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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 11021
Released: January 15, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.89 |
| Used Price: $1.97 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
After 300 hundred years of peace, the world of Krynn has descended into darkness as the evil goddess Takhisis and her army of dragons threaten to dominate the lands. Can a small band of heroes, including the wizard Raistlin (Kiefer Sutherland), the priestess Goldmoon (Lucy Lawless), and the half-elven warrior Tanis (Michael Rosenbaum), save the world before all is lost? Based on the New York Times best-selling novel, DRAGONLANCE: DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT is an epic tale of might, magic, and monsters!
Description of Dragonlance - Dragons Of The Autumn Twilight:
Based on the first in a series of countless fantasy books by bestselling authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight is the first animated feature-length film spun from the venerable Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. The 90-minute feature hews as closely to the 400-plus-page source material as possible--in a nutshell, a group of adventurers seek to head off the evil plans of a multi-headed dragon goddess and her army with the help of a crystal staff--and there is plentiful swordplay and spellcasting to keep younger viewers entranced. And the voice talent, which includes Kiefer Sutherland, Xena's Lucy Lawless, and Michael Rosenbaum of Smallville, does a respectable job of making the heavy-handed dialogue sound believable. However, the animation (a mix of 2D and CGI) is truly dreadful, and brings the epic scope of the story down to the level of Saturday morning cartoons. Supplemental material might've helped make this middling DVD more palatable, but sadly, there's only a few clips of original test animation (which looks slightly better than the finished product) and a gallery of early character designs. --Paul Gaita
Dragonlance - Dragons Of The Autumn Twilight Reviews:
A New Low in Animated Movies 
2009-10-19 - This video ranks among the most hapless, idiotic movies I've ever seen. Production values are crap. For some bizarre reason they chose to use normal animation, except when it came to dragons and draconians. Then they used a poor-man's computer animation, and plopped them into the regular animated scenes, resulting in wooden-cut-out like appearances, and golem-like movements. The animated movements of the regular characters weren't any better, and everything was poorly drawn. Disney it isn't.
It's not very faithful to the source material, for that matter. For those who are familiar with the book, I would just say, don't get your hopes up. No banshee; Riverwind doesn't die; the High Theocrat doesn't stick his hand back into the fire; Tanis doesn't get his sword from the skeleton; they don't follow the white hart; the list goes on, and on, and on.
I found myself fast-forwarding alot. So much more interesting material was cut from the movie, seemingly in favor of slow periods of nothing.
I wouldn't recommend this, even to people I dislike. Certainly not to fans of the original material.
Purchase? NAY FILTHY PEON!! 
2009-09-10 - Having grown up on Dungeons & Dragons (the game & cartoon) I can honestly say I was excited to sit down and watch Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight. The story was there, the characters were distinct and the voice talent was above average but my overall experience was of disappointment. The animation was uneven, featuring poorly mismatched CG rendered dragons on 2D animation. The CG felt awkward and the texture of some of the work looked only half-finished. Speaking of 2D cell animation, it wasn't until I actually read the back of the DVD box did I realize this animated feature was made in 2008! Honestly, I was convinced this was an unfinished animated D&D feature from the 80s as the style of animation was outdated and low-quality.
I should also mention that the sound mix on this was absurdly low. I watched the film in both 5.1 and 2.0 and still had to crank my system up past the 50 mark. Normally, turning it up that loud would cause my apartment to shake but the feature was so low that it remained turned completely up throughout the entire run time.
The animated feature's storyline was interesting, there was a bit of blood and a busty bar wench (played by Michelle Trachtenberg) but I felt the overall quality overshadowed what could have been a really entertaining feature. You'd better believe if I noticed the quality issues, D&D and fantasy fans will as well.
In my opinion this was a pretty poor animated adaptation of a New York Times bestseller. D&D fans would be better off purchasing the Dungeons & Dragons animated series instead to get their fantasy fix because this really wasn't satisfying. I suppose it's worth checking out once as a rental but I'd AVOID purchasing this. Hopefully the obvious issues with this first installment in the trilogy are corrected before the entire series, if it actually happens, tanks under the weight of its own quality issues.
Awesome 
2009-08-28 - This Animation movie is probably the best I have ever seen. I would recommend this movie to everyone.
A slap in the face of Weis and Hickman
2009-08-09 - If you grew up reading fantasy novels, chances are you're familiar with Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis' Dragonlance series. The books are a staple in fantasy fiction, and contain some of the genres most beloved and renowned characters. The story revolves around the land of Krynn, which was abandoned by the light gods more than 300 years ago. Unfortunately for its friendly inhabitants, the dark gods have made a comeback. Cue the group of random heroes who traverse the land and fight all sorts of monsters in order to save the world.
