Rating: 
Summary: I've seen worse.
Review: "Dungeons and Dragons" isn't a great movie, but despite the complaints you'll hear about it, it's certainly not the worst of a lackluster genre.OK, the sound man should be flogged -- I couldn't understand a word in either the beginning or ending segments with the dragons -- and the script needed to be something beyond a first draft, with recognizable motivations, less exposition and decent dialogue added. And someone wake Thora Birch up: She seems to have slipped into some sort of sleepwalking coma. Having said that, the "Dungeons & Dragons" movie wasn't as horrible as I'd heard it made out to be. It was surely better than "Krull" or "The Sword and the Sorcerer." I'd rank it right below "Willow" and around the level of "Dragonheart": amateurish, kind of cheesy, but not offensively so. There was some neat stuff in the movie. Well, neatish. Many of the characters, most notably Ridley certainly looked the part, and the computer-generated capital city was pretty excellent in all the pointlessly fast flyby shots. And I thought the dungeon sequences were handled reasonably well. Courtney Solomon put "Dungeons & Dragons" together without the benefit of a real grounding in film, other than "parents in the film industry," which qualifies him to work at Starbucks, honestly. And it shows. But the film, if clumsy, also shows a real love of the source material that redeems most of its flaws. You want to see a really bad fantasy movie? Check out "First Knight." Compared to that, this is Shakespeare. Worth renting for families looking for light entertainment, and maybe owning for someone REALLY passionate about the "Dungeons & Dragons" game.
Rating: 
Summary: MOVE OVER DRACO!!
Review: I saw the first show(11:50a.m).All around the fx,both sight &sound are very good.The first Dragon is done so well,you might mistake it for beging real.J.Irons a big plus.He is a mage lord seeking too control the kingdom.And too keep the common people in check.Meanwhile the princess wants everyone to live as equals. A theaf learns what it means to be a hero.While navigating his way through mazes and soldiers. This movie is a must for fantasy flim fans,&fans of the D&D world.The movie eco's many others in story ,but is worth atleast one vist to the box office.It should be great on dvd.
Rating: 
Summary: Horiblle, too scary!
Review: The Empire of Izmer has long been a divided land. The Mages - an elite group of magic users - rule whilst the lowly commoners are powerless. Izmer's young Empress, Savina, wants equality and prosperity for all, but the evil Mage Profion is plotting toto depose her. In order to prevent Profion from taking over her kingdom, the Empress must find the legendary Rod of Savrille that controls the powerful Red Dragons. Enter two thieves, Ridley and Snails who are sent to find the rod.
Rating: 
Summary: Fantasy Fans Must See. . .!!
Review: I went to the very first local showing of Dungeons & Dragons with my nerdy fantasy geek friends in tow, and quite a crowded house packed with others - I even recognized the store manager of a local RPG game shop sitting not far away. Unfortunately, seeing this movie might mean stomaching the excited chatter of rabid D&D fans in place of dialouge you WANT to be hearing, but it's well worth it even so! I have long anticipated this film, but I tried not to get my hopes up. This was, for me, just something to tide me over for The Fellowship of the Ring next Christmas (sorry, folks, I think that rumor of a promo before D&D is false, or such is my experience), but it was a splendid experience. It's a true fantasy fan's fantasy film, and those who enjoy Dungeons & Dragons and Tolkien Lite will most likely get their money's worth. However, it is not without its disappointments. The biggest of these is that it aspires to too much and, as a result, leaves you thirsty for more of what it doesn't show or merely hints at. The characters, aside from perhaps Ridley and Snails, are highly underdeveloped. They are scarcely explained at all, and both Norda the Elf and Elwood the Dwarf seem to join the company because they lack better things to do. Neither non-human gets much dialogue either - though what Elwood does say is satisfyingly Dwarven (if his delivery itself is not). And yes, some of these guys overact, but it cannot be faulted because, after all, this is Dungeons & Dragons, and hammy performances seem to fit in rather nicely. The sets seem just a tad campy sometimes, and cramped as well. On the plus side, you'll see all your favorites: the aforementioned Elves, Dwarves, even a few Halflings, Orcs, and Beholders. . . not to mention a ton of flying dragons in a wonderful climactic end sequence - though it is regrettably short-lived. The special effects work is good, though not excellent, but it certainly manages to inspire awe-stricken chills from time to time. An army of red dragons and gold dragons duking it out about a fantastic fantasy cityscape is a sight to behold! Dungeons & Dragons' largest failing seems to be that it leaves me wanting much, much more! It is, perhaps, too ambitious. I know the creators are shooting for a trilogy, and it's easy to tell. A more stand-alone product would have been greatly appreciated. Even if there is no Lord of the Rings promo before it, fantasy fans rejoice and go out and see this one. . . NOW! It's your duty as a zealot - and I can't promise you'll like it, because out of my four companions at the theater today, two liked it and two seemed rather lukewarm (and both are fantasy geeks like myself). Don't expect The Lord of the Rings! This IS, in a way, something to whet your appetite (I know it did mine), but you won't do better this holiday season. I just hope this succeeds as a trilogy, because I, for one, can't wait for more. Its positives outdue its negatives, and I fully intend to see it again tomorrow!
