Dragonlance Movie

[RobbieOC]

I found this in imdb.com. There are several big names involved - Lucy Lawless, Michelle Trachtenburg, and of course, Jack Bauer himself, Keifer Sutherland. What do you guys think? I don't really know a whole lot about Dragonlance, but it seems like it could be really cool... if done well.

Dragonlance Movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825245/)

[Uber_Nerd]

Gah! another bad movie!
It will be weird, i assure you.
The other ones were crap.


Haiku!

[ShipWrecked]

omg this is suprising what great actors there going to have too. and the guy from 24 as raistlin! how the hell is he going to pull that off, and its coming out in 07 i didnt expect it so sooon, wow im siriously quiet shocked!

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Might be decent. I can't imagine it would be worse than the steaming pile of epic failure that was the first D&D movie. Heck, B-level action flick would be perfectly acceptable, and given the folks involved it might actually be better than that.

Also, it appears that it will be an animation. I'm hoping it's not computer animated (though, to be fair, if it's done at the quality the LotR computer graphics were at, then I'd have no complaints), but either way it gets around the problem of needing a massive special effects budget to even be half-decent, given the spell casting and dragons and such.

[TheTick]

It is indeed an animated movie, traditional 2D animation with 3D CG elements.

[RobbieOC]

Might be decent. I can't imagine it would be worse than the steaming pile of epic failure that was the first D&D movie. Heck, B-level action flick would be perfectly acceptable, and given the folks involved it might actually be better than that.

Also, it appears that it will be an animation. I'm hoping it's not computer animated (though, to be fair, if it's done at the quality the LotR computer graphics were at, then I'd have no complaints), but either way it gets around the problem of needing a massive special effects budget to even be half-decent, given the spell casting and dragons and such.

To be fair, the second D&D movie (which is shown quite regularly on SciFi Channel) wasn't that terrible. It had some cool references in it at least.

I think it being animated could be cool. I love animated movies like Titan AE and Treasure Planet, so I think it could be done that way quite well... of course, neither movie did particularly well in the theaters, if I recall correctly.

[TheTick]

For Titan AE, Joss Whedon wasn't nearly famous enough at the time for it to be popular. :P Ben Edlund/Joss Whedon collaboration FTW!

[DungeonMaster77]

Yes, I agree, the 2nd D&D movie was much better. I think that the first one got too much of a bad rap, though. Think about the audience it was supposed to reach. It had some inside jokes, meant just for gamers, but was meant more for the mainstream broader audience. I thought it was a bit cheesey at times, but not as bad as everybody made it out to be. The second movie blew me away! I was watching the outtakes, and apparently the director had each actor who was playing a character class/monster/etc...had a PHB in hand, and was reading over their character info. Also, the writer was a huge gaming fan, and had statted each of the caracters before he officially wrote the script!

[LordOfNarf]

For Titan AE, Joss Whedon wasn't nearly famous enough at the time for it to be popular. :P Ben Edlund/Joss Whedon collaboration FTW!

Actually, from what I gathered, Titan AE bombed because it was a movie aimed at childeren funded by the Church of Scientology, and alot of paranoid parents were afraid they were brainwashing their kids.

[XzalkatriozX1885]

When I first learned about this movie it came with the knowledge that not only was it animated, but Goldmoon, the first true Cleric after the cataclysm, was being voiced by Xena. Needless to say I was angered more than I would have liked to admit, but so was everyone in my gaming group who has read any of the DL books. But then my friend, who doubles as my DL DM, sent me the e-mail that made everything right again. Keifer Sutherland is voicing Raistlin. Upon attaining that knowledge, I can't wait to see it now.

Do you know who Trachtenburg is voicing? I have a theory that I hope isn't true, but chances are I'm going to be upset again.

[Midnight Son]

Voice acting is a whole different world from regular acting. People who you'd never want playing the character in live action can be perfect for the voice. I'm more woried about them wrecking the dialogue than with who's voicing what. As long as the voices are half way decent, I don't mind. Script can kill an animation. That's my biggest worry.

[JadedDM]

Do you know who Trachtenburg is voicing? I have a theory that I hope isn't true, but chances are I'm going to be upset again.

Tika Waylan.

