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 #72 | 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:

The game has just begun

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence

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:

Calabozos y dragones

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

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

When the party is standing outside the cave, and Ridley enters the cave, the others do the same motions twice.

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Quotes

Profion: Not so talented eh, Mr Ridley!

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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 Nostalgia Critic: Suburban Knights: Part V (2011)

User Reviews

Just shoot me...

In what can only be described as the worst movie made in the past decade, Dungeons & Dragons will leave you begging for mercy.

Hands down, the biggest contributor to the demise of this movie was the script. It was litterally the most insulting, inane dialogue I have ever been treated to in a movie.

Props arrive next in an extremely close second. The 35 Million dollars used to make this film must have been used on late night taco runs, because the quality of the props is abyssmal. The "prized artifact" of the movie looks like it fell out of a box of cracker jack, while some of the armor and backgrounds are straight out of the Bargain Bin at your local toy store. Better attempts at fantasy film making have been shot on camcorders across the globe in people's back yards.

The acting was terrible all around. The few, and I mean FEW, attempts at serious dialogue were crushed by the worst script ever. The only remotely cool character in the entire proceeding was Demadar, who was still pretty goofy. I guess if I was 8 or so, I might have thought he was creepy. The notably great actors in this film should have balked the moment they saw the script/quality of filming, and their presence on the screen only adds to the insult.

Th producers of this movie should be ashamed of themselves. Hundreds of thousands of loyal D&D fans have been waiting for over 25 years for a great, inspiring movie from their hobby. D&D has a prodigious level of material written about it, and any one of it's 100+ books would have made a better movie if read aloud by Pee Wee Herman.

This horror show of a movie will no doubt ensure the demise of a great hobby in the public eye for at least the next 10 years. Any potential fan of the game will be unable to forget this awful movie experience. Consider yourself warned, and never, EVER see this movie.