Fantasy movies for me tend to be full of heavily-armed
guys beating the shit out of each other and taking themselves far too
seriously. However, sometimes you get something a little different.
Dragonheart is one of those movies. It has the right mix of being
serious but not taking things overly so... it doesn't choke on the warm
and fuzzy or focus on the effects (which happen to be superb); and it
has room for some absolutely fantastic lines and moments.
Sean Connery is cast perfectly for the dragon's voice, especially as
he's great at sarcasm. There's something about a sarcastic dragon, isn't
there? :) Whatever, the visible actors are for the most part unknowns;
which really is a plus for the movie, as you're not preoccupied with
anyone's identity. Rather you can take them as their character more
easily. The king is cast absolutely revoltingly perfectly.
The script overall has been able to stay very human, using normal
speech. After all, what's the use in throwing "thine" into things just
when the audience is getting into what's actually being said?
Occasionally the script echoes other movies a little closely, but let's
face it there are only so many plots you can have that involve a dragon,
a maiden, a knight and a battle. So long as you're not anal about
originality it's easy to overlook these parallels.
Basically, if you're into a movie with a few laughs, good effects
and "wohoooo, a bit of biffo" (in joke); then chances are you'll enjoy
Dragonheart a hell of a lot. It's a fairly uplifting movie for
anyone with a little poetry in their soul, and not too heavy (it's got a
kind of Just Right thing going... not too heavy, not too light...
*shrug* =)).
It gets the thumbs-up from me. ****- and money well spent.