[TheTick]

Actually, from what I gathered, Titan AE bombed because it was a movie aimed at childeren funded by the Church of Scientology, and alot of paranoid parents were afraid they were brainwashing their kids.

Um, I think you are confusing it with Battlefield: Earth, the John Travolta turd that came out the same year.

[Gorbash Kazdar]

Titan AE and Treasure Planet (even moreso, IMHO) are lost gems. The problem with them was that they came out before the "big" - speaking in relative terms - anime boom of the last several years (which makes cartoons for more mature viewers more acceptable), and that they were both animated and science fiction, which can be a tough sell. Since this film is following Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, the ground is already paved for people to accept fantasy more readily.

Also, I'm actually intrigued by the choice of Lucy Lawless. She can act better than Xena showcases (that show had stunningly low production value on top of being gigantic cheese, and the writing reflected it). She plays a recurring character on BattleStar Galactica, and does pretty damn good at it (and given that she's put up next to a number of excellent actors while in the role, that speaks well of her ability). I think she'll do fine.

[LordOfNarf]

Um, I think you are confusing it with Battlefield: Earth, the John Travolta turd that came out the same year.

Actually, they were both Scientology funded, Battle feild Earth is based on a book written by L. Ron Hubbard, The book is ok, but I hear the movie was terrible. titan AE was also scientology funded, but was aimed more at childeren.

[TheTick]

Not seeing the connection. Who involved with Scientology funded Titan AE? The stories have some similarities, but it's not exactly new for Aliens to try and kill us in science fiction. And stories of displaced peoples being brought home by a prophet figure date back a few thousand years. ;)

Ah crap, top o' the page derailment. Epic.

[Dragon_Rider]

Having read the books many times over I am excited about the idea of the movie. Dragons of Autumn Twilight and its sequels always had a gritty, down to earth kind of style to them where it is less about magic and evil sorcerers and more about the plight of the people and a band of friends going through many trials and tribulations.

If done right correctly, this movie could be fantastic.

[Akiosama]

Voice acting is a whole different world from regular acting. People who you'd never want playing the character in live action can be perfect for the voice. I'm more woried about them wrecking the dialogue than with who's voicing what. As long as the voices are half way decent, I don't mind. Script can kill an animation. That's my biggest worry.

I'd certainly have to second this... Granted, Disney and Dreamworks tend to do ok for their voicing but American voice acting tends to leave a lot to be desired... I've heard Kiefer Sutherland do voice acting before and it was... not good. Granted it was for an anime I already knew (Armitage III) and I rather liked the original voice, but for his role especially, the character and the voice did not match at ALL...

But I do hope for the best for this movie... since I'm a DL fan.... That makes me all the more worried, though.

My 2 yen,

Game on!

Akio

[Rubo233]

I have high hopes for this movie but i am also worried it is going to stink, i can't wait to see some trailers for it.

[larnman2]

Sutherland in 24; plays role of a badass in which people try to F with him every turn; he can't trust anyone.
Raistlin Majere in like, every freaking book; badass in which people try to F with him every turn; he can't trust anyone.
*note* The official site said that no accents will be put in except for a small atlantic accent for elves.

[Piotr_Zak]

no accents will be put in
People speaking in "no accents" is kind of like people being "no color". . .

I mean, I guess I see what they meant, but everybody's got an accent.

[bosssmiley]

Smiley prediction: the Dragonlance movie (although probably a future fanboy DVD favourite) will suffer from epic fail. I'm talking fail on a par with Ralph Bakshi's abortive LOTR cartoon.

Why? Simple. It's following in the wake of Steve Jackson's LOTR and, like it or not, that 10 hour behemoth is the benchmark against which all fantasy films are now measured. Dragonlance will suffer especially from this, given that it is so obviously derivative of Tolkien.

As Mark Twain observed: "There's no point in saying less than one's predecessors have."

[Matthew]

It certainly isn't likely to be a box office smash, but I suspect it will do nicely enough, somewhere imbetween Dungeons & Dragons the Movie and The Lord of the Rings. I doubt it will bomb as hard as the animated Lord of the Rings.

There were high expectations for The Lord of the Rings, but Dragonlance doesn't have anywhere near the following (or a least, so I would surmise). The fact that it is derivitive of Tolkien shouldn't harm it much, in fact it will probably boost attendence. Critical acclaim is another matter, and not a prerequisite for success...