Red Sonja: Queen of Plagues (2016) User Reviews

Disappointing, and dear Lord, save us from the plag!!!

[randomhooves · 3/10 · 30 November 2020]

Well. This is a new version of Red Sonja - or "Sone-ja" as they pronounce it here - a long line of terrible pronouncements unfortunately. Sonja and her bud are rescued from the slave pits of an evil king and old Red stays and fights as his champion in gratitude for this freedom. Years later her old friend returns at the head of an army to conquer the kingdom. They fight, Sonja is infected with the "plag" (plague), and is banished to die in the mountains, the kingdom sealed for residents to die of plag. A cure is found, Sonja returns, calls her frenemy to fight but lo! The evil behind the whole thing is the old tyrant whom was defeated at the opening of the film. There is a further twist, but you can find that out for yourself if you stick it this long. The animation is poor. Really poor, and whilst the voice actors do a decent job of instilling character, they are let down by terrible direction on how to pronounce basic words - plague is now "plag", Sonja, "Sone-ja", gaol (normally pronounced the same as jail, and with the same meaning) is now "ga-ool" - there are others, but these really stood out, plag being the most grating. This could have been a lot better, with the bulk of the problems being the animation. A shame really.

Such a disappointing effort

[TheLowryAgency · 3/10 · 28 January 2019]

Nothing worse than changing characters to fit a dogmatic point of view. If you are going to write for a well known classic character, write it to keep it as close as possible as to the original and not to push an agenda.

Disappointed

[skullfire-48012 · 3/10 · 16 January 2021]

Great story with decent acting, but, the animation is terrible!

What a joke. If you cant afford to animate correctly then don't waste our time.

[frankblack-79961 · 2/10 · 27 March 2021]

The animation is absolutely horrendous. Garbage. Why they would even go into a project and not give it some effort is just sad.

Good story, poor animation

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 3 July 2022]

Dynamite Entertainment, who published the Red Sonja comic books at the time, collaborated with animation studio Shout! Factory to produce this motion comic, which takes the script of Gail Simone and the original art of Walter Geovani and Jenny Frison, then adds small bits of motion that can kind of, sort of be called a cartoon. It's kind of like the way Grantray-Lawrence Animation did The Marvel Super Heroes in the 60s with a bit more tech.

If you've only seen the live-action Red Sonja, this is closer to the comic book version of the She-Devil with a Sword. Our heroine (Misty Lee, the magician wife of animator Paul Dini) comes back to a kingdom to pay back the blood debt to the king who freed her from the slave pit, but finds herself battling Annisia, a woman who she once considered her sister.

While the animation is rough and this wouldn't be the story I'd introduce new readers to when it comes to Red Sonja, it's nice to see this character getting any media mentions after decades of a rumored film.

It's a motion-comic rather than an animated movie

[paul-3137 · 6/10 · 3 July 2021]

D. C. have made a few of these now, using basic animation techniques and voice acting to bring one of their comic books to life directly, the best I've seen is Batman: Black & White, which especially lends itself to the format.

Queen of Plagues is OK, it includes an origin and back story without directly retelling it in linear fashion, however it does spend too much time in the past rather than driving the story. Animation is a different medium to comic books and the pacing needs to be addressed to make the action effective.

The thing that really lets it down is the lack-lustre voice acting, the responsibility for which falls on the director, if you aren't commited to producing something worthwhile then don't half-ass it or accept a poor performance.

If you're ok with audio-book grade motion comics and like Red Sonja then you'll enjoy this, if you expect at least a little dramatization and acting then you'll be disappointed. Go in with low expectations and you should be pleasantly surprised.

Animation is awful but the story and voice acting are good

[Grimsonia · 7/10 · 1 April 2017]

I'm not sure if it was a decision based on money not to have full animation, but it took a lot away from what I believe would have been mostly good reviews.

The story was solid and kept me interested and I enjoyed this portrayal of one of my favorite childhood comics. Misty Lee did a fantastic job of voice acting and I just wish it had been fully animated.

It's a pity the photos for the movie which will probably never happen or flop don't have half the heart as this little production did. I mean, one looks like a porn shot where they replaced someones penis with a sword.