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Daniel Rage
Starting Member
2 Posts |
 Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 06:16:26
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I've been a Dragonlance/D&D fan since 1988. I was a Tolkien fan starting in 1985.
This film was a terrible dissapointment. I bought it all excited, and now... terrible... just terrible...
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Roadstar1600
Starting Member
USA
30 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 09:03:31
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quote:
Originally posted by tektonikasian
eragon was a flop. golden compass was a flop. DoAT was a flop (sorry to say). one similarity...length. the only reason why LOTR worked was because it was 3hrs.
Well, the three hours helped but the reason it was so successful was the fact that $280 million was spent to make the trilogy. That's allowing $97 million per movie. Dragonlance's budget was $1.5 million, or 1.6% of one of the LOTR movies. One...point...six...percent.
It takes money to make a good fantasy or sci-fi movie. It just does. There's no way around it. But look what New Line Cinema got in return for their $280 million -- $2.91 billion in revenue. I believe that Dragonlance could do very well also, if budgeted correctly. The story is good, it just takes money to tell it. |
Edited by - Roadstar1600 on 24 Jan 2008 09:04:21 |
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dragontattooist
Junior Member
United Kingdom
170 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 13:24:11
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I only just watched the film today (so much for paying extra for the express delivery) and I agree. Not long enough. There was very little character development and the animation was terrible. What a dissapointment.
Im heading over to the positive thread now though!
Like fantasy, powerful mages, dragons, that kind of thing?
http://www.freewebs.com/thelightestdark |
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psychotcnghtmare
Starting Member
1 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 15:31:44
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I just got done watching the movie myself. For years I've always wanted to see this series done in a movie format. When I first heard of this movie, I was very excited. Now, I feel like the Dragonlance fans were slaughtered with this horrible thing.
First off, the animation. What were they thinking? If you're going to do old school cartoon animation, then stick with it. Don't mix 3D stuff in the middle of the movie. As in the draconians and the dragons. It was just nasty looking.
Then the story. They butchered it completely. Even from the start while Tanis was walking and ran into Flint. That was changed. How they looked onto Solace was removed. Minor I know. Then Riverwinds death from Onyx the dragon....removed. Dragon fear didn't exist. Fight and conversations at Tika's house was removed. The fight on the lifts while escaping the city (don't remember the name) was removed. That part and the dragon onyx part was like the climax of a huge story change in the book....why remove it?!?!?!?!
I feel that they took a story and killed it to have children watch it, not the fans that grew up reading the books. I'm afraid to watch the next one if they ever make it |
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apprentice
Starting Member
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 16:36:51
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I have visited this site before, but I just now decided to register simply so I could vent about how bad this movie is. I was so disappointed. From the little things like the wrong colors of the spellbook Raistlin asked for, to the huge things like the terrible voice acting, animation, and lack of story, this was a tremendous letdown.
Like others have said, the 2D/3D was terrible. I will assume they used 3D for the draconians so they could cut and paste them to make more. What a joke!
The voice acting was just as bad. Even though Michael what's-his-name wasn't that bad on Smallville, he was terrible voicing Tanis. Raistlin just wasn't Raistlin. Sutherland, though obviously talented, just didn't have a feel for the character at all. Spellcasting was stupid. I always thought of it as being spoken like another language, with an exotic sound. When he said "Shirak" it just sounded so dumb. It sounded like "shazam!". Plus, since when did the light shoot out and hit the enemy? Dumb.
The animation was horribly choppy, and obviously different people handled different scenes, because some of the fights were bloody, and others had the enemies lying on the ground apparently unconscious (might as well have had stars over their heads... come to think of it, I think they might have).
Any parts in the book that had tension were either cut, or done in such a way that there was no tension or feeling (other than boredom) at all.
And what the hell is with spending 5 of the 90 minutes available on Tika's body? Why would you focus on that? It's just stupid. Or how about the fact that the first view of Onyx is in her human form (which, I don't recall in the book), and the camera starts on her boobs, then pans up. Seriously, is this supposed to turn me on or something? Absolutely ridiculous.
I am so mad about this "movie", I can't even begin to tell you. I'm mad that I spent the $15, mad that I sat through it, but mostly I'm mad that I have waited over half my life for these books to become a movie, and this is what I waited for?!