Rating:
Summary: A fairly good film for the average movie-goers
Review: I like playing RPG's, but D&D isn't really my cup of tea, so I can say that I'm not biased when writing this review. Anyways, although I don't enjoy the paper and pencil game, I was looking forward to Dungeons and Dragons hoping for a good solid fantasy movie to let my imagination run wild, well, unfortunately that wasn't exactly what I got. In the Empire of Izmer existed two social classes, the rich and powerful mages who rule on high and the poor lowly commoners that cannot wield magic. The child empress Savina believes in her soul that everyone should live equally, but the council of mages fearing the changes that is coming with her reign, manipulated by the evil archmage Profion who wishes to control the power to summon the gold dragons, decided to order the empress to step down and give up her scepter. A mixed group of adventurers were then recruited by the empress to find the Rod of Savrille, it has been told that this Rod will enable its holder to control red dragons, to help her expose Profion's cheme and trachery. Well, D&D definitely had a lot of special effects, most of it were pretty good, but you realize a lot of them are cheap and not convicing looking at all, fortunately it wasn't often enough to ruin the experience. The acting is a bit lacking, Jeremy Irons as the evil Profion was a little too intense that borderlines ridiculous. Marlon Wayans provided the comedy relief as the thieve Snails, he managed to be funny without being overly annoying. Thora Birch portrayed the Empress Savina, she did a good job with the little screen time she had. Well, the bottom line is to keep your expectations low, I can't speak for those hardcore D&D gamers, but as a casual movie-goer this wasn't a bad time spent in the theater, I recommend going to the matinee show and be glad you saved a few dollars for next winter's Lord of the Rings.
Rating: 
Summary: Great hopes dashed by a puerile flick
Review:
I had high hopes for this film but they were quickly dashed. The dialogue was just horrible... truly horrendous... it was worse than Titanic's dialogue. The acting was atrocious with the only bright spots being Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror's Riff Raff) and Tom Baker (Dr. Who). Marlon Wayans put in a truly offensive performance of a Stepin Fetchit kind. The main highlight was the Thieves' Guild maze sequence with the anti-Indiana Jones ending. That was a nice touch, but the rest of the movie was pretty awful. Thora Birch was particularly terrible with a performance that looked like she slept through. I must admit it was amusing to watch Jeremy Irons, a great actor, suffer through such poor material, though.
I give this movie two stars, rather than one, because it might prove useful to make fun of with some friends, but if you have fond memories of playing D&D back in junior high school like I do, then this movie will disappoint. Most of us could have put together a better script than this and included a half-way decent dungeon crawl. I mean, geez, the movie is called DUNGEONS & Dragons, and there was only one really cheap and cheesy dungeon.
What a disappointment!
Rating:
Summary: Even the nerds will hate it
Review: This is close to the worst movie ever. Even the nerds who played this game that I used to religiously persecute back in High School would hate it. Did the producers of this film have balckmail on Thora Birch and Jeremy Irons that forced them to do this?
Rating:
Summary: This movie was an insult to the name, Dungeons and Dragons!
Review: I was so thouroughly dissapointed with this movie. Everything about it sucked, save for the animation on the dragons.
I am a true DND nerd. I have played for years and know every subtle nuance of the game. And the director/writers of this film clearly never even saw DND in action.
All the characters were bumbeling morons, the scenes from the movie looked like cheap star wars rip offs. They took classic DND monsters and totally rewrote the entire concept behind them. I was left unfulfilled from moment 1. The magic in the movie was stupid, everyone used "magic dust". There were no cool spell incantations. Just loud unrememberable music. I found myself routing for the bad guys to hope they kill the heros (Especially Marlin Wayans). The fights were bad, the plot was bad. Any true DND player will despise this film. The only people who will enjoy this movie are people with no expectations. If you never played a fantasy game in your life and don't really care about plot, then rent it. Definately do not buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Old Canadian AD&D Hack
Review: As an AD&D gamer of old, I was eagerly anticipating the release of this film. Although a decent effort with some interesting special effects, I did walk away from my first viewing somewhat disappointed that the essence of the game had not been captured. This film portrayed an overly predictable storyline which lacked any inspirational moments in terms of acting or dialogue. For more inspired roles look to Russell Crowe in Gladiator or the various roles cast in the movie Excalibur. In fact Excalibur is a sterling example that great films can be created without horrendous budgets. The success of any great movie is determined primarily on the quality of the casting and storyline which were both lacking in this film. The actors seemed childish and the storyline failed to deliver any surprises or twists. And of course they had to have their "hollywood" token clown skillfully portrayed by Wayans. From a gamers perspective the visuals were appealing. The dragons were well portrayed and the beholder was a nice touch (although its part was brief to say the least). The thieves maze was well crafted. The infiltration/battle scene in the thieves guild was not very believable as not one thief employed invisibility or backstabbing skills in defending the guild. All in all this movie was geared towards a younger audience, failing to provoke the imagination or intellect. Entertaining for a one time viewing or rental only. Definately one full step below Willow.
Rating:
Summary: Not as bad as they would have you believe ...
Review: Granted, the first mistake was trying to pass this movie off as a Dungeons & Dragons movie. Just like every movie based on a comic book is loathed by the die-hard comic collectors for all the movie's inaccuracies, puritans of D&D will want to stay far away from this film. Unless of course, you can seperate the movie from the game. If you can, you will probably enjoy this movie. Go into it thinking the title is "Good and Evil" or basically anything else and you have a chance of enjoying it. Does the movie borrow from others? Of course - what movie doesn't anymore? Are the effects a bit dated? Maybe. Could the acting have been better? Shame on you Jeremy Irons. Why did it get 4 stars from me? Because few people even TRY fantasy anymore. Those that do, butcher it in far worse ways than this one does. In the "Scream" and "You've Got Mail" world that is today's cinema, its refreshing to see someone at least TRY. Fantasy without magic is drama - remember that when Lord of the Rings comes out later this year. Anyway, my recommendation on this film - fashion your own opinion. You'll love it, or hate it. P.S. Wayans wasn't that bad .. in fact, he did a good job.
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