Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight (2008 Video) User Reviews

I won't say thanks because I don't believe you really tried

[Kid_Master · 4/10 · 16 January 2008]

There's so much to say, I'm not sure where to begin. I wont bore you by stating the obvious as I know most Dragonlance fans are going to see it anyway. AND I think Wizards of the Coast knows that too. Actually, my great hope is that this is just the setting stage for a feature film that knows it's audience.

I implore wizards of the coast to stop making things that suck for the sake of money. Creating things of quality will expand your customer base so you wont need to bleed us faithful fans who came over from TSR with little kicking and screaming. So, stop f*cking with sh*t. I'm beginning to question your alignment.

Oh, and as for the review, I will say that I believe that it was directed by Fewmaster Toede, manned by a crew of gully dwarfs, and written by otyughs.

Better than I hoped and worse than I could have imagined

[whisega · 6/10 · 16 January 2008]

Alright, a down and dirty(hopefully not bitter) review of Dragonlance DoAT.

Let's start with the Pro's. The story was actually good. I keep hearing faithful thrown around, but what novel did these people read. I did like how they did change it though. Cutting such a rich story down to 90 minutes could not have been easy. If you had not read the books you would not know that 2/3 the book was gutted. That's actually a compliment. Everything made sense with just enough exposition. I also liked the acting. This would have made one heck of an audio book(even better if it were straight from the novel). Tanis didn't seem as haggard as I imagined but I got used to it. I have heard enough of Michael Rosenbaum's work to know this wasn't all his fault. He still does a good job with the voice he uses. The score was also well done. I don't think I would have been nearly as excited in some scenes without the musical uplift. It reminded me a little of Farscape, one of my favorite series, so I may be biased.

Now for the Con's. I feel for the technicians who worked on this. As a props person for the stage I know that these people often toil away thanklessly. They probably worked 70 hour weeks during the SLOW times. This movie was made with blood, sweat, and tears. Unfortunately, it is a soggy mess. The animation is BAD, across the board. I have seen better 2D in TV shows. Consistently jerky or over zoomed. Looks like they filmed some scenes at only 10 frames per second. The 3D was also dated. Someone mentioned Reboot(1994) but I disagree. Reboot was better. Even the few times it did look good(not great), it only served to make the 2D look worse than it already was. Furthermore, some of the blocking(acting term) just didn't match the voice. Some scenes were like watching a high school play, again, stiff and jerky. Also, for a film released solely on DVD, they should have done a better job on the encode. At least the copy I watched had problems with interlacing. And just when you think I am being overly harsh the ultimate example of shoddy workmanship arrives. In the end credits when the characters are shown, THEY MISSPELL ROSENBAUM. Rosenbaun. Who screwed that up?!? They got it right in the scrolling credits but come on, have a little pride in your work.

One final note on the PG-13 rating. Both a Pro and a Con. They took a grown up view of death and violence. Nothing gratuitous and yet nothing spared. Innocents were killed, something not always seen. Refreshing. They did, however, squander the PG-13 rating on the sexual front. Aside from a site-gag with Tika in the beginning, sexual innuendo was curbed big time. Sexual situations were constrained to kissing that got no further than a grade school level. Not that the book had anything way out there but it coincides with my next point to show immaturity. As someone who enjoys anime women, I was disappointed by the flagrant, gratuitous semi-nudity of the female prisoners with tattered clothing. Come on guys. Just put up a sign reading "shameless attempt to woo adolescent boys".

Conclusion: For all my bluster, I still recommend this film. They got the important parts right. Story and voice acting. The rest is just window dressing. How many visually stunning blockbusters have been real stinkers because of a hack story and ham acting. Is it as good as the book? No, but what movie is? Ever? I will fan boy nit pick on the message boards but this was the closest I could come to an objective review.

A long time coming but was it worth it?

[MikChaos · 6/10 · 20 January 2008]

There were rumours of a Dragonlance film from almost the start of it being published with many fans submitting their preffered cast list.

