Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Profion, a tyrant, attempts to overthrow a peaceful kingdom ruled by a tough empress.

Director:

Courtney Solomon

Writers:

Topper Lilien, Carroll Cartwright

Stars:

Justin Whalin, Jeremy Irons, Zoe McLellan

Bottom Rated Movies #80 | 11 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeremy Irons	...	Profion
Bruce Payne	...	Damodar
Justin Whalin	...	Ridley Freeborn
Marlon Wayans	...	Snails
Robert Miano	...	Azmath
Tomas Havrlik	...	Mage
Thora Birch	...	Empress Savina
Edward Jewesbury	...	Vildan Vildir
Zoe McLellan	...	Marina Pretensa
Lee Arenberg	...	Elwood Gutworthy
Kristen Wilson	...	Norda
Martin Astles	...	Orc #1
Matthew O'Toole	...	Orc #2
David O'Kelly	...	Three Eyes
Richard O'Brien	...	Xilus

Storyline

The Empire of Izmer has long been a divided land. The Mages - an elite group of magic-users - rule whilst the lowly commoners are powerless. Izmer's young Empress, Savina, wants equality and prosperity for all, but the evil Mage Profion is plotting to depose her and establish his own rule. The Empress possesses a scepter which controls Izmer's Golden Dragons. To challenge her rule, Profion must have the scepter, and tricks the Council of Mages into believing Savina is unfit to hold it. Knowing that Profion will bring death and destruction to Izmer, Savina must find the legendary Rod of Savrille, a mythical rod that has the power to control Red Dragons, a species even mightier than the Gold. Enter two thieves, Ridley and Snails, who unwittingly become instrumental in Savina's search for the Rod. Joined by a feisty Dwarf named Elwood, and helped by the Empress's expert tracker, the Elf Norda, the young heroes go in search of the Rod of Savrille. From the deadly maze of the Thieves Guild...

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Plot Keywords:

empress | scepter | empire | mage | dragon | 

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Taglines:

Adventure will never be the same

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tom Baker is most famous for playing the fourth incarnation of the title character The Doctor in the long running BBC science fiction fantasy series Doctor Who (1963) (TV Series) and he also played Puddleglum in the BBC adaptation of The Silver Chair (1990) (TV Series) which is based on the fantasy novel "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair" by C.S. Lewis.

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Goofs

The heavy makeup on Norda's cheekbones is quite obvious in scenes where shadows shouldn't show, but do anyway, such as late at night in the forest.

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Quotes

Snails: She must've put some kinda holding spell into that bracelet.
Ridley: Yeah, must be the only way she can get guys to come home with her.
Marina Pretensa: I'd have to put a feeble mind spell on myself to want to take *you* home.
Snails: That was funny.
Marina Pretensa: You're going to the city dungeon.
Snails: That wasn't.

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Crazy Credits

No dragons or other animals were hurt or injured during the filming of this motion picture.

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Alternate Versions

The DVD contains several deleted and extended scenes as well as alternate versions of scenes used in the movie. According to director Corey Solomon, most of these were not used because of budgetary constraints in regards to special effects. They include:

• A cameo by D&D co-creator Dave Arneson as a council wizard during the dragon fighting toward the end of the movie.
• An extended Council meeting where Profion (Jeremy Irons) tries to convince the Council that Empress Savina (Thora Birch) is somehow responsible for his botched experiment at controlling dragons.
• Ridley (Justin Whalin), Snails (Marlon Wayans), Marina (Zoe McLellan), and Elwood (Lee Arenberg) escape the city watch through the sewers. Elwood introduces himself to the party and Marina gets sewer water dumped on her in copious amounts.
• Ridley and Marina's encounter inside the magical scroll they both get sucked into. Ridley explains why he has a hatred of mages, and the duo are charged with the quest to seek the Rod of Savrille.
• The party enters the Thieves' Guild of Antioch through a series of secret doors and passages.
• An extended version of the Thieves' Guild fight. In this version we see footage of Elwood going into a battle rage when his helmet is knocked off.
• An extended version of Snails trying to woo over Norda (Kristen Wilson). They have a conversation about the moon and "sensing" things.
• A conversation between Marina and Norda after Snails' death. It is revealed that Marian has feelings for Ridley and Norda had some degree of affection for Snails. They are interrupted by an elven search party.
• While being healed by the Elf King (Tom Baker), Ridley has a vision of a gold dragon hatching from an egg.
• A scene of the party wating outside the cave while Ridley seeks the Rod of Savrille. They are discovered by Damodar (Bruce Payne) and his men.
• An alternate ending sequence, where Ridley stands at Snails' grave alone, speaking to his friend. After his speech, Ridley walks away from the grave, presumably back to the celebrations.

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Connections

Referenced in Let the Games Begin (2001)

User Reviews

One of the worst films of 2000

If there hadn't been a "Battlefield Earth", this movie probably would have gotten my vote for worst movie of 2000. The only way it is (slightly) better than that movie is the (very) occasional good set or effect.

I could write for hours about what's wrong with this movie, but this is what comes to mind immediately

(1) The horrible acting. I honestly can't understand why someone so talented as Jeremy Irons would be going so over the top. It's clear, however, that he isn't enjoying himself in the movie, so maybe he's getting revenge against the movie by acting so terribly

The most annoying performance goes to Marlon Wayans. His shrieking, cowardly character uncomfortably brings up images of stereotypes from the 1930s. At least he doesn't say "Feet, do your stuff!" - though he sure comes close.

(2) The bright, glitterly look of every scene. When you think of sword and sorcery, I think we all think of things rough and with grit. Not here.

(3) The movie constantly rips off from other (better) movies, most notably from the four STAR WARS movies

(4) The characters. Why the hell were the dwarf and elf in this movie? They could easily have been written out without consequence. And the main thief hero is one of the blandest heroes I've ever seen in the movie.

(5) Virtually all the special effects, sets etc. are AWFUL. Sometimes they look even worse than those seen on the Xena and Hercules shows! (Though those two shows at least have the excuse of having lower budgets - and they make up for the cheap effects by having better scripts, characters, and acting!)

(6) And speaking of scripts...thos script is terrible! Mainly it's because the story itself hardly makes any sense!

Details

Official Sites:

New Line WOTC site, with synopsis and bios

Country:

USA Czech Republic Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 December 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dungeons & Dragons

Filming Locations:

Kutná Hora, Stredoceský, Czech Republic

Box Office

Budget:

$45,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,237,422, 10 December 2000

Gross USA:

$15,391,970

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$33,978,694

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema, Sweetpea Entertainment, Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1