Subject: REVIEW: DRAGONHEART (1996)

From: [email-masked] (Michael J. Legeros)
Date: 5 Jun 1996 18:48:07 GMT

DRAGONHEART
                       A film review by Michael John Legeros
                        Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros

(Universal)
Directed by     Rob Cohen
Written by      Charles Edward Pogue, from a story by Pogue and Patrick
                Read Johnson
Cast            Dennis Quaid, David Thewlis, Peter Postlethwaite, Dina
                Meyer, Julie Christie, voice of Sean Connery
MPAA Rating     "PG-13"
Running Time    108 minutes
Reviewed        General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, NC (29MAY96)

==

      An 18-foot-high, 43-foot-long dragon is the computer-generated co-
star of this strictly-by-the-numbers sword 'n' sorcery flick.  As voiced
by Sean Connery, "Draco" is a surprisingly expressive creation who is
well-deserving of his 23 minutes of screen time.  He walks, talks,
flies, fries, and even fakes his own death, all with the help of 96
computer-aided animators.  Too bad that ILM (Industrial Light and Magic)
couldn't spare some special effects for DRAGONHEART's *human* co-stars.
A bearded black hole exists where Dennis Quaid should be.  He's a
near-total loss as he growls glumly through his role of a disillusioned
knight.  David Thewlis' evil king has a high Hiss Factor (HF), though
he's more of a mumbling oddity than anything else.  Oh, and there's some
redhead in a '90's wig, who runs around either screaming or scowling,
depending upon if the particular scene has her playing the Woman in
Peril or the Put Upon Peasant.

     The fringe flourishes include Pete Postlethwaite as a wandering
monk with literary ambitions, Julie Christie (!) as the good Queen
Mother, a band of mercenaries that appear dressed for ye olde
heavy-metal concert, and, believe or it not, the speaking spirit of King
Arthur.  Bring out your dead!  Unfortunately, when we add it all
together (Draco + Fringe Bits - Quaid - Thewlis), the sum total amounts
to zero.  DRAGONHEART is, well, too much of too little.  Director Rob
Cohen (DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY) has made a big, expensive movie
that, while ambitiously plotted, is both murky and predictable.  And
overscored.  And self-important.  And the list goes on.  (I must ask:
did screenwriter Charles Edward Pogue intend that *every* character be
stabbed, lanced, or sliced at least once?  Keep that man away from the
knife drawer!) The last five minutes of this movie are the worst, with
some silly celestial nonsense that would be laughed out of any
planetarium light show, much less a summer movie.  Save your money.

     Grade: C-

--

Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC 
[email-masked] (h) - [email-masked] (w)
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