I can only hope they learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately, I'm betting they sold just enough to make a healthy profit, and if they make another, it will probably be the same crap.
I have loved these books for many years... read and reread them. There are so many fans out there, why the hell won't the studios put up money for this to be done right?! I don't get it. Whoever oversaw this project should never work again in this field. Seriously. I would say they should be shot, but I guess that might be going too far.
I'm truly disappointed.
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Woggie
Senior Member
USA
1035 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2008 : 18:04:20
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The first spell I heard Raistlin cast my heart sank. I just couldn't believe that the "whispery words of magic" were turned into "THE MEGAPHONE WORDS OF MAGIC!!!1!
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germi91
Starting Member
Netherlands
1 Posts |
Posted - 25 Jan 2008 : 20:06:29
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Well, i'd like to give my input on the movie.
I'm posting here in the negative thread, because I consider this movie of really low quality.
Let me start by saying that i've never read any of the Dragonlance books. I have no idea if any scenes or little things from the books are missing. I'm just your average joe who happened to like The Lord of The Rings and likes movies of the same genre. I'm going to go point by point on what I thought of the movie.
1. Story
The story was alright. Nothing spectacular, but not bad. It's your typical fantasy thing: an epic quest, a band of heroes and adventurers, a world to save and a climatic final battle. I like these stories in general and I never get bored of them.
GOOD
2. 2D vs 3D
I knew about the use of 3D from watching the trailers. At first I thought, "Well, maybe it won't be so bad... I mean, it's just a trailer". However, once I saw the movie, I was shocked to see how much the movie (and consequently the story) lost by the use of 3D animation, especially mixed with 2D cartoons. Personally, I prefer 2D and mixing 3D animation with 2D cartoons is a fatal mistake, and i'd rather they either did the whole thing 3D or 2D, not both at the same time.
BAD
3. Cartoons and animation
I don't dislike the drawings and cartoons created by the artists. It's your typical 80's/90's American cartoons which you usually can see on TV every weekend. Thing is, the animation was horrible. I have seen so many TV shows with better animation than this. Even the 80's D&D animation was better, I dare say. Seriously, they should have worked on the animation a lot more. This I believe crippled the movie completely. For the future, I strongly advise the makers that they improve on this aspect, as it is what makes a TV series and a cartoon movie different. Apart from this, there were moments in the movie where I did not understand why they happened. Ocassionaly you'd have a view of a character suddenly smiling/frowning for 3 seconds and then suddenly changing scene. What was up with that? That really broke all immersion into the story. And there was this scene where Tanis was starting to nose-bleed for a moment, then changed scene and finally went back to Tanis starting to nose-bleed again! And why did everything happen so quickly? You barely got to know each character... I don't even remember their names, and I just watched it!
VERY BAD
4. Sound/Music/Voice acting
Music was alright and generally I enjoyed it. The sounds I guess were fine. It was the voice acting which also broke immersion. The voice actors were terrible. They might be all famous and everything, but they seriously sucked. Majorly.
BAD/OK
5. Gore/violence
So... I wonder how goblins do not bleed when they are stabbed, slashed or tackled to death. I know that the movie might have been aimed for kids, but seriously... the lack of realism broke the movie.
BAD
Conclusion
Nice try, but better luck next time. Seriously, I hope they learned some proper lessons on how to animate and make the movie appealing for your casual viewer. |
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jconnatser
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 02:04:49
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It seems like everyone posting a review about the movie here (or pretty much anywhere for that matter) says the same thing about being a long time fan of the books beforehand, and I guess that my story is basically the same. I read Chronicles and Legends in middle school and went on from there to read other Dragonlance books like "Before the Mask", "The Black Wing", "The Legend of Huma", along with many others. I even read the Ravenloft novel "Knight of the Black Rose" because it was all about the Darth Vader of Dragonlonace, Lord Soth! 
I pretty much devoured anything Dragonlance for most of my high school days, DM'ing and playing all of my D&D campaigns exclusively in Krynn. I absolutely loved the art of Larry Elmore (who personally signed many of my books featuring his work and was a pleasure to talk to), Jeff Easly and all of the others that helped to put pencil and paint to the many faces and places of the land. Time went on, and now it's been a dozen or so years since my obsession with the lance faded to other things, but I always hoped that there would be a movie for the series that started the saga.. well especially for the Legends series, but first things first. 
