Dragon Hunters

I love it

A French animation company decided to do a passion project, to show off their animating skills and make a few bucks along the way. They get some financial backing from French government and do everything in-house, using own resources and hiring few American voices to have international appeal. At least, that how this movie comes across. It has awesome visuals, landscapes and lighting effects are very imaginative and top notch. I guess that's what these guys do for living. Everything else is half-baked: characters are flat and uninteresting, story is done with the use of Disney cookie-cutter and the world they created lacks any logic or believability. OK for Netflix Blu-ray rental (again, those landscapes!), but your kids will probably forget about it right after the end credits stopped rolling. Mine had.

The reviews for Dragon Hunters are glowing, but I found it to be literally one of the worst movies I have ever seen (and probably the worst animated film I've seen). The thing reviewers seem to go on about the most is the animation, writing and writing about how beautiful and breathtaking it is and how it gives Pixar a run for the money. I disagree so strongly! The animation of the setting is mildly interesting, but more in idea than actual visual stimulation and lacks a lot of detail. The characters are anatomically clunky and their movements don't even seem natural to that clunky design - they just flat out don't work for me. All in all, I would say that visually this movie looks more like a draft...it lacks so much that it seems entirely unfinished. The voice acting is mediocre at best and utterly fails to emote, but that isn't even my biggest beef with it! The voices themselves are so grating and obnoxious that they go beyond being caricatures, as animated characters are expected to be, and simply irritate. Speaking of "character" and "emoting"... ...the story itself lacks any substance at all! Yes, the bare bones idea is a bit cliché, but that doesn't really matter. It's all about the meat you put on those bones, after all, and unfortunately this meat is lean, stringy, and crude. There is no real...anything here. No true journey. No character development. It's an as of yet unformed idea that tries to parade as fully formed, and I hate it for that. Honestly, I feel angry that I watched this movie. Disgusted. Writing this review civilly took a lot of self-control. If I could have given Dragon Hunters no stars I sure would have (and that's still more than it deserves).

This is a CGI animated film based upon a French 2D animated series. The series ran briefly on Cartoon Network, but its run was so brief that its inclusion as one of the potential Oscar nominees for best animated film for this year left most people I know going "Huh?" This is the story of Lian-Chu, the kind heart muscle, and Gwizdo, the brains of the operation, who along with Hector their fire farting dragon,he's more like a dog. Travel the world offering up their services as dragon hunters but never getting paid. Into their lives comes Zoe, the fairy tale loving niece of a king who is going blind. It seems the world is being devoured by a huge monster and all of the knights the king has sent out have never returned or if the do return they come back as ashes. In desperation the king hires the dragon hunters to stop the world eater. Zoe of course tags along... What can I say other then why is this film hiding under a rock? This is a really good little film that is completely off the radar except as unlikely Oscar contender. Its a beautifully designed, fantastic looking film (The world it takes place has floating lands and crazy creatures) that constantly had me going "Wow" at it. The English Voice cast with Forrest Whitaker as Lian-Chu (one of the best vocal performances I've ever heard) and Rob Paulson as Gwizdo (think Steve Bucsemi) is first rate. Equally great is the script which doesn't talk down to its audience, using some real expressions not normally heard in animated films (not Disney nor Pixar). Its all really well done. Is it perfect? No, some of the bits go on too long, but at the same time its is damn entertaining. If you get the chance see this. Its one of the better animated films from 2008, and is going on my nice surprise list for 2009.

This one had been languishing on my netflix queue for the longest time for reasons that I never could quite pin down. It's not Pixar. It's not Disney. It's not anime. And the story seemed so simple. A lot of people seemed to comment on that. Just the same, I didn't erase it from the queue. So finally, I clicked on it. Just the opening Graphics alone held me spellbound. A world of floating islands, drifting ruins, flying forests, castles high in the sky with darkling clouds below. . .and a dragon. A hero and his friend, a spunky Princess and. . .a very strange dog. The story is straightforward-- a standard Slay-the-dragon quest with the usual lessons about Responsibility, Friendship and Bravery. We've all seen it done many times. But this one has a soulful elegance to it. The big shouldered Hero warrior has simple lines, but the expressions on his face speak volumes about honesty and gravitas especially when he remembers his childhood. His friend Gwizdo is the perfect fulcrum of adult humor, sarcasm and Guilty Conscience. His laugh inducing lines were never out of place. And the Princess is just adorable. I loved this as an adult. And its simplicity speaks with wordless directness to children. To call the storyline 'simple' is unfair: Call it 'Uncluttered'. And the visual vistas are simply astounding in their detail and majesty. Whether you have Children or Not--Just Watch it.

