My wife Vicky always complains about movies which romanticize medieval life, citing the plagues, famines and general untidiness of the times. Dragonslayer, however, is one film that I feel is exempt from this criticism. Life in the ancient kingdom of Urland is dirty, bleak and likely to end abruptly. Magic is fading from the world, and Christianity is taking over.
Terrorized by a great, flying dragon, the local king makes a devil's bargain: a biannual lottery to choose which of the unlucky town virgins will be sacrificed to the beast. Understandably upset by both the deal and the realization that the daughters of the rich--not to mention that of the king--have been secretly exempted from the selection process, the rabble send a delegation to enlist a powerful sorcerer to slay the creature. What they wind up with is his apprentice: a young Peter MacNicol, who temporarily traps the dragon only to really piss it off.
It's surprising that Disney had anything to do with this film, a co-production with Paramount. In a grisly scene, the would-be rescuer discovers the partially-eaten body of a princess that had given herself up to the monster's repulsive offspring. It's the unexpected nature of this and other aspects of the film that help set it apart from other '80s fantasies.
Of course, props must also be given to the creature itself, the wonderfully-named Vermithrax Pejorative. Not just evil, Vermithrax is aging and in constant pain, making it especially vicious. The still impressive "go-motion" effects (a stop-motion variant using small motors to move the model during each still frame, realistically blurring the image) turn the reptile into the F-15 of movie monsters, screaming through the clouds like a jet fighter. Granted, much of the compositing work suffers in comparison to modern digital effects, but this was state of the art at the time and deserving of the Oscar it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
While the film ends with dragon slain and young lovers riding into the sunset, it's a bitter victory. With both dragon and sorcerer dead, magic has all but vanished, leaving government and church to take credit for defeating evil. It's a refreshingly cynical take on heroic fantasy.
Ratings Guide |
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| Zero | What the hell were they thinking? Even Ed Wood was more entertaining. |
| 1/2 |
Dear God in Heaven. Probable involvement of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. |
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Seriously shit. Based upon a Saturday Night Live skit. |
| 1/2 |
Mildly crap. Eddie Murphy made another family comedy. |
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It's not good. It's not bad. It's just there. |
| 1/2 |
Has its moments. A bonus half star for a particularly cool robot or perky breast. |
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Solid entertainment. Exploding robots and/or multiple bare breasts. |
| 1/2 |
As good as most movies can hope to achieve. May include full-frontal nudity. |
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Like Mary Poppins herself, practically perfect in every way. |
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