User reviews

RELEASED IN 2000 and directed by Courtney Solomon, "Dungeons & Dragons" chronicles events in the kingdom of Izmer where the idealistic Empress (Thora Birch) advocates equality between the mages and commoners while the power-mad Profion (Jeremy Irons) plots to overthrow the Empress with the help of his formidable henchman Damodar (Bruce Payne). A ragtag team is assembled to save Izmer by apprehending the Eye of the Dragon: Two thieves (Justin Whalin and Marlon Wayans), a beautiful mage apprentice (Zoe McLellan), a dwarf (Lee Arenberg) and an elf girl (Kristen Wilson).

The first shot with Irons hamming it up as the diabolical Profion made me bust out laughing. In other words, the movie telegraphs from the get-go that it's not to be taken seriously. If you can roll with the campiness, this is an amusing throwaway fantasy flick. Imagine the gaudiness of "Star Wars" (1977) if the story were transplanted to a Medieval-like kingdom where dragons & magic are reality and you'd have a good idea of what "Dungeons & Dragons" has to offer.

This was a theatrical release that cost a whopping $45 million, but totally bombed at the box office. The 2005 sequel "Wrath of the Dragon God" (with only Bruce Payne returning as Damodar) cost just $15 million and is slightly better because the creators took the material seriously, but it's decidedly TV fantasy fare.

The film scores pretty well on the female front with the winsome McLellan and cutie Birch. Whalin and Wayans are entertaining as the two main protagonists, if you can get past their goofiness. People love to hate Snails (Wayans), but I found him to be a likable, amusing character.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 47 minutes and was shot in the Czech Republic (Kutná Hora and Prague). WRITERS: Topper Lilien and Carroll Cartwright.

GRADE: C

I've been playing or DMing (A)D&D for most of my 38 years. Even before I hit my teens I was writing better scripts for adventures then exist in this movie; there are so many plot holes the truck hasn't been built that's too big to drive through them, and despite having a cast of actors that aren't all that bad, the acting is in most cases similarly dreadful.

So, if you've ever played (A)D&D do yourself a favour and DON'T watch this movie, to avoid all the hair being ripped out of your skull whilst watching. If you've never played (A)D&D then STILL DON'T watch this movie - rent out Willow or Princess Bride or Ladyhawke or Lord of the Rings to get an idea about how good a campaign/adventure could be; watching this will just put you off ever playing the game.

In what can only be described as the worst movie made in the past decade, Dungeons & Dragons will leave you begging for mercy.

Hands down, the biggest contributor to the demise of this movie was the script. It was litterally the most insulting, inane dialogue I have ever been treated to in a movie.

Props arrive next in an extremely close second. The 35 Million dollars used to make this film must have been used on late night taco runs, because the quality of the props is abyssmal. The "prized artifact" of the movie looks like it fell out of a box of cracker jack, while some of the armor and backgrounds are straight out of the Bargain Bin at your local toy store. Better attempts at fantasy film making have been shot on camcorders across the globe in people's back yards.

The acting was terrible all around. The few, and I mean FEW, attempts at serious dialogue were crushed by the worst script ever. The only remotely cool character in the entire proceeding was Demadar, who was still pretty goofy. I guess if I was 8 or so, I might have thought he was creepy. The notably great actors in this film should have balked the moment they saw the script/quality of filming, and their presence on the screen only adds to the insult.

Th producers of this movie should be ashamed of themselves. Hundreds of thousands of loyal D&D fans have been waiting for over 25 years for a great, inspiring movie from their hobby. D&D has a prodigious level of material written about it, and any one of it's 100+ books would have made a better movie if read aloud by Pee Wee Herman.

This horror show of a movie will no doubt ensure the demise of a great hobby in the public eye for at least the next 10 years. Any potential fan of the game will be unable to forget this awful movie experience. Consider yourself warned, and never, EVER see this movie.

If there hadn't been a "Battlefield Earth", this movie probably would have gotten my vote for worst movie of 2000. The only way it is (slightly) better than that movie is the (very) occasional good set or effect.

I could write for hours about what's wrong with this movie, but this is what comes to mind immediately

(1) The horrible acting. I honestly can't understand why someone so talented as Jeremy Irons would be going so over the top. It's clear, however, that he isn't enjoying himself in the movie, so maybe he's getting revenge against the movie by acting so terribly

The most annoying performance goes to Marlon Wayans. His shrieking, cowardly character uncomfortably brings up images of stereotypes from the 1930s. At least he doesn't say "Feet, do your stuff!" - though he sure comes close.

(2) The bright, glitterly look of every scene. When you think of sword and sorcery, I think we all think of things rough and with grit. Not here.

