Dragonslayer is the best dragon movie ever made. Easily. No competition.
I would put Reign of Fire at a distant second. I would put 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Sleeping Beauty up there, but come on, their dragons were only shown for like 5 minutes.
Not a fan of Willow or Dragon Heart.
Anything else out there? Pete's Dragon? Shrek? heh heh . .
Here's hoping the new Hobbit film will become my NEW favorite dragon movie.
Dragonslayer was a very good movie. I don't know if it was the best because I haven't seen all the other dragon movies. What I can say for sure is that for the early 80's, the dragon looked great.
shareEven if "Dragonslayer" it's a good movie ,and the dragon in it is AWESOME...Sorry,but for me the BEST Dragon Movie ever is "Dragonheart".
Much greater characters,better storyline and much more meaningful...And the soundtrack...Geez,don't get me started on the AMAZING soundtrack of "Dragonheart" ;)
No, this still beats Dragonheart, quite easily as well. This movie is very underrated and underappreciated. It was back when these types of movies were only cool for geeks to watch. I see your gushing about Dragonheart, but it's far to Disneyesque to be taken seriously.
shareDragonheart is too Disneyesqye but Disney's Dragonslayer isn't?
shareIt's ironic, isn't it?
It's pretty incredible that Disney would produce a movie like Dragonslayer at all.
It has:
male and female nudity (brief), a lot of violence, people speaking whole sentences in Latin, a pretty dark and grim tone overall and quite a few adult themes (like the whole "only virgins are applicable" thing).
Those were the days, I guess. A few years later, it most certainly would've been a Touchstone-picture. I even remember that they had a full-page ad for the film in the weekly Mickey-Mouse comic over here in Germany. And that thing was clearly targeted at young kids.
S.
Don't forget the baby dragons chewing off the princess' feet. You wouldn't see that in Sleeping Beauty.
shareDragonslayer was made by Paramount pictures. No doubt Disney bought the rights to it years later, but it is a Paramount picture.
shareI think Dragonslayer is the better movie, but you're right about Dragon Heart's score. One of THE best scores of it's decade. I remember for a number of years after this movie came out everytime I saw a trailer for a movie and they needed an "epic" piece of orchestral music they'd use the theme from Dragon Heart.
shareI thought "Dragonheart"'s score was the sort of derivative, light orchestra fluff the you could slap into *any* movie, be it a western or a soap-opera or a hobbit film.
North's score is creepy and sepulchral -- and fits this film well because its dragon is an unforgiving monster.
Dragonheart was ok, but it was a blatant unfunny rip off of Robert Asprin's "Duncan & Mallory" (about a man and a dragon that bilk villages out of their gold by pretending to be a fearsome dragon and the brave knight that slays him (over and over lol). Although, the main plot (the idea of a fake terror being vanquished by the fake terror's secret partner) isn't new, the basic idea of the Dragon and Knight was done via graphic novel years and years before this.
Therefore, Dragonheart loses.
Dragonslayer for the win anyday - Vermithrax Pejorative is the first REAL dragon in my life. Will always be the coolest.
Reign of Fire was the first move SINCE Dragonheart to make me go "Wow!" since then.
Anything Ray Harryhausen is awesome, but sop motion always kinda looks like stop motion, and the go motion used in Dragonslayer made Vermithrax easily the most amazing and beautiful creature I ever saw.
I work in a starbucks, and I have a 6-year old hot cocoa drinker that calls me "The Dragon Lady" because I draw dragons on his cup every day. It's so funny, I have to keep a stock of pre-done cups for when I'm not there, or else he's very disappointed, and to quote him "Kitties aren't good enough" (to my artistically challenged Manager's dismay lol).
You know you want it - Shadesiren.com.
You know you need it - OberonRPG.com
A HUGE problem with Dragonheart is that the dragon is voiced by Sean Connery. Sorry, but it's distracting and ruins the effect. It is important to be able to buy into a character like this, or else it all falls apart. Connery's voice just kills it for me. Imagine if General Grievous in the last Star Wars flick would have been voiced by someone like...Jack Nicholson!! Suddenly, instead of accepting that this robot was a character in it's own right, it would be reduced to a special effect voiced by Jack Nicholson. This exact same thing happened in Dragonheart. Connery is too recognizable and it is very distracting. They should have used the voice of an unknown.