Having now seen the entire film (not just the rushed out trailer) I have to say even Dragonlance fan that i was a little disappointed in the effort put into this.

With the quality of animation and CGI available today this could have been absolutely massive, with a worldwide fan base of the books to easily rival the Harry Potter franchise why do we get cartoon style graphics that weren't even as good as the '80s DUngeons & Dragons cartoons (which should have been given their final episode but thats another criticism for another day).

The only highlights for me were the voice talents of Keifer Sutherland (though being a big Raistlin fan may have biased me).

A below average attempt at a brilliant story but I don't expect them to follow it up.

Don't waste your time

[pholostan · 2/10 · 16 January 2008]

Where to start? The animation is definitely sub-standard. Jerky, unsubstantial and boring. They mix bad animations with bad CG, and it looks horribly. The characters are like pieces of wood, expressions very simple or not at all. Only Sutherlands outstanding voice-acting makes any lasting impression. The story works, but no thanks to the movie makers.

I really like the books, Hickman and Weis write good fiction, the Dragonlance universe is nice. But this movie is an affront to it. Hard core Fanboys of Dragonlance might give this trash a higher rating, but I will not. Don't waste your time.

High Expectations, Low Return.

[elionbel · 1/10 · 14 January 2008]

Coming on the tail-end of 2007 and the start of 2008, one would expect a decent amount of increase in quality in animated movies, especially considering the detail and flow of Anime that comes from across the pond, in Japan.

The first 10 seconds had me cringing and praying that the opening Dragonflight was just a basic crappy title-scene. Unfortunately, it was a horrid foreshadowing of what was to be a 90 minute flashback to TV's 1994 "animated" series, "Reboot".

The animation itself was choppy and poorly drawn. It made me believe that we haven't improved anything since the days of Thundercats and He-Man. And then someone had the bright idea to include poorly done CGI into this cesspool of Technicolor Regurgitation! What brain-child thought THIS idea would be cool, nifty, and grand is completely beyond me.

Well, at least I could fall back on the stellar voice acting of Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Rosenbaum, Lucy Lawless, and Michelle Trachtenberg, right? I mean, stars from such shows as 24, Smallville, Xena, and Buffy!! Apparently, these actors must not be able to get into character unless they can actually physically fill the roles of the character they are portraying. The voice acting was lackluster at best. The fight scenes and heated arguments were strained, as if they were trying to yell at themselves in a mirror, and just as equally unbelievable.

The story itself, if you can suffer your eyes and mental capacity long enough to watch it, remains somewhat true to form to the book. Though, if Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman were to actually see this, I'm sure they'd want to be buried so they could start rolling over.

All-in-all, I'd recommend sticking to the book and avoiding this "movie", else you run the risk of ruining a great story you once held in your mind. Pretty much the same way that Lost Boys was totally and completely awesome when I was 13, but watching it 2 weeks ago opened my eyes to how campy and crappy it really is. What a way to ruin my remembrance of two completely awesome titles.

Anyways, I'd have had more enjoyment if someone locked me into a circular room and told me to find a corner to pee in.

Very Disappointing

[RobinCook70 · 1/10 · 17 January 2008]

I rented this movie today and was looking forward to watching it ... big disappointment. It really is sad, too, because the story was decent enough but the rest of the production was dreadful.

Not only was the animation stiff and "cheap," but the voices were, also, with no emotion or enthusiasm. It was as if the voices were just reading their lines deadpan. Then again, due to the stiffness of the arted characters' animation, even if the voices had more spunk in them it would not have helped.

It would be nice to see someone put some dollars into re-doing this movie as was spent on the artwork for the DVD jacket cover. The jacket cover is about the only good thing I can say about this movie.

Avoid renting or buying this one .. truly one of the worst animations I have seen in years, if not THE worst.

Not Bad Really...

[chimera-4 · 7/10 · 14 January 2008]

OK so it felt a bit cheap and the animation wasn't great. The awkward mix of cell animation and CGI didn't always fit but all in all this really felt like the book and I actually quite enjoyed it. The characterisation of several characters was cut down quite a bit but I think they were pretty much spot on with what they chose to omit and what they chose to leave in, after all they had to cram it all into 90 minutes.