(3) The movie constantly rips off from other (better) movies, most notably from the four STAR WARS movies

(4) The characters. Why the hell were the dwarf and elf in this movie? They could easily have been written out without consequence. And the main thief hero is one of the blandest heroes I've ever seen in the movie.

(5) Virtually all the special effects, sets etc. are AWFUL. Sometimes they look even worse than those seen on the Xena and Hercules shows! (Though those two shows at least have the excuse of having lower budgets - and they make up for the cheap effects by having better scripts, characters, and acting!)

(6) And speaking of scripts...thos script is terrible! Mainly it's because the story itself hardly makes any sense!

It is unbelievable how this movie could have been created with such good actors and so much money, but such a bad script and directing.

Dialogues are painfully bad in this movie, as is the story itself.

The acting is also below any standard you would expect from such an expensive movie. Jeremy Irons was especially shocking, his performance was very pathetic and flat, as if this would be a bad movie for three year olds. That was not acting, that was a torment ! I cried every time he appeared on the screen.

Thora Birch was also far, far below her level in 'American Beauty', obviously unable to tell how one should put a little life into her bad dialogue and flat character, and somehow even thinking that that was her own fault.

If at all, the thief Snails (Marlon Wayans from Scary Movie) had quite some good moments in his slapstick scenes, the only good moments in the whole movie. Unfortunately they don't last long. Wayans seems to have a talent to shine even in the worst movies, however.

The performance of the main actor was also bad. His dull and cheap sunnyboy behavior really nerved me, and I saw absolutely no reason for his 'being special', but far more for 'being untalented'.

The effects where better than the story, but really not that exciting either.

Some people say fantasy is about stereotypes, but that doesnt mean you can forget all rules how to make up a good story ! This story was not worth getting on the screen. This story was also not worth getting such good actors and effects. This story was nothing but crap !

And I can't believe that Jeremy Irons and Thora Birch are such bad actors, they have proven they can do far, far better ! I can only guess it must have been the director who forced them to do such bad performances.

Definitely not recommended for anyone except maybe children below ten. Oh wait, they're not allowed ? No loss.

For me, enjoying a movie can be achieved by properly managing expectations; if I expect Shakespeare, and I see Shakespeare I'm happy. Now, don't get me wrong - I liked Army of Darkness, like the rest of you. If I expect to see a dumb, camp, action flick and I see a dumb, camp, action-fest, I'm happy. With the D&D movie, I expected a dumb, camp, action flick, and I received something that was so unexpectedly foul that it caused me to write the world about it. How did this movie even get made? Now, I play D&D ( admit it, y'all do too ) so don't fault me for 'not understanding the genre'. The movie had too many characters, some of which disappear inexplicably during the course of the movie. The plot made no sense; the twists at the end came from nowhere. And don't get me started on Marlon Wayans's character - you mean to tell me that in the fantasy world of D&D, a black man can't get a role other than the Black Buddy Cop stereotype?

Pure crap, plain and simple.

I couldn't agree more with what the majority of reviewers have to say about this film, it was the biggest pile of crap I've ever been cursed to see at the cinema. The acting was especially shocking and horrific, Jeremy Irons's acting was very bad, from this film alone you'd think he was an amateur and had never made a good film in his life but the truth is, aside of this farce he's a great actor, which is why it was really shocking to see him camp it up as the way over the top villain. Anyone who praises this rubbish as a good film needs their head examined, and I personally thought even the plethora of cgi effects were pretty lame! The amount of other fantasy films it rips off is incredible, but The Lord of the Rings and Stars Wars seem particularly prevalent for the movie to plunder it's ideas from, and the resulting effect is merely a travesty of those classics.

Why can't I give this zero out of ten? I can honestly say that this is without a doubt one of the biggest pieces of crap I have ever watched in my entire life.

The cast for a start! I know...let's get Jimmy from the new adventures of superman to play a lead role! WRONG! Oh...you know who is really funny? Marlon Wayans! WRONG! I think the biggest injustice in the film is the ruining of Jeremy Irons career. I literal felt it being flushed down the toilet while I watched it. I tried to keep watching in all honesty, but I kept on vomiting blood from its sheer awfulness.

The dwarf keeps disappearing, the orcs don't attack anyone, there is a big slow guy walking around wearing blue lipstick, Richard O'Brian is forced into a camp off with said blue lipstick wearing man, it was far too long (by too long, I mean it exists in our time and space), in one scene Jeremy Irons looks as though he is mounting the guy with the blue lipstick...why oh why oh why does this film exist? For those of you who have seen this...I pity you. For those of you who haven't or have considered doing so, save yourself some time and just ingest bleach. It's equally as fun.