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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
Geez,don't get me started on the AMAZING soundtrack of "Dragonheart" ;) >>> Or the HORRENDOUS soundtrack for Dragonslayer!
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
The soundtrack for Dragonslayer was actually the original score for 2001: A Space Odyssey, but Kubrick wasn't happy with it. The soundtrack was re-cut/edited years later for the movie, Dragonslayer. The soundtrack contains some truly great pieces of music, it just happens to sound out of place at times, and considering that it wasn't even scored for Dragonslayer originally, I'd say the match-up turned out quite well.
The soundtrack of Dragonslayer is one of the very BEST things about the movie. It's one of the things that sets it apart from the other dragon movies out there. Dark, startling, tinny, suspenseful, what's not to like? It's not a soundtrack that I'd put on and listen to for pure enjoyment. But, in context of the movie, it's a great piece of movie music!
But hey, that's just my opinion...
Short in stature, tall in power, wide of vision, and narrow of purpose.
what's not to like? >>> Most everything about. The very fact that it wasn't even made for the film explains a lot. What happens to work was by accident. No, the soundtrack may have a few high points, but it is HARDLY the best thing about the film. With a good score, the film would have been much more enjoyable. As it stands, it teeters on the brink...a great dragon flick that desperately needed some enhancement from a good score. At least it wasn't a Ladyhawke score, but that isn't exactly saying much.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
The sequence with the dragon in "The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm" is really good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056700/
Solar_Tide, you are somewhat incorrect-
The score for Dragonslayer was written specifically for the movie. It may contain some material or motifs from North's rejected score for '2001- A Space Odyssey', but this score was written for Dragonslayer.
Right after North was dismissed from '2001' he scored 'The Shoes of The Fisherman', which directly re-uses the themes North wrote for '2001', but that score was also written specifically for that movie, too.
In neither case was there any cutting and pasting of music previously recorded.
Dragonslayer's score isn't supposed to be "tinny"; it's supposed to be sepulchral.
If it sounds tinny to you, you're probably watching a sped-up 25fps version (either on PAL DVD or "tinny" European TV broadcast).
Web-search "dragonslayer honeyko" for the best print anywhere.
Dragonheart was CGI schlock; and Sean Connery as ridiculous as William Shatner in a clown suit.
sharei believe dragonslayer to be one of the best movies about dragons but have you ever seen the animated flight of dragons? great movie also.
stacy
Dragonslayer gets my vote too.
share There are very few good live action movies with dragons in them. Reign of Fire was not a good movie, but nobody thinks twice to include it in the list of good dragon movies.
It really is just Dragonslayer and Dragonheart. I'll give Reign credit for making awesome looking dragons though.
I hadn't really thought of this movie till I just stumbled on the IMDB page here. I am going to HAVE to go find a copy of this to watch. Way back in the day this was one of the few movies on cable, and I loved it as a kid.
Aside from good or bad opinions of it, would that Eragon flick count as a dragon movie?
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If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
I had forgotten about Eragon. Yeah, it has to count. The movie wasn't that great, but I liked the dragon as much or more than the one Sean Connery played in Dragonheart. Rachel Weisz did a great job as the voice of Saphira.
shareVermithrax is the best movie dragon Ive ever seen. But the movie was very boring and none of the characters were likable. No wonder the movie was a huge flop.
shareThe characters were not likable because they were all brooding and fatalistic. I mean come on, in the Dark Ages, where every day is a struggle just to eat to stay alive, you also have a fearsome DRAGON constantly lurking over your shoulders? I'd say these characters were very believable, the setting appropriately dark (burnt crops, blighted land near the dragons lair, overcast skies, etc.)
Yes, I would have to say this film is far and away the best Dragon film ever made.
And to make another point, the magic in this film is far superior to most films with "magic" in them. Ralph Richardson (who plays Ulrich) is perhaps the greatest personification of a wizard ever put on film, with the sole exception of Gandalf played by Ian McKellen.