I couldn't even make it through this film without using fast forward to speed things up. After just watching "Up" I was in the mood for more high quality animation with a great story and depth of character. That is not what "Dragon Hunters" is. The cinematic "scope" of the animated world is pretty and interesting, although meaningless. Looks like the producers of this movie saw avatar and either directly used some of the imagery or just ripped it off. I guess kids wouldn't care about the lack of any explanations about what's going on. In this movie, three luckless "friends" try to drum up some extra money hunting dragons, but end up being sent on an epic adventure across the "world" to kill the ultimate source of evil. The three dragon hunters are only mildly likable, being mostly one-dimensional. The little blue creature, as he doesn't really talk, is only good for sight gags, around three of them. The "leader" has no depth at all and might as well not exist. The large, samurai looking fellow is the only character in the movie who gets any back story at all, which revolves around a dragon destroying his village as a child, and why he took up knitting. (no, seriously) The movie tries to give a moral lesson about the value of friends and the meaning of honor and respectability, but mainly fails. There are only a few actual dragons, and the final ultimate world eater dragon is a huge disappointment. It's just a dinosaur skeleton with glowing eyes. The earlier dragons are more creative and interesting. Most of the movie is the characters journeying (no action or dialogue, just pretty rocks) through the contrived world, encountering a couple monsters every half hour or so. I hate journeying!!!! Conclusion: rent "How to train your dragon" instead, which is a good movie with an actual story.

After watching the trailer I was surprised this movie never made it into theaters, so I ordered the BluRay. I had a great time watching it and have to say that this movie is better than some major animation movies out there. Of course, it has its flaws but I can still really recommend it. The animation is well done, very entertaining and unique and the story kept me watching it all the way to the end. Some of the backdrops are just drop-dead gorgeous and you can see the French talent behind it. I thought that Forest Whitaker's performance feels a bit lifeless but that is how the character Lian-Chu is depicted in this movie. So overall, thumbs up, I liked it a lot and I hope it is successful enough for all the studios involved to continue making great movies like this. I would recommend to give it a chance and be surprised how great a movie can be with such a small budget. Hektor alone is worth watching the movie since some of his moments are Stitch-like hilarious.

Oh my. How can they make movies of such beauty, but that are so terribly bad. I mean, even Uwe Boll doesn't make crap like this. There is not even a hint of a decent story, multi-layered characters, or attraction. It's just a random sequence of pointless chatter joined together to make a 'movie'. I suppose only children up to 3 years of age could enjoy it, given the world is so utterly dimensionless and the story so incoherent, that anyone older would be annoyed by it. But then again, it's far too scary for anyone under 6 years of age, that there's probably no one that should watch this movie at all. Take my advice and stay far, far away from this movie. Your little daughter can make a better storyline, and though she probably isn't able to draw pictures this pretty, her tales are much more worth listening to. And please, in the name of whoever you believe in, do not expose your children to this piece of ****. I'll give it 2 out of 10, and that's exclusively for the graphics, because the story and character development are so awful they'd deserve a negative rating. And if you decide to watch it anyways... remember that I warned you.

This movie took my breath away at some points, I simply loved it! I admit that the character dialogs and storyline could have been done a bit better, but hey, this is just a simple (short) story of a couple of guys trying to slain a dragon, there's nothing more to it! The overall design, atmosphere, the beautiful landscapes... it's all just magical! They've put a lot of love in this movie. Character designs were great and funny. A bit Tim Burton-ish if you like. I can recommend this movie to anyone interested in great design, displayed in a simple small, but lovely story.

My first impression would be this is Beowulf only with all the good bits of fighting Grendel and dragons intact, making it one thrill ride from start to end. Written by Frederic Lanoir and Arthur Qwak, the two of them had created a fantastical landscape that becomes a character in itself within their story, with its ever changing environment made up of small spheres of land floating around, which can either be wastelands, or globes of greenery. The story's a simple one, which tells of a land which is cowering in the expectation of a mighty dragon's unwanted visit to plunder and destroy, and the resident knights have all but been annihilated. Enter the king's granddaughter Zoe (Marie Drion) who gathers Lian-Chu (Vincent Lindon), a huge brute with immense strength but truly a gentle giant, and his partner-in-arms Gwizdo (Patrick Timsit), who balances the partnership with his cunning brain. Lian-Chu and Gwizdo (together with their pet creature which too proudly spews incipient fires) share a common dream of owning a farm land and spending idyllic days tending to their farm animals in retirement, but in order to do that comes the requirement of being financially free, hence their career in monster-extermination which doesn't exactly pay off. That's basically the whole gist of it, but what makes this film a spectacle, is its CG graphics, which is solidly rich, detailed, and an eye-popping marvel to behold. It has some wonderfully crafted set action pieces that were painstakingly designed to draw you into the thick of the action,, and during those fight sequences, there's nary a boring moment. Photo-realistic moments of non-existent landscapes make you put aside the fantasy of make-belief, and it's easy to be in awe of the landscape which goes beyond the usual three-suns and a kaleidoscope of flying thingamajigs (here's having at you George!) And I couldn't get enough of the finale battle as well, though the usual brick-bats will find some fault at the indestructibility of the principle characters. I guess this film had opened my eyes that there are many more computer-animated companies out there around the world that have quality in their product to match that of Pixar's. And this is definitely a movie that the local filmmakers of Zodiac: The Race Begins and Legend of the Sea can learn from – to keep the story effectively simple, and let your moving artwork do all the talking. Definitely highly recommended!