Set in a world of medieval fantasy, The Green Wizard of Nature, Carolinus (Harry Morgan) begins to see magic dying out as man embraces logic over magic. Knowing that the change is inevitable Carolinus gathers his four brothers of Antiquity Lo Tae Zhao (Don Messick), Golden Wizard of Light and Air, Solarius (Paul Frees), Blue Wizard of Sea and Space, and Ommadon (James Earl Jones) Red Wizard of Black Magic and Forces of Evil to discuss the impending demise of magic. Carolinus proposes sequestering the magic realm from the world of man as a way of preserving magic which is supported by Zhao and Solarius, but Ommadon seeing this as weakness decides to fight against the impending change by encouraging mankind to use their technology and sciences to bring about an age of greed, hatred, and war that will bring about their destruction. Forbidden by Antiquity to engage in direct confrontation with each other Carolinus proposes sending a party on a quest to claim Ommadon's crown from which he draws his power. Antiquity chooses science expert/board game designer Peter Dickinson (John Ritter) from 1980s Boston as the champion to lead the quest and is brought by Carolinus to his time to do so. However when Ommadon's attempts to kill Peter result in Peter merging with a dragon, Peter must learn to use his unfamiliar dragon body to stop Ommadon's evil.
Released in 1982 through video distribution and ABC's Saturday Night Movie, The Flight of Dragons went on to have a small but devoted cult following thanks to its runs on cable TV after its initial release (Particularly on HBO) that made it a staple of many peoples' childhoods. Revisiting a fond childhood memory can sometimes be a slap to the face where we find ourselves thinking "why did I ever like this?" and then there's those other revisits to the past where "there's more details here than I remember catching the first time". The Flight of Dragons is an example of the latter.
The movie is at its core a straightforward quest movie with a simple set up of good versus evil, but what distinguishes The Flight of Dragons from other movies/stories of a similar ilk is its attention to detail and its characters. Carolinus is easily one of my favorite movie wizards who plays a kind and gentle man, but also one who isn't afraid of confrontation or cracking a joke or two. Harry Morgan does a great job voicing Carolinus and brings both the humor and sterness that he's well known for. John Ritter is also quite well cast as Peter Dickinson who although a man of science has a love and affinity for fantasy and magic. Peter is very much a fantasy fan who gets to experience his dream of living an actual fantasy adventure. The movie feels very genuine in Peter's adventure in that despite him having a bookish appearance his love of fantasy is never used as a butt for jokes and is treated uncharacteristically respectfully for the time (Just see Mazes and Monsters for an example of just how bad fantasy enthusiasts could be portrayed). James Earl Jones' commanding voice makes Ommadon a formidable and imposing threat and a really great villain that you love to hate.
The movie does have one or two drawbacks. The animation while still really good and possessing some really eye catching art can occasionally show some of the awkward motions or head scratching designs that Rankin Bass was known for, but most of the time the visual hiccups aren't that noticeable. Some of the voice work can also be a little spotty in places as well and some of the dialog can also feel a little clumsy, but these are very minor nitpicks.
The Flight of Dragons is one of those rare childhood favorites that is even better upon re-visitation as an adult. While the movie can be enjoyed by children for its quest based good vs evil narrative, there's some nice hidden layers within the movie's magic vs technology subtext that addresses man's need for imagination in combination with logic and knowledge. It's a movie that deserves more attention and should be considered a classic of the fantasy genre.
