Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight
If anyone are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons, and specifically the Dragonlance universe, campaigns and novels, they’ll know what I’m talking about. I didn’t think we had the animated movie at work, but we did! So I rented it, feeling like a good animated movie and some D&D geeking out.
First impressions were disasterous, to say the least. I’d heard complaints that the movie looked horrible, and I love cartoons, but holy shit. I thought the whole movie would be animated in 2D, the old fashioned way, but they’ve combined 2D animation of the characters, and god awful CGI for the Draconians and Dragons, and some of the surroundings. The fire - which there is a lot of in this movie, mind you - was also lifelike, as in they videotaped crackling fire and copy pasted it where it was appropriate.
The visuals were an absolute mess, but I was willing to look past that if they were able to greatly represent the novel the movie is based on. They did not.
I have to give some credit; Kiefer Sutherland delivered a great performance as my favourite character, Raistlin the mage - when Raistlin had any fucking screentime. It was a bad choice to try and press the whole novel into a 90 minute movie. The characters barely get any attention for their own merits, and the movie is seemingly only focusing on Goldmoon the Cleric, and Tanis, the Half-Elf.
Now, I love Tanis. In the novel, he was actually based on Captain James T. Kirk with his personality and struggles, and his character really shone through. He’s not fitting in this movie; his struggles with his faith in the Gods, his personal doubts, his feeling of discomfort with his heritage, they were there, but in some ways too prevelant, and in others not nearly enough. His character is smushed between the others, and he just comes off as whining instead of struggling with himself. He’s an annoyance, and that’s too bad.
The story was also a mess. It jumps sporadically from scene to scene, giving almost no real attention to any of the key points of the novel, which might be why several scenes have been dropped to make way for the others. The initial fight with the Draconians, Sturm’s near-death experience, the enslavement of the people of Solace, the Elves escaping from their home, they’re all glanced over to focus on action and whining.
The movie is in my eyes only good for one thing; a simple introduction into the world of Dragonlance. People who see it might become interested in learning more, and actually pick up the novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight - which they should, because it’s incredible! Unless it scares them away from the whole ‘verse, which wouldn’t surprise me, honestly. The story’s told so spastically, and the characters barely get to shine on their own. Caramon and Flint are just peeked on, Raistlin and Sturm get exposition though not nearly enough, Goldmoon and Riverwind’s troubled relationship gets exactly two mentions, and Tanis is just trudging along, whining about his doubts, and what about Fizban?! He’s in there, and he’s crucial to the plot, but we’re not given enough of him to really be shocked when he reveals who he really is! He’s just a dopey wizard who tags along and provides some exposition, and his friendship with Tasslehoff isn’t shown enough to be tangible, so Tas’ emotions are confusing and seemingly misplaced.
The movie is visually and in core a mess, and it doesn’t do the novel any justice at all. Even if you’re not into Dragonlance, even if you’re just looking for an animated fantasy tale, you’d be better off with the Ralph Bakshi adaptation of Lord of the Rings, because there’s no real animation to support in Dragons of Autumn Light.
