release year: 2000
genre: fantasy
viewing setting: theater, 12/19/2000
what I expected: wasn't sure
what I got: the need for a better script
synopsis: Two amateur thieves must help find a rod that controls dragons, in order to stop the evildoers from taking over the kingdom.
impressions: Overall...childish. What we got here was two inexperienced (and sometimes inept) kids saving the world. I can't stand plots like this. I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to buy a story that has incompetent people lucking out and beating far more powerful and ruthless adversaries. Plus, it was just plain silly at times - things would happen and scenes would change and people who left would be back. Why? Beats me. This movie needed a better script, one that took itself more seriously, one geared toward an "R" rating. There were moments that were dark and nasty enough, but this really felt like a kid's movie.
acting: Pretty good, actually, with one exception: *#@%ing Marlon Wayans. I'm sorry, but there is NOT a need for cheap, crude racial humor in every damn movie that comes out. He wasn't even funny. I am not entirely unconvinced that somewhere in Hollywood, there exists a person whose job it is to insert comic relief characters into movies. This unknown person ruined Judge Dredd this way (Rob Schneider) not to mention many movies before and after. Characters like this should only be in movies that appeal to a target audience who finds their brand of humor funny. The target audience for this movie, I suspect, did not find Marlon Wayans funny.
final word: Decent, but could have been so much better.
rating: C