Dragons of Autumn Twilight (Will Meuginot, 2008)

Will Meuginot has done a great deal of work on Saturday morning television, and it shows. I knew this was coming. And I was pretty sure it was going to be terrible. But I just couldn't stop myself from watching it. I wish I had.

If you haven't read the books, the plot concerns a party of adventurers who reunite after five years travelling the world of Krynn looking for a sign that the gods have not forsaken them. Of course, as soon as they get back together (except one, who's mysteriously missing), the sign shows up, and along with it a horde of goblins, as well as the folks who have been controlling the goblins. Adventurers to the rescue! Yeah, it sounds cheesy, and let's face it, most fantasy is, but in the hands of a talented writer-- and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, who wrote the original Dragonlance trilogy, are very talented writers-- it can tread that line between cheesiness and majesty and come up smelling like roses. In the hands of screenwriter George Strayton, who has worked on such fare as Cleopatra 2525 and Xena: Warrior Princess, it becomes about what we expect, a cheesefest. This is not helped any by the fact that the animation is crude (thus my Saturday morning TV reference above) and looks as if it were drawn mostly by horny thirteen-year-olds who've never had girlfriends. So, then, Saturday morning TV with a distressingly adult bent, though one cast through the lens of a juvenile fantasy life. It made me want to bang my head against the desk until I could no longer see. If you're a fan of the original novels, do yourself a favor and stay far, far away from this mess. If you're not, do yourself a similar favor and just read the novels. *

I am a big fan of Dragonlance, and finally there are something I can watch
alive. So I don't need to image what's look like for my heros

Ok, so the production of this film left alot to be desired, but at least the 'companions' were on the big screen. I mean, it was animated, it's not a 10 million dollar production. What do you expect? For what it was, it was great. I think that they cast the voices very well and that they stuck to the storyline quite closely. My advice to all the complainers out there, is don't get caught up in "why it's not a box office smash?" Just appreciate it for what it is and enjoy finally having a DVD from the world of Krynn.

I have been a fan of the Dragonlance series for a long time and I was very excited to see this movie. However, I was very disappointed. First off, the realization of the characters was terrible, especially Tas. Tas came off as an 80's teenage Micheal J Fox to me - he seemed more like a young adult rather than a child. The voice actors all sucked. The animation was terrible. They stuck to bits of the story line but in the end did some weird crap. We watched Paladine fight off Takhisis and then Laurana make out with Elistan. In the book Laurana and Elistan always had more of a father daughter type relationship - he was her guide spiritually and she was his politically - and Tanis thought there was something more but there wasn't, Laurana only had eyes for Tanis until the 3rd book for only a moment when Tanis faces the Queen and Laurana believes that she has been betrayed. What they did with Laurana and Elistan was disgusting and pointless. Its like the script writer only vaguely read the book and then wrote down the script on a napkin in a sleezy diner.

I've read all three Dragonlance books of the main trilogy and the first of the Lost Chronicles trilogy. I'll give the movie credit that it stuck to the book's plot VERY well and any changes made were warranted due to the lack of screen time. Still, the speed of the plot felt VERY rushed even with some scenes removed and some scenes felt almost comedic with the speed they were blazed through. I did appreciate some of the extra scenes that were included for those who have read the entire DL Chronicles series (SPOILER ALERT: like the one scene where you find out Fizban is really Paladine).

I could have overlooked the mediocre 2D animation (I have an undying love for the old school) had the artists not have used any 3D. The 3D work was very tacky since they had 3D monsters with textures and no outlines fighting 2D people with flat colors and outlines and it made for some very awkward battles. It should have either been all 2D or the 3D should have been cell shaded to blend with the 2D characters better. I also felt like the team overdid it on the lens flare filter. Having some light training in the area, I could tell some scenes utilized filters from either Combustion or After Effects to save time and money on 2D animation and while I would have done it myself had I been working on this, it does cheapen the movie's feel and production value.

The orchestral score on the other hand was fabulous. No real memorable riffs (like what appears in "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "The Rock"), but you could tell money went into the music. Voice acting is typical of your Saturday morning cartoon variety despite some heavy hitters in the cast.

Overall, this movie is worth a rental for the DL fan who read the Chronicles (like myself) and you'll probably never watch it again, but only really worth a purchase if you're the DL completist. For those of you who did like it, Tracy Hickman has announced the movie has outsold its budget and the team is already in preproduction on the sequel. For those who didn't like it, just remember, this is how Lord of the Rings got it's start in cinema as well.