As a D&D role player and obsessed fan I couldn't wait for this movie to come out. Expecting Lord of the Rings, I was hoping to find a fantasy prelude in D&D: the Movie. I had to see it twice, first time I couldn't believe how bad it was. I thought I had missed something but it turns out the makers of this movie missed a lot. They missed the D&D part, this movie only makes a mockery of the game and any plot imaginable. There is no acting, no plot. The very spirit of D&D is completely trashed. One of the worst parts is this Wayans guy who plays a Brooklyn rogue wannabe which is pointlessly killed in the middle of the movie. The characters are hardly believable (how stupid must the two rogues be) not to mention the entire action and party ("Only you were meant to pass"). A dwarf that barely has a role, a cute drow which also has no point in being there ... The movie barely adds up to 1 out of 10 and that's only because the dragon fight in the end is almost nice to watch.

I'm not a film critic but I am a film fanatic, and if I'm completely honest the reviews are a little harsh to say the least. this film is not perfection and nor is it remotely close to what so people have described as " a waste of time " I found this film a good watch and would happily watch it again. if you like fantasy then you will like this film. full stop fully intended. I rated this film 7 stars an feel this is a fair representation of the film rather than the usual one. this film has a fully thought out and cleaver plot and the biggest ending cliff hanger ever left upon a fantasy film that leaves you wondering about what happens to the characters! this film was a fun hour or so and I have convinced my closet friends to watch it themselves. give it a go, what's the worst that could happen!

I have just watched this film for the first time, & can confirm it is worse than what I had heard it was. Now as a rule I don't always take note of reviews of films, even if they are bad, as certain films can be bad & still quite enjoyable, even if the acting & plot are okay. Unfortunately, this is not only all the above, but also pretty tiresome & downright tedious as well.

The main unknown (to me anyway) leading threesome are all dreadful & from this showing awful actors as well. Justin Whalin is just laughable & one of the worst heroes in a long while. Probably since Val Kilmers appalling performance in The Saint. Zoe Mclellan is pretty enough (which probably explains away her deficiencies amongst other reviewers) but is still dreadful. The worse though is Marlon Wayons, whose performance is not only awful & completely unfunny, but also of a racist nature. The rest of the actors are also bad, but at least the likes of Jeremy Irons, Bruce Payne & Thora Birch, know they are only slumming it, & are at least decent actors if the material is there.

The plot is also weird & ridiculous, with no explanation of what is going on, & the upsetting thing was that the poor dragons couldn't have snacked on the lot of them, which would of at least made it a happy ending, for us & the dragons anyway. If you want to see a well acted & well made fantasy film watch Lord of the Rings instead.

I can only hope and pray that all the actors and actresses who appear in this film realise their mistake and get alternative means of income, they should be ashamed of the performances they put in. Marlon Wayans does an irritatingly poor and ill-advised Chris Rock impression all the way through the film that just makes you squirm and cringe. The other performances ranged from the badly cast, Thora Birch whose other work has been superb, as the princess to the ridiculous, represented by the performance of Justin Whalin. The total lack of any character development (which for me was needed as the characters are different from the cartoon I used to love) and the shallow acting all meant that I couldn't have cared less what happened to the characters, let alone cling on to the paper thin plot. With all this though, I sat through the entire movie,waiting for the end and feeling sure that Rocky and Bullwinkle Must be better than this pile of toss, and that dude, is saying a LOT...

This movie is what defines "nothing special". You watch it, you like some parts, some you don't, and you will never think about it once you leave the theater.

As a player of the Baldurs Gate computer game, the D&D cosmos is nothing new to me. But in this movie, most of the inherent magic of this fascinating world was simply let out for poor effects and cheap character stereotypes. The female mage has nothing to do but to look nice and to scream in moments of danger. She hardly ever uses her magic abilities, and therefore is a splendid example of the poor role play adaption this movie is. She is no mage - she is simply a damsel in distress.

The humor of the movie also is very simple and nothing to really laugh about. That is, if you leave out Jeremy Irons' incredibly bad acting - his bad mage routine should be added to acting books under the chapter "how to overplay a character". But, to be true, those were the most funny moments of the movie, so at least Irons was good for something here...

All in all a rather unspectacular start to the new wave of fantasy films which will accompany the giant blockbuster "Lord of the Rings" production. I pray to God that the Tolkien adaption will be far better than this mostly trashy b-movie.

Some have said that those who played the game or enjoy genre fantasy films might find something to like in 'Dungeons & Dragons'. They couldn't be more wrong. This is a useless, clueless film from start to finish that has no idea of what it wants to be. It combines elements of a bad script, terrible acting, and average special effects to create a gloriously bad achievement. It's a would-be franchise that shot itself in the foot right out of the box. And if this is any indication of what future installments would have looked like, to that I say, "Thank God."

