I'm a good fan of Fairy Tial. I loved the anime series because they were quirky, different, and just plain enjoyable. A good run of seasons had passed, and then 'The Phoenix Priestess' came out. As a rushed movie, the entire film flopped and just plain sucked. The plot had been rushed, many situations made little to no sense and the characters that you loved in the anime just aren't there in the movie. They are just cardboard cutouts and the villains and climax was just... ugh.
What does this have to do with Dragon Cry? Why do I call it 'The Phoenix Mistake'? Because when they were making this story and the movie, they were given a bigger budget and had a huge enough fanbase to back it up.
And they completely and utterly flopped it.
The entire course of the film is choppy and makes absolutely no sense. The plot is simple: magical artifact stolen, get back magical item, kick butt, lesson learned. Unfortunately, the whole scenario is completely thrown into a blender and mixed into 'overdrive'. There is little to no character development or deep meaning in anything they do. I love the Fairy Tail guild, but I just didnt find anything worth caring about these characters. All the women were literally just fan service and the men were just plain simple and stupid cutout's.
You will also be lost with each and every setting change in the entire film. Characters appear out of nowhere with no explanation as to how or why, the plot is rushed without any explanation as to how anything works or should be, and we are given so many questions with absolutely no answers. The bad guys are just plain confusing and unoriginal, and the fights... dear God the fights are either too short, or just plain lame. There is no signature fighting moves and when introduced to something new (as shown on the cover) we are given no explanation as to how or why it happened.
The only thing I can really congratulate this film on was its beauty. We are talking like original animation with beautiful artwork. It's literally the only thing keeping this burning ship afloat aside from any die-hard fans who refuse to see anything wrong with it. Dragon Cry is just a sad cardboard cutout plot with cardboard characters with escalated fan service with logic literally having bricks tied to its ankles before getting tossed in the river. It is a complete disaster that makes even the Phoenix Priestess a decent movie.
Take it from me: you are better off watching the anime or reading the manga. Niether of the Fairy Tail films offer anything to the entire story, nor does it apply any value to your life whether you are a die-hard fan or otherwise. This movie, is absolutely garbage, and as a Fairy Tail Fan, I am willing to save all others the pain and tell you to skip this film. Avoid it like the black plague, and forget it ever existed.
Review of Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry
