Admirable film.

Absolutely Brilliant!

A Masterpiece!

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

RELEASED IN 2000 and directed by Courtney Solomon, "Dungeons & Dragons" chronicles events in the kingdom of Izmer where the idealistic Empress (Thora Birch) advocates equality between the mages and commoners while the power-mad Profion (Jeremy Irons) plots to overthrow the Empress with the help of his formidable henchman Damodar (Bruce Payne). A ragtag team is assembled to save Izmer by apprehending the Eye of the Dragon: Two thieves (Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans), a beautiful mage apprentice (Zoe McLellan), a dwarf (Lee Arenberg) and an elf girl (Kristen Wilson).The first shot with Irons hamming it up as the diabolical Profion made me bust out laughing. In other words, the movie telegraphs from the get-go that it's not to be taken seriously. If you can roll with the campiness, this is an amusing throwaway fantasy flick. Imagine the gaudiness of "Star Wars" (1977) if the story were transplanted to a Medieval-like kingdom where dragons & magic are reality and you'd have a good idea of what "Dungeons & Dragons" has to offer. This was a theatrical release that cost a whopping $45 million, but totally bombed at the box office. The 2005 sequel "Wrath of the Dragon God" (with only Bruce Payne returning as Damodar) cost just $15 million and is slightly better because the creators took the material seriously, but it's decidedly TV fantasy fare.The film scores pretty well on the female front with the winsome McLellan and cutie Birch. Whalin and Wayans are entertaining as the two main protagonists, if you can get past their goofiness. People love to hate Snails (Wayans), but I found him to be a likable, amusing character. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 47 minutes and was shot in the Czech Republic (Kutná Hora and Prague). WRITERS: Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright. GRADE: C

It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too ! It's fun ! The mage chick's a hottie, too !

(Originally seen many years ago) How bad can special effects driven films be? Well they can be as awful as this particular piece of garbage, that has some of the worst effects I have ever seen, horrible dialogue, laughably dreadful acting and a terrible story, if you could even call it a story. Dungeons and Dragons is an unwatchable, worthless mess. 0/10

I think many people go into this movie, expecting a AAA title epic, the likes of LOTR, or comes here after seeing the "review" (which is more a parody review, as all his shows) by Nostalgia Critic.I saw it the first time when it came out in 2000, one year before LOTR set the scale for all fantasy films to come. At that time, this movie was a masterpiece, the likes of Willow and Wolfman... and with a similar budget to boot.I found the movie to be a fair representation of the average Dungeons and Dragons adventure, and I have had a lot of those.Although there were some things that I didn't agree with, I saw those for what they were, limitations of the technology of the time and of the budget. I knew going into it, that it would be a one-man production from a 19-year-old that had spent 10 years gathering the money for it. Considering the powerhouse names we see in the movie, the quality of the production and the stunning visuals, I think that was pretty well done.This movie is skillfully made, has a solid plot worthy of the source material and the acting is on par with most AAA titles out there, despite this being a budget title and the debut of the writer/director.