Kiefer Sutherland does quite a good job at portraying Raistlin (my favourite character) even if the movie doesn't quite go in to the ambiguous nature of his character as much as the book does although it does hint at future episodes and even Fistandantilus gets a mention. Most of the other characters bio's are flimsy to say the least with only Tanis and Goldmoon/Riverwind getting any backstory although something is mentioned about Sturms Father in passing.

There are a few threads set up that seem to hint at future installments in the movie world too. This series would be some ambitious studios ideal response to the challenge that Lord of the Rings laid down so come on, which of you big movie players is game enough...

It's been nearly 20 years since I read the book and this movie adaptation got enough right to give me warm feelings of nostalgia.

It's not perfect by a long shot but it's all the Dragonlance we've got so far outside of the literary world (and to a lesser extent the gaming world). So I'll gladly take it.

A waring to faithful dragonlance readers

[special_ED81 · 1/10 · 17 January 2008]

Have you ever had a perfect image of something and had it shattered in a matter of seconds? Well unfortunately i have. I only had to watch the opening sequence and that was enough to burst my picture perfect idea of the world of Krynn. If you do see Krynn in a certain way in your mind, you would not be able to stomach the animation. Even though i only saw those few moments it was enough to bring me to tears (seriously). I had to "cleanse" myself afterwards by looking at the animation book, reaffirming the way they are in my mind. Did they decide to blow their whole budget on the voice talent and then realise they needed pictures to go with it? It seriously looked like low budget cartoons I used to watch early Saturday mornings when I was a kid in the nineties. Well there it is, if anyone has the same image of Krynn as i do PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE TORTURE AND KEEP IT IN YOUR MIND WERE IT WILL ALWAYS BE PERFECT.

Falls short of expectations

[amesmonde · 28 June 2016]

Six Companions - a dwarf, half-elf, warrior, mage, knight and kender reunite amid rumours of war and growing evil, horrors that will either destroy them or forge them into heroes of the world of Krynn.

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, directed by Will Meugniot is a standard affair especially given the voice talent involved, the CGI animation hampers the traditionally drawn cells. Even the voice- acting talents of Kiefer Sutherland and Lucy Lawless can lift the mix of traditional 2D animation and computer-generated 3D elements

It's a Dungeons & Dragons tale, even with the wealth of Dragonlance's source material that I know is out there from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, George Strayton's screenplay is quite skimming. At times it's naturally reminiscent to Lord of the Rings with orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, dragon and Wizards. The story beats echo Conan the Destroyer and Krull, I must admit I've never read first novel for the campaign setting on which it is based, given it was made in 2008 it feels very cheap where as the '80s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon still holds up and fares much better as a piece of entertainment.

As the Companions flee, struggle against enemy forces, escape, and encounter undead warriors despite Meugniot's best efforts it feels quite flat which is a shame given some of the character designs are visually interesting. It has all the right fantasy elements however, the animation shortfalls takes you out of the moment dulling any danger and excitement.

Overall, it never reaches the heights or atmosphere of the comparable D&D series, Fire and Ice or Gauntlet the video game.

could've been better.

[mjsnode-1 · 6/10 · 4 February 2008]

Been waiting for this one for a long time, as most fans have. I was a little disappointed. One of the main plot developments was totally left out. Berem (the green gemstone man). The ultimate plot of the story hinges around a character that was not even in this version of the story. Has poetic license reared it's misguided head, again? Are they going to change the way this epic ends? Will there even be any other episodes? As stated before, so many advancements have been made in the visual arts of video, even animation(old style). Could've given a little more care to style and motion. It doesn't have to be CGI or CA, but it does need some graphic style. It's a good story, even if you're not a Dragonlance fan. Great cast of voices, Kudos to Kiefer Sutherland, Michael Rosenbaum, Lucy Lawless, Michelle Trachtenberg, Jason Marsden, and all the rest. But, don't expect too much. Not exactly a milestone in movie making. MJS

