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Author Topic: D&D: the Movie  (Read 3976 times)

cavalier973

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D&D: the Movie
« on: July 11, 2021, 02:00:07 PM »
I scanned through the topics but didn’t see anything about the D&D movie, hence, this thread.

I have never watched the 2000 big budget D&D movie with Jeremy Irons, but I have watched the Nostalgia Critic’s review more than once, and am now listening to the Red Letter Media commentary track (but I am not watching the movie).

Some of the observations made by the RLM guys about how the D&D movie shamelessly steals from Star Wars and Indiana Jones makes me wonder if the script writers were being “meta” with their story. Apparently, very little of the elements in the movie (magic, for instance) resembles any version of the rules, and yet shamelessly stealing from popular media is a staple in adventure design. Right? Isn’t that the express purpose of Appendix N? “Here are stories you can borrow from to make adventures.”
« Last Edit: July 11, 2021, 02:26:42 PM by cavalier973 »

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2021, 02:26:58 PM »
Except they didn't steal from sources like those in Appendix N.

You should watch it. It's a very bad movie, but Jeremy Irons chewing the scenery like a rabid barghest is entertaining. Or if you want a borderline acceptable D&D movie, try Wrath of the Dragon God. It's not what I'd call good, but it's miles ahead of the original movie.

cavalier973

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #2 on: July 11, 2021, 02:54:07 PM »
I actually watched the WotDG, and thought it acceptable, if a little clunky.

cavalier973

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #3 on: July 11, 2021, 03:14:32 PM »
I would like a D&D movie telling the story of the guy on the Mentzer Red Box cover.


Zelen

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #4 on: July 11, 2021, 07:02:55 PM »
Original D&D movie was awful, second one was alright for a Saturday afternoon movie.

Personally I have no hype remaining for Hollywood adaptations of works. This is doubly so for D&D, which is a brand that refers to a certain kind of collaborative storytelling experience. That type of experience isn't tied to a particular set of characters, setting, or themes. Ergo nothing about "D&D" as I care for it is actually replicable to movies.

The "D&D" brand when utilized in this way is just crass name-recognition value, like seeing a Marvel character on Jello packaging.

cavalier973

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #5 on: July 11, 2021, 09:36:50 PM »
I finished listening to the RLM commentary track. They praised Irons for his over-the-top hamming, and criticized everything else.

Mike was the only one who admitted to ever plying the game, but he advised that he never really dug into the rules or lore, so whenever they would ask him game-related questions, he would either not know, or give an incomplete or incorrect answer. It is possible his DM was using home brewed rules, though, and so his answers may be based on that. Their summation was that this film was the death of 90’s movies. A year later, Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring would be released.

Rich suggested that they ought to have based the movie on the 1980’s cartoon. They could have stretched out the final, unproduced episode and made it live action. I know Renault did a commercial with live actors that was fun.

hedgehobbit

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #6 on: July 12, 2021, 08:14:33 AM »
Personally I have no hype remaining for Hollywood adaptations of works. This is doubly so for D&D, which is a brand that refers to a certain kind of collaborative storytelling experience. That type of experience isn't tied to a particular set of characters, setting, or themes. Ergo nothing about "D&D" as I care for it is actually replicable to movies.

Some pictures from the set of the new D&D movie leaked and it looks like that recent Robin Hood movie with people dressing in "fantasy" version of modern clothes. Lots of giant boots and straps.

And today I saw that HarperCollings is making D&D comics for kids that feature a little girl that dresses up as a minotaur so that she can go to Monster School, where monsters learn how to be monsters in dungeons.

I don't think anyone at Hasbro even gives a shit about the D&D brand as long as they can sell the rights to whoever wants to pay for them.

Ghostmaker

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #7 on: July 12, 2021, 08:46:03 AM »
Personally I have no hype remaining for Hollywood adaptations of works. This is doubly so for D&D, which is a brand that refers to a certain kind of collaborative storytelling experience. That type of experience isn't tied to a particular set of characters, setting, or themes. Ergo nothing about "D&D" as I care for it is actually replicable to movies.

Some pictures from the set of the new D&D movie leaked and it looks like that recent Robin Hood movie with people dressing in "fantasy" version of modern clothes. Lots of giant boots and straps.

And today I saw that HarperCollings is making D&D comics for kids that feature a little girl that dresses up as a minotaur so that she can go to Monster School, where monsters learn how to be monsters in dungeons.

I don't think anyone at Hasbro even gives a shit about the D&D brand as long as they can sell the rights to whoever wants to pay for them.
Great, Hasbro's now imitating Games Workshop in whoring out their IP to anyone with a buck.

Eirikrautha

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #8 on: July 12, 2021, 01:03:13 PM »
Personally I have no hype remaining for Hollywood adaptations of works. This is doubly so for D&D, which is a brand that refers to a certain kind of collaborative storytelling experience. That type of experience isn't tied to a particular set of characters, setting, or themes. Ergo nothing about "D&D" as I care for it is actually replicable to movies.

