A group of kids is running through the secret basement of their middle school, trying to escape a fire-breathing dragon.
Wait, let's back up ...
Arthur, Tim and Natalie are the Knights of the Square Table. They take their fantasy card game way too seriously, but it turns out someone needs to.
Arthur's parents have split up and it's all poor Laura can do to raise him on her own. Arthur's father is now with Officer Annie, who wants very much to be Arthur's mom.
Vice-Principal Metz lets her son Larry get away with bullying Arthur. If Larry did something wrong, it must have been Arthur's fault. So Arthur gets suspended and Laura gets lectured on her inadequate mothering skills.
It's not Laura's fault that Arthur keeps sneaking out and engaging in risky behavior with his friends, including running through the sewers.
But something is definitely going on. Carpet cleaners in Arthur's neighborhood need Hazmat suits. And Arthur and his friends find a blue troll named Bart who talks like Jar-Jar Binks.
That isn't all. Besides Bart, there is someone else who is trying to bring back the evil dragon leader Darksmoke. To get help, the kids go to a convention where Shane, the creator of the fantasy card series, is signing autographs.
At first Shane dismisses the kids as wackos, but he is finally convinced the cards he created are based on reality. There is a reason for this, as he figures out later.
Can Shane and the kids save the world? And will Shane end up with Laura? I think they like each other.
This movie should not be taken too seriously. It's just a live-action cartoon with plenty of laughs, although Wendie Malick does a very good job as the over-the-top tyrant of a vice-principal. Lea Thompson seems frustrated but has her moments.
Bart is adorable in a creepy way.
These kids are brilliant, claiming to be designing a project for the school science fair. But it's much more than that. While the script may not show much intelligence, the kids sure seem to.
The dragon is genuinely scary. This is a family movie but not really for younger kids. And it does have the obligatory potty humor. Violence is mostly cartoonish, but one scene is pretty upsetting.
I'm Wendie Malick's age so you know the so-called music wasn't intended for my generation.
If you're a kid, you'll probably like it.
