great, cause when some artists mess up with the characters that can just ruin it. And the background art was really great, as well as the soundtrack!