It's just horrible

[magness2 · 1/10 · 17 January 2008]

It's the worst (animated or not) movie I watched. It's actually almost unwatchable. I love the books, but the movie is like... I don't know... abomination. The animations, both 2D and 3D are awful, the story is told like on fast forward and all the funny moments are cut off. Characters are without any life - for example Tas is not funny. Voices are recorded without any care and sound like there was no mastering, no reverb, nothing. Only the music is SOMETIMES good - but most of the time it's just strings playing some simple chords. All the animations look like drawn by a child, the backgrounds are showed from such close that they are horrible (trees look like violet brush strokes). This movie is just plain awful, awful, awful. Don't watch it. I would have voted -5 if it was possible.

A Faithful, if Abridged, Adaptation

[Etrival · 9/10 · 10 January 2008]

This small screen adaptation of the timeless novel from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman tells the story of Tanis Half-Elven and his cadre of friends in their quest to find the Disks of Mishakal and stop the Dark Goddess Takhisis from taking over the world of Krynn.

Tanis Half-Elven, voiced by Michael Rosenbaum (Lex Luthor of Smallville fame), is a man trying to come to grips with being, as the book claimed it "half of two things, and all of nothing". He is half-elf and half-human, being accepted by neither and distrusted by both races.

Tanis and his friends Caramon Majere (Rino Romano), Raistlin Majere (Kiefer Sutherland), Sturm Brightblade (Marc Worden), Flint Fireforge (Fred Tatasciore), and Tasslehoff Burrfoot (Jason Marsden), have reunited in the town of Solace after five years, where all spent their time finding themselves and their way in the world. Returning to Solace, they find their friend Tika Waylan (Michelle Trachtenberg) to be all grown up and the new owner of the Inn most of them grew up in. At the inn, they meet Goldmoon (Lucy Lawless) and Riverwind (Phil LaMarr) of the Que-shu tribe of barbarians out of the north. Goldmoon comes to Solace bearing the fabled Blue Crystal Staff. After a rousing tale by the old wizard known only as Fizban the Fabulous, they are accosted by a 'church official', who is accidentally thrown into the hearth by Riverwind and set aflame. Fizban snatches the Blue Crystal Staff away from Goldmoon, striking the official down and magically healing him with the staff's mystical powers... this sets forth a chain of events that remains remarkably faithful to the book, yet still compressed enough to remain within the 90 minute time span.

Semi-decent animation and a few corny lines of dialogue as well as okay delivery are the only things separating this from being a 10.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight - 9/10.

better than the films

[andracoz · 6/10 · 13 October 2008]

This is better than the two dungeons and dragons films by a long way but the animation is of a low quality (like old style cartoons) even so its about time that the dragonlance story was put onto the screen and for that alone it earns a few points.Follows the book quite well keeping the main points but missing a lot. I just hope that we see more and that oneday we will see the 15 rated epic films.. but then dungeons and dragons is now owned by toy makers so i don't think we will ever see that.

Any true fantasy fan should watch this once just to see for yourself, the quality may not be great but everything else is just fine and if a bad quality cartoon can out do the d&d films there must be something seriously wrong with the people behind the scenes.make some adult dragonlance films for crying out loud and lets see blood death and dragons!

Convoluted, lacking characterisation, but contains some charm for fans of the books.

[Jockie · 5/10 · 13 January 2008]

I remembered these books fondly from reading them as a child several years ago, and couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the film version, and it was for me a mixed bag. Whilst the film does remain very faithful to the story and the events within, its severely limited by its 90 minute run-time, the characterisation other than Tanis is lacking, the story simplified and compressed to the degree where the characters hurtle from one event to another, without the breathing space and reflection of the book it becomes very convoluted.

Furthermore the film makers decided to use a mixture of 2d and 3d animation , with the dragons and draconians represented by a dated 3d animation, that makes the fighting sequences look very poor and overall the 3d sections look very plastic. The 2d animation is not much better, moving often jerkily, though some of the characters are drawn quite nicely.