I rented this movie having seen the rough trailer beforehand and knowing what to expect visually. Despite seeing from the trailer that the old artwork was basically butchered and used only as a basic reference, I still hoped for the best. I expected that the screenplay that Weis and Hickman had been working on, off and on for years while studios considered making the books into a film would shine through. I hate to say it, but that just didn't happen either.
One of the big themes of the books was that Krynn was a land of good, evil and neutrality and that these forces worked to keep the world in balance. I realize that this movie had to cut out so many things in order to allow for it's running time, but where is Gilean/Astinus, the very reason that Chronicles is called Chronicles? The movie can give time to Bupu but not Astinus? Why turn Fizban from a sometimes senile and mysteriously sage old wizard into a very obvious Paladine and then make sure to reveal who he truly is to anyone who might not have figured it out earlier than it was originally by two books?
Where was the beautiful tower of the Speaker of the Sun? Where was the herbal concoction Raistlin drank to keep his coughing at bay? Granted, the last missing element is not as significant as the others, but they were all featured so prominently in the text and I think this movie was hurt by their absence. Many have already expressed their grievences about how the battle against Khisanth was handled, so I won't go into it any more than what has already been said.
All of this aside, I still fully intend to buy this movie. Why? Because even with all of it's faults (and they are legion) I see a sense of potential to make something great happen. Sturm was a disappointing caricature of who he was in the book, but Raistlin managed to come through as powerful and sly as always. Some semblance of the companionship and brotherhood survived in the rush to get this book done in 90 minutes. At the very least, the soundtrack was pretty good throughout.
So I will buy it and hope that what little of my money makes it's way back to the studio collects with the money of other fans to make a much better "Dragons of Winter Night". If it does not, well, as much I liked the saga and wanted to see it become a great live action/CG epic, I will not contribute to this effort again. |
Edited by - jconnatser on 27 Jan 2008 17:55:28 |
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Slorg
Moderator
Australia
996 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 02:58:17
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I've seen a number of negative reviews lately that have impressed me with how they've been written. It really helps to back up what was disappointing with examples rather than the typical "I hated it, it sucked blah blah blah).
These kind of reviews can give the makers of the film (or specifically, Paramount) a better idea of what went wrong (insufficient budget), and fix it in the next film (assuming it's made).
Keep them coming!
Before arguing with a moderator, look here: http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/forum/go/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=74 |
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tallhush
Starting Member
1 Posts |
Posted - 27 Jan 2008 : 03:32:58
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| wow they should have had the "bunnies" do dragonlance. Ever seen those 30 second bunny movies. That was what this movie was like, just trying to jump from point to point with no connecting lines in between. Fan or no fan, there is no way ANYONE could say this movie has any redeeming qualities, it just sucked. It didn't suck because it was a let down to the book It just sucked as poorly done movie. If the novel never exsisted this was a poorly told story period. |
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Rhinegold
Starting Member
USA
2 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 06:05:36
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As we all are ready the movie was a complete disppointment for me. As I said in another post I could almost get past the animation, I have been an avid Anime collector for years, but the voice acting was complete ____, you fill in the blank...
The complete lack of any feasible character development, along with a complete departure from the actual books has severely impacted my confidence in any future releases (if any). I am only happy that my personal insetment was $5 since I had a giftcertificate that I had to use.
My questions...
Is Kiefer Sutherland the right person to play Raist???
Did anyone believe this Tas, was the one we read about in all of the books?
Did anyone feel any sorrow with the loss of Fizban (even though we know the outcome)?
Does anyone believe that the fact that he is Paladine was released a bit early?
I was going to go on about vouces of each character, but all in all they did not even remotely meet any of my expectations.
At this time I am caught between the want of having all of the DVD's in my collection, and distancing myself from this swill..
