Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker

Awesome action choreographed for an anime as it's not trying too hard and doesn't have too much unnecessary dialog and cheesiness (like the wind in the background) during fights. The characters have subtle facial expressions that correlate with the scenes. The character design and costume were badass. The movie also correlates with the game franchise and gave more depth the the whole Dragon Age world. The accent and voice acting however could improve as it doesn't seem very french to me and seem somewhat half hearted. Also the plot could be better and could have had more twists because the story is very linear and has no surprises but I know this is limited by what Bio Ware dictates. lastly the movie tried to instill a little bit of romance between the main characters but it didn't have depth and it felt like it was tossed in at the last minute. Over all, the movie was a good sub-story for the dragon age franchise. I would watch it again and recommend to DA fans. I hope there could be another sequel.

One point for visuals and voice acting, kinda.. Everything else is pretty much crap.

Main heroine Cassandra comes out as an annoying brat, not heroic.

Mages, in this movie, are completely useless in fights and that includes blood mages as well, while in the games they were the real death dealers. I mean, if one little girl (Main heroine) can kill dozens of blood mages in a few minutes - alone -, why there is so much worry about those evil blood mages in the Dragon age universe in the first place? As an added retard bonus, mages are using staves in fights instead of magic.

Writing is just awfully dull, uninspired and predictable.

I recommend this movie to no one.

I went in to this film expecting it to be pretty bad. I love DA:O and really like DAII despite it's flaws, but an anime based on a character that I personally don't really care about, felt doomed to fail. And yes, the plot is very predictable and clichéd but at the same time entertaining. I liked getting to know more about the seekers and Cassandra was pretty badass. But! Some story elements were just so wrong.

First of all, the evil blood mage thing is kind off overused after DAII. And what's with the sudden army of ogres and golems that the blood mages just pulls out of nowhere only to never use them again. And Cassandra is kicking their asses despite them being really tough opponents in the games.

Then there's the problem with the story being set in between the events in Kirkwall and Varric's interrogation. The circle mages just felt wrong. They shouldn't be that loyal to the chantry. After all, Varric says that the circles are rising up, and yet all the circle mages in this film are good loyal mages while every apostate is an evil blood mage. And why would mages fight with scythes/swords instead of magic?

But the animation is nice and it's entertaining enough to sit through. If you like Dragon Age and want more back story, then by all means watch it. If you don't, well you're not missing anything.

Not being overly familiar with the Dragon Age games, I didn't really have any prerequisites for this movie, so I just took it for what it was a sword and magic fantasy animated adventure.

That being said, then the movie was sort of cliché. Sure, in a fantasy movie you need to have the stereotypical good against evil plot, which is also present here, but it is also spiced up with a sub-plot of betrayal and deception.

The characters in the movie were mediocre at best. You didn't really get to see any interesting characteristics of anyone, as they were shallow and sort of just flashy in and out of everything. Not even the two main characters were given proper character traits or personalities. At best, then you get annoyed with the Cassandra character because she is single-minded, narrow-minded, naive and sort of a brat. For a Seeker, then she is awfully childish in her mindset and seem so far away from being properly capable of taking on such a responsibility.

As for the voice acting, well it was adequate. At times it worked out well enough, but at other times it could have used a bit more commitment and passion.

Now, what really worked for the movie was the visuals. The characters were nicely animated, even though they had a hint of bordering on being in the Anime genre. The costumes and armors were really nicely detailed and quite nice to look at. However, something I personally didn't understand, was the alternate usage of a sort of weird hybrid mixture of animation and CGI for the characters, but using full-blown, all out CGI for the dragons and scenery. It was a mixture that often didn't fully stand well together. Personally, I think they should just have picked one style of visuals and stuck with it. Now, I am not saying that it is bad to look at, far from it, because to their own, they are quite stunning. Just a weird combination of attempting to mix styles together (which also failed in that "Dead Space" animated movie).

Another thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the overpowered abilities of Cassandra. If she truly was all that powerful and capable in battle, why did they need circle mages for the fight with the dragons, or how come she wasn't at the top of the Seeker order? That leader was so easily bested and cut down, that it was just painful to behold, especially since Cassandra possess these skills and prowess in combat.

Despite a heap of things that just didn't fully add up, "Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker" was fun enough to just. Just take it for what it is, a fantasy adventure (of mixed visual styles) that doesn't require any thinking on your part. If you enjoy CGI animated movies, the "Final Fantasy" movies, "Resident Evil: Degeneration" ("Damnation" sucks horribly) or even "Tekken: Blood Vengeance" will prove more entertaining than "Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker".

And just for a final rounding up comment; what was up with the music that played when the credits started to roll? It was horrible and so misplaced. What a wrong choice of music to put into a fantasy adventure.

Being a big fan of the first game, Dragon Age: Origins, I was intrigued by the idea of a feature-length film set in the same universe. Unfortunately, this movie was closer in quality to Dragon Age 2. Which I suppose I should have expected, given that EA isn't separating themselves from Bioware any time soon.

But I digress. Dawn of the Seeker consists of some decent action scenes interspersed with mostly predictable plot twists and one-liners. The 3D cel-shaded animation style works at times, but at others can confuse what is happening on screen, or look somewhat shoddy. The characters' mouth movements don't quite match the dialog, but that's sure to be a product of the Japanese dubbing rather than the animation itself.

There were plenty of times while watching that I thought about just stopping the movie and leaving to do something else, but the story and setting transitioned just often enough to keep me going. Now that I've seen it once, however, I can say with confidence that I don't need to see it ever again. It was passable, but there are any number of better anime series/movies out there that you can turn to for better action scenes. Same goes for the story.

My recommendation for anyone who is a big fan of the Dragon Age universe, meaning both games, is to rent it. Certainly not worth a buy. For anyone else: skip it outright.