DRAGONHEART
                        (Rated: PG)

           DVD reviewed by Paul A. Hardy on a PC.

Disc contents: DRAGONHEART film
               "Making of Dragonheart" documentary
               2 deleted scenes
               2 film trailers
               5 television trailers
               Production notes
               Archives
               Feature commentary

DRAGONHEART stars Dennis Quaid as "Bowen", David Thewlis as "King
Einon", Pete Postlethwaite as "Brother Gilbert", Dina Meyer as
"Kara", Julie Christie as "Aislinn" and Sean Connery as the voice
of "Draco".


OVERVIEW:

DRAGONHEART is the story of Bowen, a Knight turned Dragonslayer and
his unnatural friendship with Draco, the last of all the dragons.
Set largely in 996AD but beginning twelve years previously, we see
Bowen as a highly skilled warrior living by "The Old Code" of
orders laid down by the chivalrous knights of King Arthur in
mythical Avalon.  But when the current King is slain in a peasant
uprising and the young Prince Einon himself is mortally wounded,
the meaning of the film's title becomes apparent.  It is only with
the help of a Dragon - who gives half his heart to the dying Prince
- that the young man survives to become King himself, and despite
Bowen's teachings becomes a worse tyrant than his merciless father.
Seeing the ruthless streak in the young King for the first time,
Bowen flees the kingdom vowing to slay all Dragons he can find, as
he feels (incorrectly) that the Dragon's heart has tainted the
young man, turning his soul to evil.

Twelve years later it is 996AD, and Bowen is a successful
Dragonslayer when he meets Brother Gilbert, a pilgrim Monk,
Scholar, Poet and Scribe who sees Bowen in action and takes it
upon himself to chronicle the Dragonslayer's heroic kills.  Yet
when Bowen meets Draco, the last surviving of all the Dragons, he
begins a mutually beneficial alliance with the fire-breathing
beast, little knowing that the Dragon's destiny is tied up with
the soul of the King and the future of the realm as a whole.
Tough choices face the Knight and he must finally make the
greatest sacrifice of all.

THE FILM:

The film DRAGONHEART is a feast for everyone who enjoyed the
JURASSIC PARK films, as the wizards at "Industrial Light & Magic"
who brought dinosaurs to life do so with Draco, the last of all
the dragons.  At 133 minutes the film is just the right length,
and the dragon himself is on-screen for 23 of those minutes in all
his Computer Graphic Imagery (CGI) as opposed to the 6 « minutes
of JURASSIC PARK's dinosaurs.  Draco is of course one of the
central characters in the film, and appears in no less than 182
shots.  His animation is nigh on perfect and through the course of
the movie he displays a wide range of mannerisms and facial
expressions, with Sean Connery's distinctive voice being the icing
on the cake.  If any AD&D Dungeon Masters are in any doubt as to
how a Dragon should look and act and have already read THE HOBBIT
and the DRAGONLANCE novels, then DRAGONHEART would be a great
reference source!

The noble bearing Dennis Quaid brings to the role of Bowen does
the character justice and he really looks the part too, with a
neatly trimmed beard and wearing armour with oriental overtones.
Pete Postlethwaite is excellently cast as Gilbert the prilgriming
Monk who keeps appearing in Bowen's life and shows a natural flair
for archery.  Gilbert provides much of the humour for the film and
Pete carries the role extraordinarily well, being at times funny,
poetic, authoritative and cowardly.  Julie Christie plays a good
part as the determined Aislinn, the King's strong-willed mother,
and Dina Meyer - as well as looking beautiful and providing
Bowen's love interest in the film - shows a real flair for
fighting as the argumentative peasant girl Kara.  Top marks must
go to British actor David Thewlis though, for bringing tyrannical
King Einon to life on-screen.  He plays the part with real gusto,
adding just the right amount of insanity to the role as the
usually quietly spoken but menacing dictator of the realm.  The
whole cast lap up their roles with vigour, but it is Pete
Postlethwaite and David Thewlis who really shine on-screen.

The whole film is well paced and strikes a seemingly good balance
between characterisation and special effects wizardry.  A lot of
time, trouble and effort obviously went into the making of
DRAGONHEART, not only to bring a creature to life which is 18 feet
high, 143 feet long and has a 72.3 feet wingspan, but also to get
the cosmetical feeling of the film correct.  The costumes are of
rough-looking materials and are made to appear "lived-in" as
opposed to being straight out of the wardrobe department, and the
castles and villages look as one would expect of buildings erected
just over one thousand years ago.  Filmed in Slovakia, the rugged
countryside could easily be mistaken for England at the turn of
the last millennium.  The battle sequences are violent without
being overly gory (to merit the film's PG status) and despite the
tear-jerking finale, the movie fills one with a feeling of
well-being, complimented by a lovely classical score by Randy
Edelman.

DVD EXTRAS:

As far as bonus materials go, this DVD is excellent.  As well as
the standard sub-titles in English and foreign languages, the film
can be played in foreign audio too.  Dennis Quaid in French,
anyone?  A dragon speaking in Italian?  The dubbing is good for
all seven languages available, although none of the foreign
dragons sound as good as Sean Connery's portrayal.  For some
reason though, the Polish audio option is simply a voice-over by a
single man, which some viewers would probably find quite
disturbing!

Cast Biographies on all major stars and director Bob Cohen are
up-to-date until and including 1999, and a 43 minute long
documentary shows plenty of behind the scenes footage, which is
fully complimented by a couple of screens' worth of Production
Notes material.  Conceptual designs for the dragon are also on
offer, for those who are interested in this outstanding piece of
computer animation.

Rob Cohen's audio commentary can also be played throughout the
whole film and is really worth listening to as he explains his
choice of actors, how key scenes were filmed and how certain sets
were constructed.  Draco's waterfall for instance, whilst looking
perfectly natural and beautiful on-screen, was actually created
right from scratch with a number of water-pumps and a water
recycling system!

Two deleted scenes (outtakes) also appear on the disk, and there
are not only two Theatrical Trailers available, but no less than
five Television Slot Trailers as well, which are all well worth
seeing.

SUMMARY:

I liked DRAGONHEART a lot.  It has a certain Tolkien-like charm to
it which will appeal to fans of all ages, and it is soon easy to
forget the dragon is simply CGI and really believe in him as a
living, (fire) breathing character with a whole array of feelings
and expressions.  Good acting, a wry sense of humour and great
special effects are all too commonplace in today's movie market,
but the original concept of DRAGONHEART, showing Draco to be
anything but the evil creature of legend, helps to set it apart.
The extras on the DVD make this a well conceived package and a
must see disc for anyone harbouring a secret love of Dragons.

FILM RATING: 85% (Good, clean family fun.)
SOUNDTRACK:  80% (A beautiful classical Randy Edelman score.)
DVD EXTRAS:  90% (Plenty more to see than just the film.)







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