C’mon Hollywood #147

… make a decent dragon movie, or stop making bad ones!
by Sturdy

I think fantasy films are the hardest genre of films to make. By the time you build the mythology, establish the world, build interesting characters and then have enough action to keep the audience wanting more., you’ve run out of time. That’s a tall task for a two-hour film. In fact, it’s nearly impossible. LOTR had to split it up into three films. Can you imagine how bad the trilogy would have been if they had combined it into one two-hour film?

First off, this isn’t even a dragon.

Maybe that’s why there’s never been a decent dragon movie. You gotta give Hollywood some credit for at least trying over the years. It just seems that no matter how hard they try, the film usually seems uninteresting, cheesy, bland, rushed or a combination of all. It’s odd too, because you would think that a movie about a giant, flying, fire-breathing monster would be fun. Unfortunately, it’s harder than it sounds.

Yeah, McConaughey was a stud in this one

Looking back through the years, dragon movies have suffered damning fates. REIGN OF FIRE is probably the best dragon movie out there, but didn’t you feel like it was a bit of a letdown? DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS is a good example of a film that already had a fan base, but with the cheap effects and comic feel, it was almost unbearable to watch. DRAGONHEART took a shot and even got Sean Connery to voice the dragon, but that ended up making things a little weird. Of course, we have THE NEVERENDING STORY, which I remember being a good film, although I haven’t seen it since 1989. Besides, that’s not really the type of dragon film I’m talking about.

Honestly, this is all I could see the entire movie

Most recently, we’ve had ERAGON and DRAGON WARS. I actually really liked the dragons in ERAGON. I thought the effects were decent and I thought they looked cool. As it turns out, that was about all I liked in the movie. It missed on every other level and the result was a bad film that was easier to make fun of than to take seriously. DRAGON WARS managed to be even worst, but at 90 minutes, how are you going to make a decent fantasy film? I think the problem with these two films is the lack of commitment from studios to invest the time and money into making a decent dragon movie. It’s easier to throw something together, slap a dragon on the cover and get it to store shelves.

I liked the dragon, but that was about it

Or, maybe the problem is that no director or screenwriter out there has taken the time to create an epic dragon movie. We need someone to take a good dragon story and Peter-Jackson (yes, I’m using his name as a verb) it. Before we can do that, we need a good, epic story that will captivate an audience. How about…well…or…ok, I don’t read fantasy books, so I don’t know. Has anyone out there read a decent dragon tale that would make a good film? If so, let me know.

So c’mon Hollywood, make a good dragon movie. Dragons are one of the coolest mythological characters around, but every time we get them on the big screen, it turns out to be comically bad. At the very least, if you’re not going to invest the time and money into making a good dragon film, then at least stop making bad dragon movies.