Dragonheart

1 rating: 5.0

A movie directed by Rob Cohen

Sean Connery provides the voice of the last dragon on earth in this medieval tale of a freelance knight who's forced to turn against the tyrant king he tutored as a boy. In order to bring the king to justice the noble warrior must kill him, but in doing … see full wiki

Tags: Movies, Fantasy, Sciencefiction

Cast: Pete Postlethwaite

Director: Rob Cohen

Release Date: 1996

MPAA Rating: PG-13

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Dragonheart ~ Oh to share the heart of a dragon

Sep 29, 2000

by SusiDee34
posted in Movie Hype

Rating:

Pros: Fantasic animation!

Cons: Don't see Dragonheart II - sad, sad failure

The major reason to view this movie is the melodious voice of Sean Connery, as the dragon. It is a fanciful tale of the boy that would become King, the Knight that tutors him, and the dragon that shares his heart with him.

Ah, to be a dragon
Beginning with a battle of the King and his men pitted against the townsfolk, Prince Elnon (David Thewlis) and his mentor, the Knight Bowen (Dennis Quaid), standing on the hillside watching the carnage. Knight Bowen is teaching Prince Elnon the old code', when man and dragon lived together and respected one another. As Prince Elnon watches, his father the King, is killed by the townspeople and he rushes to his side, only to be impaled on a crossbow.

Bereft with grief, his mother, the Queen, takes him to her friend', the Dragon. The Dragon (an animated creature with the voice of Sean Connery), offers to give half of his heart to the fallen Prince, if he will honor the old code'. Despite the fact that the Prince avows to follow through, as he gains power as King, he resorts to his fathers ways, destroying townspeople.

Knight Bowen elects to go to the Dragon and kill him, and all dragons, because he feels that the tainted dragon heart is responsible for the change in his friend, Prince Elnon. As Knight Bowen confronts the Dragon, the last of his kind, they form a friendship and set out to bring the Prince back to the old code'.

The Players and the Production
The dragon is wonderful! He is very animated, his facial features and expressions are fantastic. He is quite fluid with beautiful wings, a snappy tail and great eyebrows. I don't know if they designed the dragon after Connery or if Connery designed himself after the dragon. Either way their marriage is remarkable. Connery must have had a delightful time making this movie!

Many times he is quite comical - once when he fell into the lake, as he emerges he spies a field of sheep. Looking at them he waggles his eyebrows (^ ^) and says, "Mmmm, hellllloooo". Of course, there is the time he and Knight Bowen are sharing a little dinner and Bowen cannot get the fire going. Naturally, as all dragons do, he offers his services - unfortunately dinner is a little over cooked!

He cavorts along the road next to Bowen, as they stroll along discussing the King, often turning flips and twirling in circles. All in all a much more animated spirit than I expected from a dragon. And we won't even talk about the con game he and Bowen devise to gain not only pocket money but a reputation from all the townspeople - Bowen the Great Dragonslayer!

Scott Squires, Phil Tippett, James Straus and Kit West won an Academy Award for best visual effects - a well deserved award.

Dennis Quaid plays the part of Knight Bowen, mentor to the Prince/King. He is actually quite funny in the movie, for a part that is supposed to be so serious. As a dragonslayer he is a dismal failure finding kinship where there should be animosity. I have to give him credit though as his acting would have had to be done to a blank screen and he interacts quite well so that when the dragon is superimposed through computer graphics it all comes off very well.

There is a particularly humorous scene where he is trapped in the jaws of the dragon, bracing his sword on the roof of the mouth and the remarks that the dragons breath is abysmal. The dragon asks what he expects with all those horrid knights rotting in his belly. Quaid does not look happy!

David Thewlis plays the part of Prince turned King Elnon. A whimpering, simpering egoistical character. I didn't particularly care for his acting, nor for the part that he played.

Julie Christie is the beautiful Queen Mum, who realizes her mistake in saving the life of the Prince, assuming the warm heart of the dragon would smother the evil heart of the son. Dina Meyer is the winsome Kara, who in the beginning saves the life of the Prince then effects to kill him when he becomes King.

While this tale probably won't rank up there with the greater movies, the animation and interactions between the players - mostly Quaid and Drago - are well worth watching the entire movie. There are also some great scenes between Drago and Kara - me thinks Drago is falling in love with the beautiful maiden as he sits and serenades her because, as he says, Dragons love to sing when they are happy.

Recommended:
Yes

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