Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight
Dragons of Autumn Twilight DVD cover art
Directed by	Will Meugniot
Produced by	Steven Stabler
Written by	George Strayton(screenplay) Margaret Weis (original) Tracy Hickman (original)
Starring	Kiefer Sutherland Lucy Lawless Michael Rosenbaum Michelle Trachtenberg
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	15 January 2008
Running time	90-100 mins
Country	United States
Language	English

Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight is an animated film, the first^[1] to be based on the Dragonlance campaign setting of Dungeons & Dragons. Its basis is the first novel in the setting, Dragons of Autumn Twilight by co-creators Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, both of whom supplied creative assistance for the screenplay adaptation by George Strayton. The film was directed by Will Meugniot and distributed by Paramount Pictures,^[2] directly to video.^[3]

Plot

The film begins with the return of a group of friends consisting of Tanis Half-Elven, Sturm Brightblade, Caramon Majere, Raistlin Majere, Flint Fireforge, Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Kitiara Uth Matar, the half sister of the twins Caramon and Raistlin, was supposed to be there as well, but for reasons unexplained at the time could only send a mysterious note. The Companions had separated five years previously to pursue their own quests.

On the eve of their reunion, the Companions discover that Solace, the village where many of them made their home, is very different from the peaceful village they had left five years previous. Solace has been taken over by a religious order called the Seekers. They are collaborating with the Dragon Highlords who are preparing for the conquest of the continent of Ansalon. Solace is now an armed camp as hobgoblin soldiers patrol the once peaceful village. Tanis, Flint and Tasslehoff meet up outside of Solace, and as they enter the village, they are accosted by Fewmaaster Toede: a hobgoblin commander, and some of his minions. Forced to fight, the threesome kill Toede's minions, and continue to the Inn of the Last Home to meet up with their friends, and, as circumstance would have it, two barbarians, Riverwind and Goldmoon. Kitiara Uth Matar is absent, having sent a letter to Tanis saying that "her new lord is keeping her busy".

The Companions soon discover that the Seekers are searching for a Blue Crystal Staff. When Hederick, a Seeker, is accidentally burnt when Riverwind pushes him into the fireplace, Goldmoon heals him with her Blue Crystal Staff, a holy artifact of the goddess Mishakal which possesses healing powers. Upon seeing Goldmoon with the item he had been searching for, Hederick calls for the guards, causing the Companions to flee Solace. Unknown to them at the time, this pulls the Companions into a great struggle against the goddess Takhisis, the Queen of Darkness and leader of the enemy forces.

The companions cross a nearby lake by boat in their escape, and Raistlin notes that the constellations known as “The Valiant Warrior” and “The Queen of Darkness” (representations of the True Gods Paladine and Takhisis) are absent from the sky, which he claims means that the two gods, the heads of good and evil, respectively, have come to Krynn. The next day, the group is attacked by Draconians. These creatures are numerous among the Dark Queen's armies, and often serve as foot soldiers. The Companions are driven into the woods known as "Darken Wood" where they are attacked by undead and rescued by centaur. The Forestmaster charges the group to go the ruined city of Xak Tsaroth, to retrieve the Disks of Mishakal, containing the teaching of the True Gods and instrumental for the restoration of the faith in the True Gods.

After a lengthy trip (on the backs of pegasi) and several encounters with the forces of darkness, the companions enter Xak Tsaroth and eventually meet some gully dwarves, diminutive and stupid creatures. One of the dwarves, Bupu, leads them to the dragon Khisanth, who is killed by the holy power of the blue crystal staff. When this happens, Goldmoon is consumed by its flame and presumed dead. However, they find her later resting at the foot of a statue of Mishakal, which now bears the Blue Crystal Staff, having blessed Goldmoon with true clerical powers. The Companions leave with the Disks of Mishakal and Bupu also gives an ancient spellbook (formerly belonging to the archmage, Fistandantilus, who has a dark pact with Raistlin and sometimes lends his power to him) to Raistlin and then returns home to her fellow gully dwarves. After returning to Solace (their collective hometown), despite their earlier exploits, to regroup and finding it occupied, the Companions are captured by the evil armies and, along with an elf named Gilthanas, the son of the leader of the elven nation of Qualinesti, are captured and chained in a slave caravan.

En route to the fortress and mining site of Pax Tharkas, the group is freed by Gilthanas's brother Porthios. They return to Qualinesti and decide to lead an attack on Pax Tharkas to free the slaves of Dragon Highlord Verminaard's control. The Companions journey through a secret passage underground to Pax Tharkas and devise a plan to free the slaves. They also heal Elistan, a dying Seeker, and convert him to the faith of the true gods. He becomes the first cleric of Paladine, and eventually the leader of Paladine's church on Krynn, becoming a very influential spiritual leader. He also is believed by Goldmoon to be the recipient of the Disks of Mishakal, which she turns over to him. In the carrying out of the plan, they are betrayed by Eben, allowing Verminaard and his dragon to attack the Companions. His dragon is killed by another, insane dragon. Verminaard is killed by Tanis and Sturm.

