All in all I enjoyed this movie. Yes, it has its problems, but for me at least, the positives outweighed the negatives enough that I was entertained.
Costuming is good, if somewhat stereotypical, the sets look real enough, and the acting is appropriate for this sort of film. The characters are well written, engaging, and likable. The script is good enough to not be a distraction. It isn't high theater, but it isn't supposed to be, nor does it try to be. The score is quite grand, which leads me to some of the negatives.
SPOILERS:
The score is a bit too grand, at times. In several scenes we are treated to a triumphant theme that sounds more like it is intended for when our heroes finally prevail, rather than what we're actually shown, which is the group plodding across an ordinary field. This may be the way the film makers chose to edit rather than what the composer intended; there are a couple of places where poor editing regarding the soundtrack is apparent, the most blatant being in a scene where the music abruptly stops, apparently caused by someone pressing the mute buttons for those tracks instead of fading them.
The CGI creatures are actually quite good, at least when seen alone. It is when they have to interact with the human characters that we see some problems. For example, one of the CGI creatures we see quite a lot of is a gigantic ogre. Whenever one of the human actors attacks it, we see them facing the camera, and swinging or stabbing with their weapon. Then there is a jump-cut, and we see the ogre reacting to the attack. Rarely do we see the actors and the ogre in the same shot when they are close enough to interact. Similarly, we see many shots of the ogre batting at someone, then a jump-cut, and the person falls down. I think this is probably due to budgetary constraints, however, rather than inept animation.
The movie is a bit too "Girl-Power" for me, but not quite annoyingly so. For example, in one battle scene we see several full-grown, armed and armored orcs killed by a very small girl armed only with a knife. This is apparently accomplished by pluckiness, determination, and girl-power, as the character seems to have no prior fighting experience. I must say if the orcs were really this easily dispatched, they would probably have stayed home rather than going out marauding; I have to think any species that was bad enough at fighting that, armed with sword and shield, they could still be easily killed by a slight young girl with a paring knife would probably realize this and find something less dangerous to do with their time. However, I think I am probably not in the target audience for this. Teenage girls who are into sword and sorcery will probably absolutely love it.
Worth a watch if you can overlook the negatives. I liked it enough that I will watch the sequels
Costuming is good, if somewhat stereotypical, the sets look real enough, and the acting is appropriate for this sort of film. The characters are well written, engaging, and likable. The script is good enough to not be a distraction. It isn't high theater, but it isn't supposed to be, nor does it try to be. The score is quite grand, which leads me to some of the negatives.
SPOILERS:
The score is a bit too grand, at times. In several scenes we are treated to a triumphant theme that sounds more like it is intended for when our heroes finally prevail, rather than what we're actually shown, which is the group plodding across an ordinary field. This may be the way the film makers chose to edit rather than what the composer intended; there are a couple of places where poor editing regarding the soundtrack is apparent, the most blatant being in a scene where the music abruptly stops, apparently caused by someone pressing the mute buttons for those tracks instead of fading them.
The CGI creatures are actually quite good, at least when seen alone. It is when they have to interact with the human characters that we see some problems. For example, one of the CGI creatures we see quite a lot of is a gigantic ogre. Whenever one of the human actors attacks it, we see them facing the camera, and swinging or stabbing with their weapon. Then there is a jump-cut, and we see the ogre reacting to the attack. Rarely do we see the actors and the ogre in the same shot when they are close enough to interact. Similarly, we see many shots of the ogre batting at someone, then a jump-cut, and the person falls down. I think this is probably due to budgetary constraints, however, rather than inept animation.
The movie is a bit too "Girl-Power" for me, but not quite annoyingly so. For example, in one battle scene we see several full-grown, armed and armored orcs killed by a very small girl armed only with a knife. This is apparently accomplished by pluckiness, determination, and girl-power, as the character seems to have no prior fighting experience. I must say if the orcs were really this easily dispatched, they would probably have stayed home rather than going out marauding; I have to think any species that was bad enough at fighting that, armed with sword and shield, they could still be easily killed by a slight young girl with a paring knife would probably realize this and find something less dangerous to do with their time. However, I think I am probably not in the target audience for this. Teenage girls who are into sword and sorcery will probably absolutely love it.
Worth a watch if you can overlook the negatives. I liked it enough that I will watch the sequels
