Distributed by

Entertainment in Video

Cert:

Cat.no: EDV 9093

Running time: 104 minutes

Year: 2000

Pressing: 2001

Region(s): 2, PAL

Chapters: 16 plus extras

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Widescreen: 1.85:1

16:9-Enhanced: Yes

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £19.99

Extras : Trailer, Making Of, SFX & Artwork, "Let The Games Begin", Deleted Scenes

Director:

Courtney Solomon (Dungeons and Dragons)

Producers:

Thomas M. Hammel, Kai Jam and Courtney Solomon

Screenplay:

Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright

Music :

Justin Caine Burnett

Cast :

Profion: Jeremy Irons
Ridley Freeborn: Justin Whalin
Snails: Marlon Wayans
Marina Pretensa: Zoe McLellan
Empress Savina: Thora Birch
Norda: Kristen Wilson
Xilus: Richard O'Brien
Halvarth: Tom Baker

He's as mad as a hatter and he's the Archmage Profion (Jeremy Irons). In the special FX-fest, Dungeons and Dragons, Empress Savina's (Thora Birch) father, the Emperor of Izmer, has been poisoned so it's up to her to protect the Royal Sceptre and it's ability to command the Gold Dragons, who as powerful as a very powerful thing indeed.

Of course the plot plays second fiddle to the fantastic visual flair created onscreen, which takes along chancers Ridley Freeborn (Justin Whalin) and Snails (Marlon Wayans), talent in the form of Marina Pretensa (Zoe McLellan) and Norda (Kristen Wilson), plus eccentric near-has-beens like Richard O'Brien as Xilus and Tom Baker as Halvarth.

D&D, spawning from the age-old role-playing game but being played out as a film that works for a while even for those not used to it, but what starts off as an entertaining piece of fluff soon becomes predictable and plodding and a part-Indiana Jones rip-off from all three of its films. Devotees of sci-fi fantasy may stay the course with a smile on their face though.

Jeremy Irons does his best "Jeffrey Archer in prison
after being shown by his cellmate how to clean the poop deck".

Presented in the original 1.85:1 widescreen ratio, the print is anamorphic and contains bold, striking colours, but is let down by artifacts that give it a slightly grainy appearance throughout. The average bitrate is 5.83Mb/s occasionally peaking over 9Mb/s.

The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is its best feature, kicking in delightfully when the necessary characters, particularly Irons, ham it up for all they're worth and let rip with spells and other magical stuff.

After the obligatory 2-minute anamorphic 16:9 Trailer, comes around 70 minutes of well-rounded extras, also in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen, which take in a 20-minute "Making Of", with the usual chat from those in the know mixed in with film clips, a 16-minute SFX & Artwork that shows clips from the film with the special FX work replaced with work-in-progress CGI and drawings, Let The Games Begin (15 mins), which looks at the legend of D&D and talks to the nerds to whom it means everything; and finally, a series of 12 Deleted Scenes which are a mixture of new content, extended scenes and B-roll footage.

The disc contains just a mere 16 chapters, there are no subtitles (boo!) and most menus are static and silent, bar the main one and those sequences inbetween.

It's a dragon in a dungeon. What more do you want?

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.