Overall i wasn't very impressed, but since its only 90 minutes its hardly as though its a massive chunk of my life has been lost to it. Id recommend to fans of the books, for a little nostalgia trip and for Kiefer Sutherlands (underused) performance as Raistlin.

First, you need a drink.

[Firia_lyta · 4/10 · 17 March 2008]

Four stars of ten.

I've seen the movie twice. The first time was the obvious 'sit down, and enjoy the story from my youth," viewing. The second time was, "lets see that again in drunk-o-vision." I won't say what has already been said time and time again; choppy animation, bad mixture of dated 2d with dated 3d, and an average of 5 or 10 frames. Oops! I said it. :) This, of course, pales if you've had a couple shots first. Sure, this is the unexplored review. The Story is mostly intact, and the heart in the right place, but still it remains; this is a badly done movie. Of course, have the right beverage, and suddenly it's a great movie! No more will Verminards dishtowel face mask bother you! Fuzzy animation won't be an issue, because your vision will be fuzzy. Tas will be funnier, Raistlin will be creepier, and the Forestmaster will... well the Forestmaster will still be downright wrong, and no amount of drinking will stop that. :) Drinking helps, but it doesn't cure.

The movie earns points for trying, on what was obviously a tight and tiny budget. I grant the makers that. The end result wasn't up to the expectations of the public, and I'm sorry for that. Wizards of the Coast doesn't like taking big risks, and their products show this (any D&D movie shows this to be true). A good story got squandered with bad production because of it.

... but drinking helps. ;)

Only for the hardcore fans

[cyanhb · 3/10 · 22 November 2008]

I have been a DragonLance fan since the Chronicles Trilogy was released (I know it's a quadrilogy now). At one time I owned over 30 DragonLance novels and other books. I also went to school for animation and digital creation.

The animation is reminiscent of an early 1980's cartoon mixed with cheap CGI. The plot is lacking. They skipped and/or cut out many parts of the story and then rewrote it to fill in the gaps (poor job at that too). I cannot believe this was released as is. The scope of the original Chronicles is massive enough where they could have gotten away with making it a live action movie along the lines of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. A big waste of money, it could have been so much better.

I give it a 3/10 only because of some excellent voice acting. The rest is garbage.

Worst production EVER!

[steven_kallberg · 1/10 · 7 February 2008]

I was amazed when I saw the trailer. And when I saw the movie I was disgusted and started to convulse.

This must be the worst thing ever made. A whole world of fan's from both the RPG-genre and those who have read the book's over and over again have been cast aside for the Chance of making a buck. SHAME on you Wizard of the Coast, shame on you for trying to bring in one dollar from this. cause thats all you gonna get, 1 dollar.

And that is not the worst part. it's not even American made. The had a Indian company make it, with help from a German company. Toonz Animation India is their name. and they claim to be "asias leading animation company". WOW, what a load of crap. I've seen better things come out from 3rd world countries. And were do they live? what Asia are they referring to? I mean, just take a peak to the east and you'll find Japan, China and Korea that is creating series and movies with lower budgets but with supreme quality. FFS, next time call Japan and ask them to make it. that way we will know we will get quality and characters that resembles the originals.

And about the voice-actors for this load of manure. Did they even see the movie before signing up for it? did they even watch the crap when they recorded their voices? Were did all the money go? Did the budget go to hire the voice actors and then they realized that "hey, we forgot to make the darn movie! But no biggies, my nephew in India can make it for 100dollars."

I really hope that they meant for this piece of sh*t to be just a teaser for a REAL FUC*IN MOVIE!!!!!

I can't take it anymore

[Blueghost · 22 June 2017]

I'm about halfway through this thing, and it's just too painful to watch anymore.

This film looks like one of the mid to late 1980s after school offerings, where major US toy makers contracted with Japanese or Korean anime studios to crank out cheap fast cartoons to promote their products for market. The kids watch the TV show, then buy the action figure and all of it's related toys in a marketing blitz against young impressionable minds.

It's that bad.

