Sadly Over-hyped

Really Surprised!

Best movie of this year hands down!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

Six Companions - a dwarf, half-elf, warrior, mage, knight and kender reunite amid rumours of war and growing evil, horrors that will either destroy them or forge them into heroes of the world of Krynn.Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, directed by Will Meugniot is a standard affair especially given the voice talent involved, the CGI animation hampers the traditionally drawn cells. Even the voice- acting talents of Kiefer Sutherland and Lucy Lawless can lift the mix of traditional 2D animation and computer-generated 3D elements It's a Dungeons & Dragons tale, even with the wealth of Dragonlance's source material that I know is out there from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, George Strayton's screenplay is quite skimming. At times it's naturally reminiscent to Lord of the Rings with orcs, Elves, Dwarfs, dragon and Wizards. The story beats echo Conan the Destroyer and Krull, I must admit I've never read first novel for the campaign setting on which it is based, given it was made in 2008 it feels very cheap where as the '80s Dungeons & Dragons cartoon still holds up and fares much better as a piece of entertainment. As the Companions flee, struggle against enemy forces, escape, and encounter undead warriors despite Meugniot's best efforts it feels quite flat which is a shame given some of the character designs are visually interesting. It has all the right fantasy elements however, the animation shortfalls takes you out of the moment dulling any danger and excitement.Overall, it never reaches the heights or atmosphere of the comparable D&D series, Fire and Ice or Gauntlet the video game.

To be clear, I have not read the Dragonlance series of books yet so my few is only on the movie.The movie starts out with using a old wizard to try and explain the story up till now but sadly, he doesn't explain enough and the story is lost for a person who had never read the books. And since the artwork is more like a child's show so much that there isn't much blood that you can see in most of the bloody fights, that I doubt anyone who would actually be watching this would of read the books in the first place. In my mind, this breaks the movie even before it barely started. We are introduced to the characters in this rather strange fashion of them saying each others names a bit and them talking a little of their travels including a very cryptic explanation about why Tanis Half-Elven (who I guess is the main leader of the group) left but its all left up in the air as they are interrupted by some smelly orcs and the sneezing of the Dwarf character who I can only guess is allergic to horses because of how he first figured out they were coming.May I just talk about how uneventful the ending was? It does not turn out how you think everything would turn out and yet I feel almost no satisfaction in how it ended. It's all I can say without telling you exactly how it ends.The CG effects are much to be desired. They try to make it look epic and yet cartoon-like but something just feels very off. Everything feels like it should have had more detail to the animation instead of the cartoony stuff. The artwork when they do go into the 2D animation looks very lack luster, as though they were trying to copy old shows for children. Sometimes they have just as much work in it as a flash animation and use looped pieces. There are times when characters are wearing something different then they should at that time. The backgrounds are stunning, don't get me wrong, but the characters lack that same love and affection. There is a very sad line between the CG, 2D animation, and background as though they were made by three different studios. They do not work well together. It should be at least one or the other.The voice acting in some areas are alright, giving a very epic feeling to the characters, but in other parts, there is something really off putting to it. Lip-sinking is one of the main problems with the voices but another thing is that the voices try to be more epic then the expressions that they show. They have it for the 3D pieces but it doesn't look like they have it for the 2D visuals. It's surprising because there are some really good actors like Joson Marsdan who did Max Goof from A Goofy Movie and and Haku from Spirited Away. The sad thing is, he gives the character he plays in here, Tasslehoof Burrfoot, such a high squeaky voice with a hint of rasp that he just becomes annoying. The music is actually alright for what it is, catches the 'mood' of the scene though the mood is lost with the artwork.The show was slightly entertaining but that's pretty much all it was. All its problems tog in the way of me enjoying it and it did not feel like it was made in the 21st century. It felt like something done in the 1980's or so.

A film that is technically awful, but has some interesting flourishes if you are prepared to look past the appearances. Apparently based on a series of books, Dragonlance is very popular. Unfortunately, all it could manage for a feature length film is this low budget animation. The animation is reminiscent of late 80's/early 90's cartoons such as Conan, and He-Man. It is all very jittery and clunky. Sometimes it looks as though characters are being pushed around the screen. The makers theb decide to make the dragon CG, despite not having the budget for it. It mixes in an uncomfortable blend. On the surface, their are too many similarities to Lord of the Rings. There are Men, Elves, Dwarfs and Wizards. They make an unlikely team that join together to vanquish evil. There is more in terms of complex emotions and quirks, but they barely have room to breath. The hero is the product of a rape, one of the team has sacrificed himself for great power and is not trusted, despite being liked. There's even a mad dragon that comes into play.A lot of nice stuff, but the quality just isn't there to pull it off. Perhaps one day a more complete picture will form, but for now, these are the equivalent to the LOTR animated films.

I'm neither a fan of Dragonlance nor do I know anything about the RPGs or novels which this movie is based on but it certainly tried to treat its source-material with some level of seriousness. Taking a risky chance with its combination of 2D and 3D animation the movie produces two types of results for both: embarrassingly bad and surprisingly good.At the beginning the 2D animation limps, appears stiff and flat whereas the CG works somehow well especially with the bigger dragon-animations. When the drakonians step in the typical minions' CG somehow begins to look a lot less impressive than the 2D which picks up from time to time in the battle-scenes. At least there wasn't a lack of effort in trying to make the characters look lively even if at times the characters' expressions and motions look ridiculously cheezy and exaggerated.On the voice-acting, nothing really stands out but nothing really annoyed me either. The frantic pace of the story is probably the film's biggest weakness as it tries to rush through the events of the novel and while it offers plenty of interesting plot-elements the film lacks a dynamic the pace would require to feel acceptable and which is only enhanced by the lapses in animation quality.The film none the less makes a valiant effort in trying to convey the story to film, the limitations in budget are most likely the reasons why the attempt is not fully successful, but the sloppiness actually begins to add some entertainment value to the film as well, so I can't say the whole thing was a wasted effort.This is a guilty pleasure for a fan of animated films, where the story and narration for once make some sense but the animation just can't keep up.