Dragonheart (1996)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Rob Cohen

Writers (WGA):

Patrick Read Johnson (story) &
Charles Edward Pogue (story) ...

Release Date:

31 May 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

Tagline:

You will believe.

Plot:

The last dragon and a disillusioned dragonslaying knight must cooperate to stop an evil king who was given partial immortality.

Plot Keywords:

Dragon | King | Evil King | Knight | Honor

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 20	10:30 PM	AMC
Tue. July 21	12:45 PM	AMC

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Bowen
David Thewlis	...	King Einon
Pete Postlethwaite	...	Gilbert of Glockenspur
Dina Meyer	...	Kara
Jason Isaacs	...	Lord Felton
Brian Thompson	...	Brok
Lee Oakes	...	Young Einon
Wolf Christian	...	Hewe
Terry O'Neill	...	Redbeard
Eva Vejmelková	...	Felton's Minx (as Eva Vejmelkova)
Milan Bahúl	...	Swamp Village Chief (as Milan Bahul)
Peter Hric	...	King Freyne
Sandra Kovacicova	...	Young Kara
Kyle Cohen	...	Boy in Field
Thom Baker	...	Aislinn's Chess Partner

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action/violence.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS-Stereo | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #34567) | France:U | Iceland:12 | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12/9 | Germany:12 (w) | Ireland:PG | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bratislava, Slovakia

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Excerpts from the music score have been used in dozens of movie trailers and even for a special projection at the 1997 Oscars. The main theme was also used as interstitial/credits music during the U.S. telecast of the 2004 Olympics.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the last scene, Draco's and Bowen's shadows (from the same light source) overlap instead of merging.

Quotes:

[Kara stands in the middle of the village, shouting while the villagers throw fruit and rotten vegetables at her]
Kara: Throw off the yoke of Einon's oppression! We must start to fight back!
Hewe: Your father sang that sour tune once and we did fight back, and once was enough. We'll not dance to it again!
Kara: No, Hewe, just cringe like a dog under Einon's boot!
Hewe: At least a cringing dog's a live one!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'Dragonheart' (1997) (V)

Great film

Okay, I'm going to start with the fact that this is one of my favourite films-I remember seeing it when I was younger and last year when I spotted the 'special edition' DVD I snapped it straight up!!

********SPOILERS!*******

Okay, mainly people who have seen/liked/or just generally want to comment on a film come here-so I shall not describe the whole film-just bits that are needed.

Firstly, casting-I actually think the casting was good on this film-

Quaid as Bowen was good-physically he is right (strong, good looking etc.) and his presence is right-you believe that this character generally believes that Einon has 'turned' bad because of this Dragon who gave half his heart-thus creating a good straight-forward story line. In the beginning Bowen really loved the younger Einon and thats why it is quite painful to see in the first fight scene between Bowen and Einon (at the waterfall) that in fact Einon never believed Bowen's teachings of 'the old code,' you can see the sadness and realisation in Bowen, that Einon is 'bad' and was even at the beginning.

Thewlis as Einon-brill-actually Thewlis is one of my favourite actors because of the 'brains' he puts into his characters-take Einon, for example-not outly strong, etc.-but you can see that this character thinks-he's educated he knows what he is doing. You only have to look at the scene with Einon and kara in the bed chamber-look at how Thewlis plays the character-using words, the ideas of 'power' to manipulate her. Of course, its a family film and he is generally a good 'badie' but luckily not a straight-forward, stereotypical one. I must say he gives one of the best performances in the film.

Dina Meyer- this was one of her first films I believe and she does well-physically quite strong (which is quite a rarity to see a female who can stand up for herself in such films)but also adding a good character to assist Bowen.

Postlethwaite- very funny-I think he's a great actor and I loved him in this-different to a lot of stuff he had done, especially before this film-the character adds a comical touch to the film-but also he just generally portrays a 'good' character.

Connery-good, for the voice-you can tell the actor straight away and I think thats why he was chosen-but also I think his voice just adds something to the part.

The effects-brill, esp. for their time-even now they still stand on their own and as a viewer you can just relax and freeze reality for a while and believe that a dragon is actually talking etc. on screen.

Overall, a great film, that will touch the hearts of many-young and old. This is a film to watch over and over-full of laughs, fights, the odd tears and of course the classic battle between Good and Evil.

If you haven't seen it before-rent it, relax, forget everything in reality for a couple of hours and just watch this great fantasy film.