Post by Ladyfingers on Jan 14, 2024 14:43:58 GMT
The peak '80s fantasy that I only found out about a few years ago. I heard good things about the 4K disc, so I got that on sale and yeah, it's an incredible transfer. As for the movie itself, I can see why it was not a success at the time. It's this slightly bizarre combination of Hollywood fantasy whimsy and dark, gory brutality, with heroic subversion and a pagans-versus-Christians theme that would likely play poorly with Yank audiences. That said, it's still really good and just an absolute visual marvel. The go-motion animation of the dragon remains untopped in pre-CGI creatures, and the Welsh and Scots locations are striking. The score is striking too, apparently a repurposed, re-written version of the abandoned original 2001: A Space Odyssey that is an interesting riff on early-modern symphonic atonality.
I think I'd have preferred another actor in the lead, but Peter MacNicol does a good job as a preening braggart that gets his comeuppance. While I can completely understand the film's mainstream failure, it's shocking to me how little nerd pop-culture cachet it's achieved in the years since. Genuinely good flick and definitely worth seeing if you have watched Labyrinth, The NeverEnding Story, The Dark Crystal and Willow too many times and need an addition to that stable.
