There's a lot of heart that went into this film, and the innovation of Phil's stop-motion procedure breathes life into the dragon. On the heals of early ILM work in the 80's, the main focus, however, still dwells with character development and political/ religious commentary.
If the film could somehow be re-mastered, I'd enjoy the product more. As it is, there are many poorly illuminated scenes that are hard for me to see on the tv. During such plentiful moments, this does make a good movie to listen to while doing other things, such as artwork, knitting, or cooking.

I read a lot of the reviews on the site before I actually bought this movie. I have to say that it isn't the best dragon movie out there, but the dragon is definitely a pretty awesome thing to see. The detail in the skin and its clawed feet is just amazing. The story was not worked on in as much detail. While it is a simple and easy to follow plot, the movie didn't capture me as much as the visuals of the dragon itself did. I definitely enjoyed the movie more than my fiance did, but it's really not a movie that I'll want to watch over and over. It's a little predictable at parts and I didn't feel like you really got to know the characters very well. I am a big fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre and this one was only okay in my book. As stories go, it's not as good as Flight of Dragons (which has yet to be released on DVD, unfortunately) or Dragonheart - 2 Legendary Tales Double Billand the characters aren't nearly as interesting.

I would recommend watching it somehow before actually purchasing it, but if you want a kind of campy 80's dragon fantasy movie then this one might just meet those criteria. Just don't expect to be floored by this one (except by the dragon itself).

When this movie was produced we were still in the age of godzilla where it was obvious the monster was a man in a suit wrecking havoc in a minature seaside town with bath tub "ocean" waves. The dragon is Dragonslayer was the first computer generated image laid against a backdrop of a real landscape complete with up close human interaction. A super-sized monster that you could easily imagine burning down the strip mall down the street. I've been in awe ever since.

LOTR fans will plug right in to this 1981 film!

Here we have sorcerers, dragons, rotten old kings, and VIRGINS (to be sacrificed!) *.*

A very Dark Ages village must periodically sacrifice one of its beautiful young virgins to a local trouble-making dragon. The King conducts a lottery, as needed, in the village to determine who the unlucky gal is to be for each sacrifice.

An assemblage of the locals gets damned tired of this process and so they travel to the castle of a renowned sorcerer to get him to resolve their dilemma; however, not everyone in the village agrees with this idea, knowing that if the plan goes awry, the dragon is going to REALLY be ticked off and the devastation is sure to be tremendous. So the King covertly sends his chief bad guy close behind the vigilante group to make sure that things go along as they always have.

The sorcerer (think "Gandalf") is killed in a test of his powers, prior to taking on the job, so it falls to his enthusiastic, but inept, apprentice to complete the task.

I'll stop here to avoid major spoilers but be aware that this superb film boasts excellent cinematography, shrewd casting, and is conveyed in letterbox format. The filmscore by the great Alex North, ("Cleopatra," "Spartacus," and other great high-end films), also adds a notable extra quality to this fine movie. The dragon is one of the best that you'll ever see in the vast world of film. I don't know that Peter Jackson will be able to top it in "The Hobbit" when that long-awaited film finally does premier!

The movie runs 109 minutes and is rated PG, probably due to one very quick flash of underwater nudity (from the side). This is one of the great films of all time -- a masterpiece!

"Dragonslayer" has become THE dragon film within the genre. There was "Reign of Fire", but there existed too many inconsistencies to make the film great. "Dragonslayer" does not go outside of the legends associated with the myth. I do not count films like "Dragonheart" and "Eragon", as dragons (within the mythical representations) do not speak. While both latter films could be considered suitable for children, the myth is much too sinister, and there also exist the references to evil and the domain of Hell.

"Dragonslayer" makes no bones about the origins of the myth, and the dragon itself does not change it's character from the "Hellspawn" nature that it has occupied all throughout history. There has always been morbid curiosity regarding dragons for thousands of years, and in all cultures. It does seem strange that cultures that possess no similarities all have dragons! Some good, but for the most part, they represent evil incarnate.

In the film "Dragonslayer", the beast does not disapoint. It has ravaged a kingdom that has lost sight of it's primary purpose in protecting it's citizenry. The King has made a "pact" with it. The Kingdom supplies it with a virgin sacrifice at certain intervals (the result of a lottery), in exchange for it's crops remaining unburnt. A small band of villagers have taken it upon themselves to enlist the talents of a "Wizard". However, one of the King's most loyal soldiers kills the Wizard before he can do any good. The Wizard's Apprentice takes on the responsibilities his Master would have undertaken. The job is not without it's hazards, as the Apprentice finds out. The Wizard is "summoned" from the death he suffered earlier to aid the Apprentice in slaying the beast.

This film was released in 1981, and if memory serves, did not do well at the Box Office. It HAS been a modest success since it's release on VHS, and now DVD. "Dragonslayer" continues to draw more and more fans to the genre, which as of late, has turned them into cuddly talking flying lizards. The myth is all but gone, save for films such as this one.