jvowles-2 Reviews

Dungeons & Dragons (2000)

Good Dumb Fun

[7/10 · 8 December 2000]

How to describe this film? This is D&D - it's not Lord of the Rings, it's not Star Wars; it's more like Raiders of the Lost Ark. A fun, pulpy ride, mostly way over the top, with lots of great little moments and a wonderful sense of fun.

We have all the classic elements of a rollicking game session--a pair of thieves who, in reaching a little above themselves, get caught up in an evil wizard's mad scheme to seize control of the empire. The Empress has custody of a powerful sceptre that allows her to summon and control dragons; the bad guys tried to make one of their own but blew it, so they go looking for a replacement--and our intrepid adventurers have the map to where it is. To defeat him, our hero and his assembled chums must obtain an item from a deadly maze, and use it to gain access to the hidden location of the Rod of Serillion, a match for the Empress' sceptre.

The good news: good traps, decent effects, great cameos. It pretty honestly captures the fun of the fantasy adventure. Justin's cute, Thora's hot. The fight scenes aren't bad. It's obvious that the folks who made this enjoyed it immensely. The bad news: the direction is spotty at best, resulting in new heights of overacting (thanks, Mr. Irons) or lack of it (ladies and gents, the mildly raised eyebrows and vague squirming of Ms. Birch). You'll have to listen to fanboys over-analyze it and hear the phrase "where are the clerics?" way too often. Bottom line: go to have FUN. Laugh at the way-over-the-top Jeremy Irons, enjoy Riff-Raff and Dr. Who in their cameos, have fun playing "guess what spell they used". Enjoy the audacity of a film that treats 200 dragons in aerial combat as a backdrop; go with it, for cryin' out loud. This ain't Hamlet! :)

The Lord of the Rings (1978)

Underrated adaptation

[7/10 · 12 February 2000]

As an animated film from 1978, this is pretty good--generally well above the standard of the days when Disney hadn't done anything good in years (and Tolkien cared little for Disney anyway). It gets major points for innovative and careful camera work, applying cinematic techniques with relative success. The much-maligned rotoscoping actually works pretty well, especially with the Ringwraiths, and the opening narration. However, it is so drastically overused--possibly as a money-saving technique--that it detracts from the overall effect. The same technique that makes wraiths spooky and otherworldly doesn't fare so well in the Prancing Pony.

As for the adaptation of the story, it's actually quite good. We lose little bits here and there, minor details such as the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil, the Gaffer and the Sackville-Bagginses. We compress a few characters, such as revising Legolas as one of Elrond's household and an old friend of Aragorn's, but that's a rather wise decision for film. In books you have room to include the references to the larger world of the Elves and Middle-Earth's vast history. In film, you trade that for visuals and sound that convey the same elements in a different way. Nothing critical is truly lost here, and although I have minor quibbles about some of the changes, I'm generally pretty happy with it.

If only the dratted writers had managed to remember Saruman's name--he's frequently referred to as Aruman, a decision probably made to make him more distinct from similarly-named Sauron; it took me a second viewing before I was certain I hadn't misheard it. It's also annoying that Boromir is a bloody stage viking, and irritable from the start. However, Gandalf is excellent, and most of the rest of the voicework is excellent. If only John Hurt weren't too old to play Aragorn; I love his voice.

Of course, with the film ending at the midpoint of the story, there's a vast disappointment built in. What makes it far, far worse is the altogether miserable job done by the Rankin & Bass crew on the sequel. That they were permitted to do Return of the King after butchering The Hobbit remains a huge mystery; they seem more interested in bad songs than in proper storytelling. For all its faults, this film's heart is solidly in place and it tries very hard to accomplish a nearly impossible task. I can only hope that the upcoming series of films keeps as true to its vision...