Cast

• Tanis Half-Elven - Michael Rosenbaum
• Raistlin Majere - Kiefer Sutherland
• Goldmoon - Lucy Lawless
• Flint Fireforge / Fewmaster Toede / Hederick - Fred Tatasciore
• Tika Waylan - Michelle Trachtenberg
• Caramon Majere - Rino Romano
• Tasslehoff Burrfoot - Jason Marsden
• Paladine / Fizban - Neil Ross
• Sturm Brightblade - Marc Worden
• Riverwind / Gilthanas / The Speaker of the Suns - Phil LaMarr
• Bupu / Brinna - Kellyanne Ortega
• Verminaard - David Sobolov
• Laurana - Caroline Gelabert
• Takhisis - Nika Futterman
• The Forestmaster - Mari Weiss
• Elistan - Ben McCain
• Porthios / Pyros / Erik - Dee Bradley Baker
• Flamestrike - Susan Silo
• Onyx - Juliette Clair^[4]

Both Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis (original authors of the novels) make cameo appearances as patrons of the Inn of the Last Home in the movie.^[5]

Production

According to co-executive producer Cindi Rice, the film combines "traditional 2D animation and computer-generated 3D elements"^[6]. The animation was developed by the India based studio Toonz Animation^[7]. A rough trailer was released on October 22, 2007. It can be found on the Official Dragonlance Movie Site. The movie has been rated as PG-13 by the MPAA as of October 12, 2007.^[8][9]

Reception

Reaction to the film was predominantly negative. Dan Heaton describes it as a "disaster" and "tiresome."^[10] David Cornelius says it is "genre cheese and sloppy filmmaking."^[11] Michael Stailey declares "It's been a long time since I've come across a film this bad."^[12]

Major complaints have included:

• The condensation of the novel into a 90 minute film (Heaton: "characters have no time to breathe...doesn't sell the book's expansive scope", Cornelius: "clumsy bouncing from scene to scene", Stailey: [the adaptation] "puts the entire tale on fast forward"). Large portions of the book are entirely left out of this movie, which proceeds at breakneck pace. Tracy Hickman himself was adamantly opposed to trying to fit the entire novel into one movie, stating, "the film should portray essentially the first half of the book and finish with `Solace is burning.'"^[13] "Solace is burning" refers to the last line delivered in chapter 22 as spoken by the character Raistlin. Fifteen chapters, sectioned off as "Book 2," follow this statement.

• The animation, a combination of 2D footage and CGI (Heaton: "extremely inconsistent", Cornelius: "the combo is a mess", Stailey: "the overall look is reminiscent of the worst animation '80s and '90s television had to offer").

Co-author Tracy Hickman agrees with the above points, saying "the animation itself is less than I would have hoped it to be" and that "including the entire first book in the movie was a mistake." However, his overall reaction is positive, and he describes it as "the opening of a door and the beginning of a journey."^[13]

References

1. ^ Will Meugniot (January 16, 2007). "Production Journal:Entry 02 - Will Meugniot, Director". http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/movie/journal/j0201.asp. Retrieved 2007-02-05. 
2. ^ "Kiefer Sutherland Headlines Dragonlance Movie by Zonk of Slashdot.". http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/16/2054233. 
3. ^ "Dragonlance DVD info.". http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/dragonlance.html. 
4. ^ "Movie cast from official website.". http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/movie/cast/. 
5. ^ Dragonlance Movie Site | The Movie : Image Gallery
6. ^ "Dragonlance Movie Stay Close to Book, July 3, 2006". http://news.awn.com/index.php?newsitem_no=17361. 
7. ^ "Toonz animation movie released in the US, Jan 16, 2008". http://entertainment.in.msn.com/bollywood/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1191629. 
8. ^ "When will there be a trailer available?, Jul 25, 2007". http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/moviefaq/faq22.asp. 
9. ^ "Dragons of Autumn Twilight Gets PG-13 Rating, Oct 12, 2007". http://www.dragonlance-movie.com/news/show_news.asp?id=19. 
10. ^ http://digitallyobsessed.com/showreview.php3?ID=9845 accessed 22 Jan 08
11. ^ http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=31984 accessed 22 Jan 08
12. ^ DVD Verdict Review - Dragonlance: Dragons Of Autumn Twilight
13. ^ ^{a b} Dragonlance Nexus: Reviews of 'Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight DVD' - Product Catalog

External links

• Official movie site
• Dragonlance official site
• Wizards of the Coast site
• Reviews of the picture including one by co-author Tracy Hickman
• Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight at the Internet Movie Database