Jeremy Irons plays the evil wizard Profion straight out of Overacting 101 - he's all sneers and shouts and waving hands. His lackey Damodar (Bruce Payne) is blue-lipped and black-armored (therefore evil) and exudes all the menace of an overripe eggplant. Thora Birch - wonderful in 'American Beauty' - looks like she was blackmailed into this role, as she's completely catatonic throughout the film, giving her Empress Savina (the wholesome representation of all things Good) zero energy and appeal.

How about those heroes? Marlon Wayans (Snails, the thief) is completely annoying, offering nothing to the proceedings; Justin Whalin (Ridley, another thief) - the nominal hero - is a goofball who'd be outclassed by the cast of Baywatch; and Zoe McLellan (Marina, the mage) is the only one who seems to even try to keep to a thematic element of fantasy, though she's in way over her head.

'Dungeons & Dragons' is a complete mess and a complete waste of your time. If you want a fantasy film that draws upon the roleplaying game, try the one that D&D was based on in the first place: 'Lord of the Rings'. Keep this thing as far away from your television as possible.

"Dungeons & Dragons" has the inglorious Bottom 100 List on IMDB. However, a few even rottener movies have come out in recent years and it might not stay on the list much longer. I saw it because I'm trying to see the worst films ever made and want to add it to my ever-growing list of terrible cinema I've reviewed. But is it really Bottom 100 terrible?

Profion (Jeremy Irons...who is doing some amazing over-acting here) is a baddie and likes doing bad things. I'm not sure why. Anyway, he's out to topple the Empress and make himself the Emperor...and with all his powers and snarling badness, he seems likely to do it. To stop him is an inexperienced Mage and two idiots. I say 'idiots' because they are there only for comic relief and seem as if they stepped onto the set from another film. In other words, they and their 'antics' just don't seem to make much sense and they are anachronistic to say the least. They are so annoying that I found myself rooting for Profion...just so he'd kill them!

The film's biggest deficit is the writing...which is very poor. A few other problmes are unlikable characters and some very dated CGI. A few of the CGI effects are good for 2000, but many times you can't help but think they should have used practical effects because the CGI just looks so fake. Another HUGE problem is that the script doesn't seem to know if it's supposed to be a serious drama or a comedy. Making it just one or the other would have been a big improvement. As it is, it just comes off as annoying.

Overall, the film is bad...but I must say that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of worse films. I really don't think it should be on the Bottom 100. Bottom 500 (if they had one), definitely.

Is this a quality film? No, it is not. Is this a well made film? No it is not. But is it entertaining? Thats really a matter of opinion, and mine is yes, it is. One very important thing that should be remembered when watching any sci-fi or fantasy movie is that it probably doesn't have a good budget. Or casting, or effects or maybe anything good at all. You should go into these movies, and i do mean ANY sci-fi/fantasy, knowing full well that there is a very good chance it is lacking in production value.

With all that said and done, this movie was an awesome amount of fun to watch. As a regular dice roller, i found the plot to be consistent with an average game, or at least with enough of the games elements to do it justice. Yes, the acting could have been better. And the writing. But it was FUN. I had a fantastic time the entire time i was watching it. I laughed, i cried (not really) and i joked about it afterward.

My point is, this movie is bad for the sake of being bad. I highly recommend it for any one in need of a fun hour and a half. It's probably best watched with friends, for mst3k reasons. Just don't let any pretensions ruin a fine movie for you.

While not a masterpiece of any kind (the film barely exceeds mere competence) I didn't find D&D to be as bad as the negative reviews claimed. I put off watching it for so long for this reason, but it was enjoyable enough.

Comparisons to the LOTR trilogy are inevitable, so I'm not going to avoid it. I didn't really like the LOTR trilogy. It just seemed to be a bunch of movies that everyone was forced to like and if you didn't then there must be something wrong with you. Yes, they are much, much better made than the rather quaint D&D, but if you want a smaller, unassuming fantasy ride then don't completely rule this movie out.

The visual effects and production design of D&D are very similar to Paul Anderson's Mortal Kombat. Yes, it looks fake, but with just a little bit of suspension of disbelief you'll not even notice. I have a feeling that Courtney Solomon tried really hard to make it a good film but his talent doesn't extend as far as his enthusiasm.

In terms of character and story it is all pretty bland and generic. There's nothing in this movie that you haven't seen somewhere else. The actors do their best with the tepid dialogue and almost manage to not look embarrassed. The best thing about the film is it's surprisingly ferocious (maybe a bit too OTT) sound design. And the Dragon fight at the end was impressive for a medium budget film.

I was actually surprised to find Joel Silver's name on the closing credits. I will assume that without him the film would have been a REAL stinker. And what's with that ending?

Either way, I am still interested in the sequel.