Tuchergson Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

eapplebaum I agree with another reviewer that this version of the time of the Pendragon's will most likely only appeal to lovers of that Story and/or Dragon lovers. If the viewer is looking for something from a high budget level, they unlikely will be pleased with this movie. I love it. My husband for instance would find it "cheesy" and not want to watch. I love the title of the review that says it's perfect for a Saturday morning. This version is a campy low budget film. It deserves credit for how well they actually have completed it. The dialogue is extremely limited though. I'd say it's a great version for a 5th or 6th grader to get an idea of the story of Merlin, Camelot and the Pendragon's. There are many versions of the story. The TV show of Merlin is fun too.

misbegotten Clearly inspired by Shine's TV show Merlin (there's even an opening voice-over by a John Hurt sound-alike) which has become the first British series to be sold to one of the major American networks for several years, Merlin and the War of the Dragons (retitled Merlin and the War of the Dragon Empire on it's Region 2 release) is one of the better efforts from shameless rip-off merchants The Asylum. Fittingly, apart from the American financing this is very much a British film - it was shot entirely on location in Wales in just two weeks, with a cast of almost entirely Welsh and English actors. In fact, the only non-British thespian involved is legendary German character actor Jurgen Prochnow (always welcome), playing the mage who is the young Merlin's mentor and surrogate father.The script throws in various elements from the Arthurian myths: Merlin's first meeting with Uther Pendragon and Ingraine, who will become Arthur's parents; Uther's ascent to the throne; and not one, but two Ladies of the Lake – Nimue and her sister Vivianne. Excalibur also makes an appearance, but despite everyone treating the sword as though it's of major importance, within the story of this film it's just a MacGuffin. And some body-painted Pict warriors turn up in one scene, for no apparent reason other than the producers having clearly seen King Arthur (2004). There's also one key aspect of the Arthurian legends that the Shine series has (so far) ignored, but which this movie openly embraces – the notion that Merlin is the Devil's son.Merlin and the War of the Dragons was made with a budget that wouldn't pay for the catering on an average Hollywood production, but it's still a good-looking film, provided you realistically lower your expectations. The Welsh landscapes give the movie an atmosphere of both gritty realism and majestic mysticism, with constantly overcast and forbidding-looking skies. The CGI dragons are actually very impressive when seen in the air, although less so when they land and we get a better look at them. And unfortunately, when Uther gives his soldiers a blatant copied-from-Braveheart battlefield speech, despite the clever camera angles used by the director there's no hiding the fact that Uther's mighty army consists of just over a dozen men.But despite these limitations, this is still a highly watchable film. Prochnow is his usual reliable self, while the rest of the cast – a collection of newcomers and unknowns – don't disgrace themselves, and give solid performances. Special mention must go to Nia Ann and Carys Eleri who play Nimue and Vivianne respectively, and succeed in giving the characters an unsettling, otherworldly quality. The sight of Nimue tending to a wounded and unconscious Merlin by trickling blood from her mouth into his is genuinely unnerving.The last scene of the film raises the possibility of a sequel. Provided the same quality can be maintained, that's a very welcome prospect.

robin_hood86 I hope this films budget was so low they could not even pay their actors. There is absolutely nothing good with this film. The actors cannot act and most of them seriously needs some tweezing. The "special" effects are outdated. The plot is more predictable then an episode of Murder she wrote. This film could have been entertaining if the people making it at least would know they were producing something so bad it dos not even warrant a straight-to-DVD release. But doing slow motion fight scenes to hide the lack of choreography and blurring the screen when the dragons are shown to hide your lack of a special effects budget is just really pathetic. If you want to watch a decent Merlin film, get the mini-series from 1998. Not only has it a better plot and actors, but it seems that special effects were better 10 years ago.If they make this into a trilogy I will resign from mankind and go live with the two horrible, but kind of cute, Lady of the lake actors in their cave.

DirectorLeighHater There are Medieval fairs in New Jersey where the 16-year-old attendants at the fried foods tent have more knowledge of English history and mythology than the makers of this sorry excuse for a movie.The facts of this movie were verified by a guy who once saw 'Amedeus', the fight scenes were choreographed by Lindsey Lohan on New Years Eve, and the magical special effects were edited by giving the film to Edward Scissorhands after heavy application of cocaine.Each sword fight drags on until both stunt men die of boredom or succumb to nausea from the endless scene cuts that occur every time they clank their plastic swords together. Mark Atkins must have figured that the fight scenes wouldn't seem like two drunk z list actors waving Mattel toys around if he only filmed them a quarter of a second at a time.The movie wouldn't have been as bad if scene cuts weren't used for EVERYTHING. When a rock materializes out of thin air, you see people react in amazement to the rock before you see the rock just sitting there. When a character dies dramatically, all you see is the other actors vomiting in terror at the amazing death scene you just missed. Throughout the entire movie, I felt like the actors were watching the best movie ever and they wouldn't show it to me.If you still feel like watching this movie, here's a substitute that will benefit both you and everyone but the Asylum. Rent the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings trilogies and invite your most inarticulate friends to watch them with you. While they watch these epics, position yourself at an angle next to your TV so you can see your friends react to these awesome movies but not the movies themselves. Then have them describe what's happening and see how satisfying it is.