Truth be told the Dragonlance series, that is the novels by Weiss and Hickman, aren't great literature, and are more or less run in the mill pulp fantasy. Even then they aren't fun reads, much less "great reads". They're the kind of books you might like if you're new to the fantasy genre and haven't read anything else.

However, "back in the day" (so to speak), TSR put out some very high quality game modules for their rules that really made Weiss and Hickman's mediocre and so-so books look like great fantasy fare. They were that well put together and presented.

So seeing this thing makes a man furl his brow. I can't help but reflect back on Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings" effort from the 1970s. I don't like Bakshi and the cadre of social psychologists that have a lock on Hollywood, and think all of us regular people are closet Nazis waiting to unleash racist havoc on the US (even those of us whose ancestors fought under Washington), but as painful and condescending as some of his stuff was (and is), I'd much rather watch something like "Wizards" or "Fire and Ice" than this junk.

Again, it's that bad.

The truth of the matter is that animation is expensive. And unless you have a ton of cash, you either have to rub elbows with old guard Hollywood, or contract with someone outside the nation.

Again, I don't like the Dragonlance books. I tried reading the first one and found the premise of the whole thing to be ridiculous (I seem to recall that steel is as valuable as gold ... and yet the people of this world fight with it instead of using wooden weapons), and not very well written. But TSR really made it shine, complete with maps, artwork and everything else. And so when this "movie" comes out, one is given to wonder what the heck happened.

Still, I gave it a shot. And Disney it ain't. Which is too bad, because a company like Disney could have really made poor story material like this really stand out and shine, as is Disney's reputation and legacy of exceptional high quality benchmark / gold- standard animated feature films. I mention that because that's what this thing needed in order to sell it.

But again, like I say, the other issue here is that the source material isn't that good in the first place, so it is perhaps fitting that some Korean company took on the project and gave a quality animated film befitting Weiss and Hickman's novel.

The reason my review here is so long is that I just can't help but shake my head as to how this stuff gets made. I'm guessing the authors wanted their work in animated format that much that they were willing to compromise visual quality for the sake of cost effective expediency. Oh well.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Watch at your own risk.

Lord of the Rings-lite

[windypoplar · 7/10 · 26 May 2008]

I grew up on TSR and Dungeons and Dragons. I was shocked to see they'd done an animated take on the Dragonlance tales. Considering I loved them so much, the DVD was a no-brainer. Produced by Wizards of the Coast and starring high-profile voice talent like Kiefer Sutherland, Lucy Lawless and Michelle Trachtenberg, I was psyched.

First off I like this, a lot, I watched it twice in one day. OK, there are problems, the animation is Saturday morning style, still if you grew up on that its not so bad, the character design is good, everyone looks right. The CGI isn't stellar though and the two styles don't mesh well at all. The Draconians look like card-board cutouts battling our heroes. The film is jerky and certain aspects of the story have been altered or dropped to fit a rather short format.

That said its pretty cool. Seeing it visually i realized how much was lifted from TLOTR, the fellowship of different races isn't half so interesting now and the dragons and such seem familiar. Still Raistlin, voiced by Sutherland, is as unique as it gets and Sutherland does a great job. He was my favorite character and he stands out in the film.

Tanis and Goldmoon (Lawless) aren't short-shifted either and whoever drew Tika Whelan should get some sort of award, perfect! Even with fits and starts I liked some of the touches here. This is such a great story its really hard to screw up. I've seen the venomous comments on this site and just wondering what you were expecting? Its still the story we loved from the books and as direct-to video goes, its darn good.

This was rated pg-13, which is mystifying. The violence is pretty standard cartoon stuff and a lot less ugly and damaging than the six o'clock news. A "PG" seems more in-line with what I saw. There is a bit of an open ending here and I sure hope there will be sequels. Either that of they should try a live-action adaption. This story deserves it.

Unbelievably ...

[dreamdemon-1 · 1/10 · 23 July 2008]

... bad.

For some reason it seems that D&D movies are doomed into the hands of people with no imagination.

