Movie Review: Dragonslayer

"If he's ready to lay a dragon in its grave, he's nothing to fear from me."

I've installed a theater in my basement, well at least I've smoothed out a 9-feet wide wall and a wired-in surround system. I don't have a projector of my own yet, but fortunately I am able to borrow one from work. Watching DVDs on it is VERY cool and it's nice to have a cinematic experience with movies that haven't been on the big screen for a long time.

Since I have this new home theater, I thought it only fitting to start revisiting movies that I really enjoyed when I was younger. The first movie I thought I'd try out is 1981's Dragonslayer starring Peter MacNicol. This is a movie that I saw in the theater when I was 11 years old (do the math and you'll know how old I am) and I loved it! I watched it many times on video shortly after, but I haven't seen it as an adult. I came across the DVD on the store shelf the other day and thought that now would be a good time to pick it up and watch it on the big screen.

The story is pretty straightforward, a kingdom is being terrorized by a dragon, so a group of people set out to find a sorcerer to dispose of it. When the older, more experience sorcerer is unable to pass the “test,” his apprentice takes up the call and tries to fill his master’s shoes.

In addition to MacNicol, who plays the young sorcerer's apprentice, Galen, this film also features an excellent performance by Sir Ralph Richardson (Time Bandits, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes) as the senior sorcerer, Ulrich.


At first I was worried that my adult eyes wouldn't think it was as good as I thought it was when I was young. I was also concerned that the special effects would seem cheesy compared to the new CGI stuff that's so common nowadays. Well, my fears were unfounded. I found the story and the writing just as interesting as before, and George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) produced special effects were terrific! Even the stop-motion animation of the dragon was smooth. I was also pleased that the filmmakers were able to tell the story without inserting a humorous sidekick for comic relief. There are funny moments, but they never seem out of place.

One thing that stuck out to me was how far we got into the movie before we got a clear view of the dragon instead of just a claw here and there. I'm sure that it was because of the budget constraints that made them have to limit how often we see the dragon in the movie, but I thought it served the movie well—adding a lot to the mystery and suspense. I'm sure that if it was made today with CGI, we'd be seeing the dragon all the way through the movie, but I think that would have ruined some of the tension and the awe that we feel when we finally see it.


On a side note, Star Wars fans might be interested to see a younger Ian McDiarmid (Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine/Emperor Palpatine of the Star Wars franchise) who plays Brother Jacopus, a Christian preacher who comes around once magic and sorcery seem to be fading away.

According to IMDB, this was Peter MacNicol’s first role. Occasionally his performance suffers from putting on an English accent, but otherwise he embodies the young, naïve sorcerer-in-training that he is playing. I only wish his hair wasn’t so curly.

I would call this a severely underrated and under watched movie. If you have any interest in fantasy movies of any kind, this movie is a must see!