Kwesi "Rhinegold" Morris
Burn Brightly For Darkness Is Coming... |
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LiveactionCaramon
Starting Member
5 Posts |
Posted - 28 Jan 2008 : 17:39:58
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I first found this site when I was looking for information about the Dragonlance movie after searching imdb for Dragonlance (I kind of have a selfish dream of being an actor and playing Caramon) and I was looking forward to this movie for awhile. My first fantasy novel was DoAT and it's the novel (and series) that really hatched my love of the fantasy genre. My love of D&D, LARP, fantasy games and novels all spawned from Dragonlance.
Which is why I was embarrassed when I sat down and watched this movie.
For christmas one of the gifts I got my fiance was DoAT, because we are trying to be more involved with each others hobbies and likes and dislikes. The second I got home from work I went to Best Buy to get this movie thinking that it would rouse her into wanting to read the book (it laid unopened on the end table) and what I got was what most of you have been going on about.
The animation was terrible, the fight scenes were clumsy and awkward at best and all of these places that seemed like grand amazing locations in my mind ended up being dull and boring once brought "to life".
I had no problems with the voice acting honestly, everyone will always sound different then they sound in your head. But the storyline (like most have said) just wasn't there. It was almost like I was flipping back to the movie between commercial breaks of another show I was watching. You catch the characters names, their relations, that they are friends and where they are going and why but nothing else.
I think the saddest part of all is if you read the annotated chronicles you can see multiple times in the notes where Weis and Hickman talk about how back story is so important to telling a good story and in this movie there is none.
I sat next to my fiance as she tried to stay awake through this mess of a movie and watched my birth into the fantasy world be turned into a miscarriage of poorly budgeted, badly drawn boring mediocrity.
Needless to say, the unopened book is now in a drawer and I've thankfully blocked most memories of a movie that had so much potential but no determination.
I have a sinking feeling that Weis and Hickman weren't happy either, they seem to genuinely love their creation (as anyone should) and that a lot of things were taken out of their hands. |
Edited by - LiveactionCaramon on 28 Jan 2008 18:21:22 |
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austerus
Starting Member
Romania
2 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 00:09:21
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Like many here, I registered to complain about the movie.
From a fan's point of view, the story was shamelessly butchered and made into a mess of a salad. There are too many beautiful details missing.
I won't go ahead to bash the looks and the cinematics, they speak for themselves.
Sure, I've heard the excuses, budget, time limits and so on. At the time the animation was announced and the straight-to-dvd strategy I went ahead to saying (like most did) that it's better than nothing.
Now I can say this is worse than nothing, and what's ever more disturbing is that everything went ahead under the watchful eye of the authors.
Can anyone tell me how a universe that came to life in so many books detailing an entire world in a way comparable only to LOTR? How come a concept as rich as D&D was trashed in worse than nothing movies?
For crying out loud, Eragon, a mess of a trilogy that copies to the letter a worn-out fantasy concept in a style that makes my soul weep for the literary arts got the backing and came out a decent cinematic production. And Dragonlance, the tales that have enchanted so many people don't deserve at least as much? I'm not asking LOTR quality but, damn ...
Everything in the movie shows it was done with no feeling whatsoever, no respect for the Chronicles, not mindful of the many fans, nothing. |
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gingerbill
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 00:39:41
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i'm 35 now and have waited since i first read (and re-read countless times ) the books many years ago.
What a dreadful film . Some people think a terrible film is better than no film , i disagree , they would have been better off not making one , this can only hurt the dragonlance name. It was like an idiots guide to dragonlance , with characters that had become so shallow and lifeless it was embarrasing.
I turned it off shortly after they killed the black dragon .( That bit was great in the books ).The way raistlin met and charmed bupa , then suddenly within 5 minutes and one conversation lasting 5 seconds he is saying goodbye to a trusted friend , terrible . You got to know and care for bupa in the book , but its just handled ridiculously in the film . I could go on and on picking faults but it would just make me angry .
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gingerbill
Starting Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 29 Jan 2008 : 00:43:19
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quote:
[i]I had no problems with the voice acting honestly, everyone will always sound different then they sound in your head. But the storyline (like most have said) just wasn't there. It was almost like I was flipping back to the movie between commercial breaks of another show I was watching. You catch the characters names, their relations, that they are friends and where they are going and why but nothing else.
that sums it up well . It was like loads off bad scenes tacked together in a rush , with thin lifeless character's . |
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Official Review Thread: NEGATIVE
