Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real

I rented this movie tonight out of curiosity. First I thought this would be some lousy action movie with even lousier effects (think Ice Planet, for example). But I was positively surprised to find out that this science fiction quasi-documentary was actually thoroughly enjoyable.

I am a fan of "Walking With Dinosaurs", and as a fantasy enthusiast, this documentary was right up my alley. Sure I know that dragons weren't real, but the theories provided seemed sound enough to me. And I have to admit, I was touched by the tragedy of the mountain dragons as well as awe-struck by the beauty of the dragons mating, taking the plunge and scorching the ground as they pull up.

As a "what if" documentary this was a 10/10. If somebody wants to complain that this isn't a "real" documentary, they should pay in mind that it was not planned as such. Dragon's World is a different and enjoyable document to see, as long as you don't take everything too seriously.

Besides, you never know...

I just loved this movie. It was well done for it's genre. The special effects were magnificent. The dragons are beautiful. If you love dragons this is a must see movie. My daughter saw part of a commercial for this movie and was all excited that they had found a dragon. She was, and is, very upset that they "lied" to her. She thought it was a real documentary. We have rented this movie 6 times now and I am looking for it to purchase. This movie actually made me think, what would it take to enable such a large creature to fly? I like their explanation. The movie actually seems to incorporate new dinosaur findings as far as preferred habitat, social interactions, and mating rituals.

The plot of this movie is about a scientist who believes dragons to be real. The first indication is a scorched skull of a T-rex in his museum. Then he is able to explore a cave in the Romanian mountains where the frozen bodies of medieval knights and the remains of an unknown creature were found.

By examining the carcass he finds evidence for an unknown animal that can fly and spit fire. They cococt 'scientific' explanations for these impossible abilities. Everything is underlined by views on the dead bodies and very realistic computer animated scenes of the life of 'real' dragons.

I have to admit having some problems with the genre of this movie. Despite being called a 'documentary' it is pure science fiction. The scientific explanations for a dragon being able to fly and spit fire sound good but do not stand close examination. There is no space here to give detailed comments on this topic.

However I liked this film, because it is innovative despite a simple plot and above all the animated scenes are very realistic. They are at least equal to 'Jurassic Park'.

Altogether everything looks so real and sounds so rational, people without scientific background may think that it is a true story.

The end of the movie is open, we might see Dragon's World II sometimes in the future.

A skiing accident in Romania uncovers a series of ice caves. The police are called as bodies are found which look like they date back centuries but this discovery is nothing compared to what appears to be a large, comparatively intact beast preserved in the ice. News reaches the London museum about this discovery and it peaks the interest of one Dr Tanner – a man mocked by his peers for claiming that attack marks on a T-Rex skull could have come from a dragon. Tanner and his team investigate and find more than they could have ever expected; meanwhile the documentary shows us the history of the beast.

OK, lets get the pointless moaning out of the way – "it's not even real". Well, of course it isn't and god love anyone who thought it was. Of course the subject not being real is hardly a criticism given that 99% of the films in cinemas tend to be fictional and the genre of documentary style dramas is hardly something new. However what it does mean is that the documentary style relies very heavily on how interesting it is and also how engaging it is as it folds in with the drama part of the film. In this case the subject is nothing to do with fact or reality at all but yet the special effects in the "nature documentary" side of the film make it interesting enough.

It is all very "Walking With Dinosaurs" but it looks good and Ian Holm's delivery is a good choice for the style of thing that the film is aiming for. Unfortunately though, the "drama" side of the film is roundly poor. It focuses on Dr Tanner excitedly following the modern discovery of our dragon and discovering (rapidly) all manner of things from one corpse – right down to "proving" an entire family of dragon species or coming up with an extreme rating ritual from a few burns in the rock! The explanation of how the mythical figure worked and lived is pretty detailed but I found it impossible to forget that it was entirely made up! This is only part of the story though because whatever potential the theorising had is completely undercut by the delivery of the drama part.

The dialogue and acting is average at best, with Hilton miscast and unable to do anything with what he is given. Tanner's narration is also poor; the American accent doesn't help but it is still poor regardless. Hardy's direction clearly focuses on the effects rather than the overall product (as does Foley's script) and he can't help this part of it. This leaves the viewer with the only value being offered from the curio nature of seeing the dragons as if they were real and this was a documentary.

This was barely enough for me although I admit at times I was interested. The drama is terrible nonsense that is badly delivered in many aspects and it is only the novelty of seeing the dragon as a subject of a "Walking with Dinosaurs" nature programme that makes it engaging at all. Perfect for those that adore dragons and want to believe the myth, a very mixed bag for everyone else.

Dragons appear in the histories of many distant civilizations, enough to raise the speculation of their existence. This film documents in a very logical way, the finding of a dragon frozen in a Carpathian Mountain ice cave. The wildly imaginative story of how this dragon lived and died is the basis for this wonderful film. The c.g.i. images of dragons in their imagined habitats is simply outstanding. Though based on legend, "Dragon's World" is far more entertaining than most reality shows, which are limited by facts. These are not merely bones in a cave, they tell a story that spans the ages, and lets your imagination take flight with the magnificent flying, fire breathing beasts. Highly recommended. - MERK