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Dungeons & Dragons

2000, Movie, 0 mins

Dungeons & Dragons: Review

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
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A movie inspired by a 25-year-old role-playing game, set in a pseudo-medieval world where aristocratic magicians scheme, cast spells and put baroque curses on those who displease them. The common folk get treated like dirt (as the common folk always do). But the new ruler of mystical Izmir, teenage Empress Savina (Thora Birch), wants all her subjects treated equally, and is willing to take on the council of magicians to achieve her goal. But they're already in the thrall of super-bad magician Profion (Jeremy Irons, giving what is, hands down, the worst performance of his career), who wants the council to pressure the Empress into relinquishing her scepter, which allows her to control dragons. She refuses, so he goes to plan B: dispatching the traitorous head of the Empress's Crimson Guards, Damodar (Bruce Payne), to find the rod of Savrille, which also confers power over dragons. If Profion can't engineer a political coup, he'll use dragons to take Izmir by force. All that stands between the empire of Izmir and the vicious whims of a whammy-throwing madman is the unlikely trio of apprentice magician Marina (Zoe McLellan) and two common thieves, Ridley (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans). The good guys decipher an ancient scroll, navigate a lethal maze and ally themselves with a belligerent dwarf (Lee Arenberg) and a bewitching elf (Kristen Wilson) while staying barely one step ahead of Damodar and some leather-clad, steel-codpieced henchmen. Although youthful director Courtney Solomon, the driving force behind this project, is an avowed "Dungeons & Dragons" fan, his movie seems to have been assembled from sword-and-sorcery clichés — think KRULL, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER and even the classic THIEF OF BAGHDAD. The computer-generated effects look exactly like what they are, and though there are plenty of dungeons, the dragons are pretty thin on the ground until the end. leave a comment --Maitland McDonagh
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Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Screen
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Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Starter Set (D&D Introductory Game)
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