Dungeons and Dragons (2000)

Stars: Justin Whalin and Jeremy Irons

Director: Courtney Solomon

Plugs: None

Review posted Mon Dec 30 13:04:28 2002

Dungeons and Dragons is a new film based on the role-playing game introduced in 1974. In the game, players imagine that they are fearless fighters, cunning thieves, and powerful magic-users in a land of treasure and monsters. It is also the most complex game ever invented, with literally hundreds of pages of rules. As an aficionado of the game, I spent many months in high school libraries playing it.

The film’s story centers on a political fight within a kingdom between a group of wizards and the young Empress Savina. The wizards, led by Profion (Jeremy Irons) want to take control of the kingdom, while Savina refuses to give up power because it would lead to oppression of the commoners. Soon a motley band of adventurers led by Ridley (Justin Whalin), a thief, and Marina (Zoe McLellan), a magic-user, set out to recover a powerful staff to save the kingdom.

There are numerous problems with the film. To start, the two leads are duds. Whalin and McLellan have the charisma of toothpaste, and despite earnest performances and flattering lighting, neither comes alive. Thora Birch, playing Savina, is even worse. Her performance is wooden and tentative, with dialogue delivered through a doughy, baby face. Another problem with the leads, a magic-user and a thief, is that neither one does much of what their profession suggests: Marina is singularly worthless as a magic-user, casting a whopping two spells in the entire film. And Ridley uses precious little of his special abilities as a thief,and, as far as I can recall, doesn’t even steal anything!

Among the most annoying characters is Snails, Ridley’s friend and fellow thief (played by Marlon Wayans). Wayans gives Snails the stereotypical manic black antics found in many black roles and comics: the wide eyes, the sniveling, the overacting. In this film he does everything but shriek “Whassup?!” and carry a boom box. The idea, of course, is to have a funny (yet expendable) sidekick for comic relief. I understand that it’s part of Wayans’ repertoire, but it’s annoying, tiresome, and an anachronism—and not even a creative one at that.

Ultimately, however, Dungeons and Dragons succeeds because of its irrepressible enthusiasm. Taken as a whole, the cast is just okay, but the special effects are plentiful and great, the setting and details are lush, and everyone seems to be having fun. It’s clear that first-time director Solomon was heavily influenced by Steven Spielberg; several scenes areeeed by Steven Spielberg; several scenes areiniscent of reminiscent of (okay, ripped off from) Spielberg’s films. The film’s everyone-is-equal message is worthy but a little heavyhanded. Dungeons and Dragons is a fun, if somewhat mindless, sword-and-sorcery romp.

© Benjamin Radford