When I heard that we were being treated to an animated Dragonlance feature, I was very, very excited; finally, I thought, Dragonlance would get a chance to shine in the mainstream. With a cast including Keifer Sutherland, Phil LaMarr, Lucy Lawless, Michelle Trachtenberg and others, it was sure to be a hit! How naïve I was.
Despite having an excellent source material, Dragonlance: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight falls short in just about every department you can imagine. Even the very beginning of the feature will leave you shaking your head, as you bear witness to what looks like Beast Wars animation in the Dragonlance logo. (Which, by the way, goes on way too long for what it is.)
The animation woes aren't specific to the title screen, either. In what was a very stupid move, the film contains both 3D and 2D animation. The problem? Like I said, the 3D animation looks like early 90s CG, and the 2D animation belongs in an 80's Saturday morning cartoon, not a feature film in 2008.
If you're a Dragonlance fan, I bet right now you're reading this with a single tear running down your cheek, asking "Surely the content can make up for those shortcomings!" I'm sorry to say they don't.
What begins as issues with the presentation and techincal aspects of the movie ends with issues in every other area. For starters, this is a PG-13 movie for violence, yet there's very little violence, and what we do see is extremely poorly done. Since it's all hand-drawn (which, I admit, was a nice attempt at being unique), moments with a lot of action actually stutter and lag visually for a bit. Imagine loading into an area in World of Warcraft with a lot of people just hanging out, and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
Now, when I talk about the lack of violence, I'm not complaining because the movie isn't violent enough. Rather, the movie TRIES to be violent but just decides halfway through, "You know what? Screw it. We're a cartoon!" I'm talking full blown dwarven axe to the chest as an instant kill - yet not a single drop of blood. Or a person dramatically cutting away at a fallen opponent who's offscreen, yet when we pan out they're completely intact, and look like they're napping due to the jarred storyline instead of being slaughtered by an angry half-elf. That all changes when 3D baddies are involved, though. Stick them with something sharp, and they'll bleed a little until the wound vanishes in the next screen and their armor isn't even damaged.
When it comes right down to it, Dragonlance: Dragons of the Autumn Twilight relied too much on the original material. If you aren't familiar with the book, you aren't going to know what the hell is going on. Even Hickman has said in the past that the first book should be split into two movies; guess the makers of this one didn't listen.
If only the producers spent less budget on Hollywood voice talent which was largely miscast, and put more money towards the actual animation and editing, then maybe we'd have a serviceable film for Dragonlance fans, much like DC and Marvel's animated DVD features do their thing for comic fans. As it is, this is an affront to anyone who has ever loved the books, and I sure hope someone else gets a shot at the next Dragonlance film.
How you'll feel after this is all over
CONTENT - 1/5
Oh God, where to start. There's far too much material to cram into this short of a time slot, and what is crammed in doesn't flow well at all. People unfamiliar with the books will have no idea what the hell is going on, and people who loved the books will be pissed that the only character with any sort of build-up is Tanis.
VIDEO - 2/5
From a technical standpoint, I suppose there's nothing wrong with the output. From a stylistic one, though, it's a mess. Crappy 3D with dated 2D? Yeah, it would work assuming the 3D monsters weren't fighting the 2D heroes in half the scenes.
AUDIO - 3.5/5
There's 5.1 and 2 channel sound available, so if you have a system you can get something out of it. At times the music seems a little too loud, and turning it up to hear the talking will annoy your neighbors. Despite the list of big names, no one really stands out. (Except Phil LaMarr, but that's just because he uses the EXACT same voice as he did for Green Lantern. Close your eyes, and you'll hear John, not Riverwind.)
EXTRAS - 0.5/5
The two extras on the disc are basically Powerpoint presentations of preliminary artwork. Sadly, the line-art preview looks better than the final product.
REPLAY - 1/5
Unless you're the type who loves to get drunk with friends and laugh at old 80's cartoons, once you finish this you'll likely put it away for good.
OVERALL SCORE - 1/5
If you're a huge fan of the Dragonlance series and pick this up, be forewarned that you will eventually regret it. Sure, at first it seems okay, then at the end it seems like it picks up, but when it's all said and done, this straight-to-DVD animated feature falls short in every area. I sure hope Weis and Hickman didn't have to clear this before it went to print...
The real review
2009-07-15 - I've been a fan of dragonlance for around 20 years now and no one was more excited about a movie then me......It is the worst thing I have ever seen in my life. Not only is it a bad movie, it will destroy any hope of a good movie ever being made. I really can't say more.
