StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Wuchak I caught about 10-15 minutes of "Dragonslayer" on TV a few months back, which was my first exposure to this film, and I determined right then and there to eventually purchase it. When I finally bought it I watched it TWICE, something I rarely do.THE STORY: A medieval kingdom is harassed by a dragon, apparently the last of its species. The people decide to appease the horrific beast with regular sacrifices of virgin maidens. The virgins are selected through a questionable lottery system. When the King's daughter is picked for sacrifice, the monarch employs a sorcerer's apprentice, Peter MacNicol, to slay the dragon."Dragonslayer" takes the "Jaws" route by not fully showing the beast until well into the second hour of the film. Prior to that revealing moment the film expertly builds up a heap of horrific anticipation concerning the creature. The first virgin sacrifice scene is particularly terrifying. When we finally DO see the monster it's definitely not a let down. Many viewers attest that this dragon is the best dragon to ever appear in film, even though the picture was made in 1981.I've heard some complain that the protagonist, MacNicol, was wrong for the role. Nothing could be further from the truth. He's easy to relate to because he's a flawed human being with naive, boyish qualities, not a larger-than-life superhero (like, say, Conan or Beastmaster). I've also heard some complain that the heroine, Caitlin Clarke, is too "man-ish" looking. Well, duh, that fits into the whole sacrificial lottery plot. When Caitlin ultimately and uncertainly dons a dress and make-up she's woman enough.The Dark Age sets/costumes/locations really impressed me. If you're in the mood for a top-of-the-line medieval flick with castles, dungeons, forests, villages, fair maidens, kings, sorcerers, etc. this is the one to see."Dragonslayer" was an inexplicable flop when it was released in 1981, perhaps due to the glut of similar-themed pictures at the time. Regardless, it can now be treasured on DVD. It took me over 25 years to witness its magnificence but I finally did.GRADE: A-

AaronCapenBanner Mathew Robbins directed this fantasy adventure that stars Ralph Richardson as an aging wizard who, along with his young apprentice(played by Peter MacNicol) answer the plea of a besieged village which has been forced to sacrifice young virgin girls by lottery for many years to appease a dragon. When the King's daughter is chosen, he finds it intolerable, but unfortunately they are too late to save her, and their attempts at sorcery only prove temporary in stopping the dragon, who grows angry indeed at the attempt on its life...The dragon is impressively realized, though despite a good cast and gritty feel, the characters and story are unremarkable, even forgettable, though contains a surprisingly graphic death scene, which casts a pall over things.

ma-cortes This film blends witchcraft and wizardry , adventures , battles and is extremely fun and amusing . A sorcerer's apprentice (Peter MacNichol) is sent to kill a dragon which has been devouring girls from a nearby kingdom . An older magician (Ralph Richardson) is the mentor of the rockie sorcerer . The young boy dreams becoming a valiant sorcerer and join forces with a girl (Caitlin Clarke) to vanquish a horrible dragon . The young wizarding apprentice suddenly finds himself the only person who save the kingdom from a free-breathing dragon . This fantasy movie packs action , witchery and and sorcery with impressive battles . Likable performance by a young Peter MacNichol , though is the first film released under the Disney name to have full frontal male nudity , as when Peter MacNicol jumps into the water, his legs swing wide giving the audience a quick shot of his genitals . Funny acting by the veteran Ralph Richardson and enjoyable support cast . The story has many familiar dragon motifs found throughout Western culture , in particular Saint George and the Dragon, in which maiden sacrifices were made to appease a harassing dragon. Saint George's tale also includes a sacrificial lottery resulting in the surprise condemnation of a princess , Saint George is also frequently depicted with a magic blessed lance or a sword . Smart screenplay by Hal Barwood dealing with fantasy medieval , dragons , necromancy , fantastic kingdoms and many other things . Entertaining and fun movie with acceptable special effects bringing the dragon to life . Work on dragons made by CG sometimes seem authentic , but is also noted its computer realization . First film to use go-motion, a variant of stop-motion animation in which parts of the dragon were mechanized and the movement programmed by computer . During shooting, the computer moves the model while the camera is shooting, resulting in motion blur, which makes the animation more convincing . The only thing that let it down from this perspective , was that some of the parts in between the dragons fighting were a little dull . Colorful cinematography , shot on location in Wales , though the final scene was shot in Skye, Scotland and many town locals were employed in the film as village extras. Thrilling as well as spectacular musical score by the classic Alex North , some of the score by Alex North was "recycled" from music he'd originally composed for 2001: A Space Odyssey that went unused . This co-production between Walt Disney Pictures and Paramount was efficiently directed by Matthew Robbins and it was more mature and realistic than most Disney films of the time .The picture belongs to Fantasy/Dragon sub-genre ; other important films dealing with Dragons are the following : ¨Dragonheart¨ by Rob Cohen with Dennis Quaid , Dina Meyer , Jason Isaacs and Julie Christie ; ¨Dragonheart , a new beginning¨ with Chris Marterson , Figueroa and Harry Von Gorkum ; ¨Dragom Storm¨ (2004) by Stephen Furst with Maxwell Caufield , Angel Boris , Tony Amendola and John Rhys Davies ; and other latter day movies and belonging to this Dragons sub-genre are ¨Reign of fire¨ (2002) by Rob Bowman with Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey , Izabella Scorupco , and Gerard Butler ; ¨Eragon¨ (2006) by Stephen Fangmeier with Edward Speleers , Robert Carlyle , Sienna Gullory and John Malkovich .

Aaron1375 A strange fact that you see when looking at movies through the years is that movies featuring dragons for some reason never really perform all that well. Sure you have your semi hits like "Dragon Heart", but nothing that really sets the box office ablaze as it were. Take this one for instance, you can tell they put some good money into the film because at times the film looks terrific, however the movie did not really perform all that well at the box office. Granted it was rather dark at times and while there is a great fight between the hero and the dragon at a point in the film when he was trying to save that one girl who rigged the lottery so she would get chosen the ending fight was nonexistent. The story has a town and castle plagued by a dragon, people go to search for I think a wizard to help them get rid of said dragon. Well for some reason or other a man stabs said wizard and the wizard dies and they are now just left with the apprentice. The town holds a lottery and whose ever name is drawn is sacrificed to the dragon. Only females are drawn though. Like I said the dragon looks rather good and the one scene of the apprentice going to the lair is good too, but to often the movie bogs down and feels sluggish. Still, overall it was a somewhat good film that features a dragon so it was doomed to fail like so many other dragon movies.