Some pictures from the set of the new D&D movie leaked and it looks like that recent Robin Hood movie with people dressing in "fantasy" version of modern clothes. Lots of giant boots and straps.

And today I saw that HarperCollings is making D&D comics for kids that feature a little girl that dresses up as a minotaur so that she can go to Monster School, where monsters learn how to be monsters in dungeons.

I don't think anyone at Hasbro even gives a shit about the D&D brand as long as they can sell the rights to whoever wants to pay for them.
Great, Hasbro's now imitating Games Workshop in whoring out their IP to anyone with a buck.

Well, it's worked out so well for GW... ::)

deadDMwalking

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2021, 02:17:51 PM »
The D&D movie is not a good movie, but that doesn't mean it doesn't entertain.  It's worth a watch in an MST3K kind of way. 

The movie made the assumption (false in my opinion) that people watching the movie wouldn't be familiar with D&D, and therefore the introduction of the tropes was heavy-handed.  There are a lot of things that you can watch and say 'they could have done this better', but I think having seen it positions you better to have a conversation about it. 
When I say objectively, I mean 'subjectively'.  When I say literally, I mean 'figuratively'.  
And when I say that you are a horse's ass, I mean that the objective truth is that you are a literal horse's ass.

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Lurkndog

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2021, 11:32:13 AM »
Before LOTR, my circle of friends had a joke: "Seen any good fantasy movies?" Because there WERE no good fantasy movies.

That's a generalization. I do consider Princess Bride to be both good and fantasy. But the joke was made before that movie came out.

But before LOTR, things like Beastmaster were about the best you could hope for out of a contemporary fantasy movie.

Dragonslayer had a great dragon, but fuck that storyline.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2021, 11:40:17 AM by Lurkndog »

Ghostmaker

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2021, 11:43:55 AM »
Before LOTR, my circle of friends had a joke: "Seen any good fantasy movies?" Because there WERE no good fantasy movies.

That's a generalization. I do consider Princess Bride to be both good and fantasy. But the joke was made before that movie came out.

But before LOTR, things like Beastmaster were about the best you could hope for out of a contemporary fantasy movie.

Dragonslayer had a great dragon, but fuck that storyline.
Huh? I grant pickings could be thin, but Ladyhawke, Conan, even Clash of the Titans or Legend were all decent enough fantasy flicks.




Ratman_tf

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #12 on: July 19, 2021, 12:23:00 PM »
Before LOTR, my circle of friends had a joke: "Seen any good fantasy movies?" Because there WERE no good fantasy movies.

That's a generalization. I do consider Princess Bride to be both good and fantasy. But the joke was made before that movie came out.

But before LOTR, things like Beastmaster were about the best you could hope for out of a contemporary fantasy movie.

Dragonslayer had a great dragon, but fuck that storyline.
Huh? I grant pickings could be thin, but Ladyhawke, Conan, even Clash of the Titans or Legend were all decent enough fantasy flicks.

Or The Dark Crystal, which I'd say is a great fantasy film.

And I wouldn't put LOTR up as an example of a good fantasy film. It's maybe OK if you can slog through all the cruft to get to the few good bits.
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Lurkndog

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2021, 06:34:33 PM »
I'm not a big fan of the Conan movies, my favorite of the three is Conan the Destroyer, and it's far from good.

I haven't seen Ladyhawke since the 1980s, don't remember finding it all that enjoyable. Great cast, bad story.

I actively hate The Dark Crystal. The Gelflings seemed like useless heroes, and the monsters didn't do anything for me either. I would argue Labyrinth is the better Muppet fantasy movie, and I find Labyrinth to be fairly flawed.

I'm not going to defend that joke as reality, but it was certainly our perception at the time. There are a ton of bad sci fi movies, but there are good ones to counterbalance that, and the best sci fi films were ones we watched over and over. Fantasy movies, by comparison, just didn't seem to have that top tier.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2021, 07:01:34 PM by Lurkndog »

Eirikrautha

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Re: D&D: the Movie
« Reply #14 on: July 19, 2021, 10:51:14 PM »
I'm not a big fan of the Conan movies, my favorite of the three is Conan the Destroyer, and it's far from good.

I haven't seen Ladyhawke since the 1980s, don't remember finding it all that enjoyable. Great cast, bad story.

I actively hate The Dark Crystal. The Gelflings seemed like useless heroes, and the monsters didn't do anything for me either. I would argue Labyrinth is the better Muppet fantasy movie, and I find Labyrinth to be fairly flawed.

I'm not going to defend that joke as reality, but it was certainly our perception at the time. There are a ton of bad sci fi movies, but there are good ones to counterbalance that, and the best sci fi films were ones we watched over and over. Fantasy movies, by comparison, just didn't seem to have that top tier.

So you deny the greatness of Krull, Hawk the Slayer, and Deathstalker?  Heresy!