I was also one of those who saw this in the theaters more than once when it came out and I urged all of my friends to see it and some of them did take my advice. Story is about a village that sacrifices young maidens to a dragon that has been marauding the countryside. A group from the village travel to see a sorcerer named Ulrich (Sir Ralph Richardson) and ask him to slay the dragon which he accepts but is killed by the King's sheriff. Ulrich's young apprentice Galen (Peter MacNicol) decides to step in and agree to the task with the help from a magical amulet. The village is headed by King Casiodorus Rex (Peter Eyre) who has a lottery where the name of a young girl is picked for the sacrifice for the dragon but the King doesn't put his own daughters name in the drawing.
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Galen is taken to the dragons lair and he causes a rock slide and he believes that this has killed the dragon but as it turns out it didn't and it comes back to wreak havoc so the King quickly starts up another lottery. Meanwhile, Galen has fallen in love with Valerian (Caitlin Clarke) and her father has made a mighty sword that hopefully can slay the dragon. Galen and his weapon head into the dragons lair to try and kill it but he quickly finds out that this dragon is going to be harder to slay than expected.
This film is directed by Matthew Robbins who never really had a great career as a director but he did have some success as a writer but he can be happy with this film because it's still considered the best dragon flick to date. Disney and Paramount got together to make this and the special effects by Industrial Light and Magic are just terrific and still stand up today even though effects have changed with CGI. The DVD transfer suffers somewhat and the studio's should definitely digitally remaster this film and re-release it on a special edition DVD. What makes the effects stand out is that they brilliantly made sure the dragon moved like a dragon would and it crawls like a bat or a lizard and it adds greatly to the reason why this is the best of it's kind. Robbins also does the right thing by not allowing the audience to get a good look at the dragon except in glimpses and it builds the chills and excitement until we finally do see the dragon. The film looks great from the wonderful location shots in Scotland to the dirty hovels that people lived in during those times. Richardson is a joy in a role that is to small but he makes the most of it with a lot of Latin muttering and lines like "Do you have anything to eat"? One of the highlights in the film (For me, anyway) is Clarke as the love interest and I was always charmed by her tough but attractive performance. She still pops up every once in a while in small roles but this was her largest role in her career and last I've heard she teaches at a college in Pennsylvania. Probably not a great film as it does lag in spots but don't let this sway you because this is a fun film and one hell of a dragon!
*****SPOILER ALERT*****
Galen is taken to the dragons lair and he causes a rock slide and he believes that this has killed the dragon but as it turns out it didn't and it comes back to wreak havoc so the King quickly starts up another lottery. Meanwhile, Galen has fallen in love with Valerian (Caitlin Clarke) and her father has made a mighty sword that hopefully can slay the dragon. Galen and his weapon head into the dragons lair to try and kill it but he quickly finds out that this dragon is going to be harder to slay than expected.
This film is directed by Matthew Robbins who never really had a great career as a director but he did have some success as a writer but he can be happy with this film because it's still considered the best dragon flick to date. Disney and Paramount got together to make this and the special effects by Industrial Light and Magic are just terrific and still stand up today even though effects have changed with CGI. The DVD transfer suffers somewhat and the studio's should definitely digitally remaster this film and re-release it on a special edition DVD. What makes the effects stand out is that they brilliantly made sure the dragon moved like a dragon would and it crawls like a bat or a lizard and it adds greatly to the reason why this is the best of it's kind. Robbins also does the right thing by not allowing the audience to get a good look at the dragon except in glimpses and it builds the chills and excitement until we finally do see the dragon. The film looks great from the wonderful location shots in Scotland to the dirty hovels that people lived in during those times. Richardson is a joy in a role that is to small but he makes the most of it with a lot of Latin muttering and lines like "Do you have anything to eat"? One of the highlights in the film (For me, anyway) is Clarke as the love interest and I was always charmed by her tough but attractive performance. She still pops up every once in a while in small roles but this was her largest role in her career and last I've heard she teaches at a college in Pennsylvania. Probably not a great film as it does lag in spots but don't let this sway you because this is a fun film and one hell of a dragon!