I for one love D&D, I don't mind animations and I'm OK with 3D animations, but this movie was none of these. It was a poorly made salad of all which wrecked a good deal of the main storyline's fun, all for ... what? Some have said that it's better than nothing ... well ... I'm just gonna say that nothing is way better than this. Poor animation, lifeless voices, wrecked storyline, atrocious music, all in the digital age that produced Lord of the Rings.

As a fan, I am appalled. 1/10. Should be -1.

A good movie for a true fan

[kenpachirami · 7/10 · 17 November 2016]

Just ignore those negative posts, either those folks haven't even read the books or are hopeless in generally.

I'm huge fan of series and enjoyed it a lot, luckily i don't put much weight on those negative "reviews".

I liked small things what makers have added on movie and sure there was some corny stuff on it and some characters was just out of boxes but reason for that was probably that its only 90 mins long so just cant focus everyone.

Give it a shot and you will enjoy it, hopefully we will see more of these since its huge universe! 7/10

Just plain bad

[mbrooks-8 · 1/10 · 14 January 2008]

This first installment of the animated version was so horribly produced it shouldn't have gone direct to DVD but directly to the recycle bin. The animation is of such poor quality it makes the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon series of the 80s look like Golden Age Disney by comparison. Not only is the two dimensionally animation bad but they go the 3D route for the dragons and draconians which of course are not only badly rendered but interact horribly with their 2D opponents and environments. The voice cast includes such luminaries as Kieffer Sutherland, Michael Rosenbaum, Lucy Lawless, and Michelle Trachtenberg and pretty much all of them don't even seem to be trying. Rosenbaum voices the half-elf Tanis and just sounds like he is doing Wally West on downers, while Kieffer provides the voice of the wizard Raistlin and though he may have been trying something more than just reading the dialog (as most of the cast appeared to be doing) he really just came across as somebody who needs a lozenger.

positively biased

[szilagyig-1 · 8/10 · 18 January 2008]

If you watch this movie with the eyes of a movie expert, you will be disappointed. The animation is mediocre at its best, the story is somewhat confusing, as it is trying to condense the first volume of the trilogy into 90 minutes. Secrets are given away too early (we only learn about Fizban's identity in the 3rd volume. However, if you are one of those Dragonlance fans (like me), who have been eagerly waiting for this film to come out, you will be mesmerized. It gave me the goosebumps as a matter of fact. This is the best d@đ movie ever done (not that there are a lot of contestants). I especially liked Raist, due to the voice acting of Sutherland. My only problem was with Tas, who being my favorite character is somewhat neglected. OOPS!

An Acceptable Substitute

[tokonom-1 · 6/10 · 19 January 2008]

One of the previous reviews said that Tika jumped off a cliff and turned into a dragon. That is not who that was. People need to realize how the movie was made and the budget of the movie. I think the movie was pretty good for what they had to work with. I can't wait to see a big budget live action version either. But how long did LOTR fans have to wait for a great version of that movie to get made. It has been so long since I have read the books, that this movie was a good enough summation of the book that it makes me want to go read the books again. And as every one knows, when is the movie ever as good as the book anyway? I was disappointed in the animation however. Like others have said, it was a mix of 2d and 3d animation. And neither one was great. It did have the feel of the old D&D cartoon.

If you are interested in re-living the story and don't have the time to read the book, I think this film is an acceptable substitute.

Just Horrible.

[ynotski111 · 1/10 · 31 January 2008]

I was walking around my video store in town and I saw this movie sitting there. I got excited because I am rereading Dragons of Autumn Twilight right now. I always thought they should make these into movies. I saw the art style done with the movie and figured it was an older movie. Now checking IMDb it was released in 2008. It almost seems like they are trying to kill Dragonlance as we know it. I watched half the movie and stopped. Characters were terrible and it wasn't anything like the book. I would rather put a fork in my eye than try watching this again. I really hope they realize what a mistake this movie was and don't come out with another one like this. All these other books like LOTR and Narnia are coming out with amazing movies. Why doesn't WotC put forth a little money to make a huge blockbuster hit?