Dragonslayer was "a huge flop" for one reason alone: this was its competition during the summer of 1981:
* Raiders of the Lost Ark
* Stripes
* Excalibur
* Superman II
* Time Bandits
* Cannonball Run
* For Your Eyes Only
* Clash of the Titans
* The Fox and the Hound
* History of the World, Part I
Holy crap! ...you'd have to be a lunatic to release Gone With the Wind into that murderer's row (half of which are considered classics a third of a century later).
-- If "Dragonslayer" had been released as a Halloween/horror film, it would have done much better.
1) Dragonheart.
2) Willow
3) 7th Voyage of Sinbad
4) Dragonslayer
Death will come on swift wings...to whomsoever opens this chest!
-Dr. Allen Chamberlain
1-Dragonheart
2-Dragonslayer
3-Reign of Fire
4-How to Train Your Dragon (hasnt come out yet, but its safe to say it deserves it spot here)
5-Eragon
6-Pete's Dragon
7-The Flight of Dragons
8-Outlander
9-Dragon Storm
bottom of the barrel / 1 - 3 dollar rentals:
Dragon Wars (D-War)
Dragon Fighter
Q: The Winged Serpent
Dragonheart: A New Beginning
Dragon Hunter
Merlin and the War of the Dragons
Dungeons and Dragons
Dragonslayer and Reign of Fire feature the best dragons of all time. Dragons do NOT have four legs and wings. They have two rear legs and the wings are formed from the front limbs like all legged reptiles. If dragons existed that is the physiology they would follow.
I like Sean Connery as an actor, I mean who else could pull off being a Russian Sub Captain with a Scottish accent and still maintain credibility, but as a dragon, nope. As a previous poster said, his voice was too distracting.
Also, why would a dragon be able to speak?
Vermithax Pejorative rules with the Reign of Fire dragon running a close second.
first off all scientist believe that the myth of the dragon started because people saw crocadiles and aligators becaues dragons are assosiated with the weather and crocs and aligators can prodict the weather
shareScience says dragon myth = volcanos + crocodiles. Yes, this is the best dragon movie ever made.
share/Seriously agree!
Not only is it the best dragon movie ever, it's also my favorite movie of all time. What a stellar cast! The Bumbling apprentice, Peter MacNicol? Awesome! Sir Ralph Richardson in his final role? Doubly awesome! The lovely Caitlin Clarke as Valerian? Perfect! Peter Eyre as the King? Perfect! John Hallam plays one of the BEST villains of all time, Tyrian! His voice has such beautiful resonance, a perfect villain. And let's not forget the star of the movie, Vermithrax! The nastiest, creepiest, meanest and most realistic looking dragon ever put on film!
I still get chills when watching the close-up shot of Vermithrax's face after she finds her little dragonlings slain, or just about any shot where Galen is hiding behind his shield as Vermithrax's flame rages around him. What great stuff!
Dragonheart is a fun movie, I can understand how people that grew up with it list it as their favorite dragon movie. But whereas Dragonheart is a family-fun, popcorn affair complete with morals and general do-goodiness, Dragonslayer is as dark and gritty as the ancient dragon that rules over the land.
Classic stuff!
Cute, cuddly, smooth *scaled* dragons with Scottish accents? Fun, but no thanks.
Ancient, powerful, greedy, spiteful, intelligent but non-speaking, horrific looking fantastical beast that devours virgins et. all? Yes please!
But hey, that's just my opinion.
Short in stature, tall in power, wide of vision, and narrow of purpose.
I agree totally, and also would give "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" and "Sleeping Beauty" VERY honourable mentions. As for "Dragonslayer," the miniature model and the "go-motion" technique whereby it was animated, as well as the full-scale claws, legs, and wings (which are seen in a few shots), give this dragon a 3-dimensional quality that ALL subsequent dragons lack. Not only good for 1981, but amazing today.
shareNot a fan of Willow or Dragon Heart.
>>> I am a huge fan of Willow, but I would hardly call it a dragon movie. It has one dragon sequence in it, and it is not the central theme of the film.
Anything else out there? Pete's Dragon? >>> I grew up on Pete's Dragon, LOL! I saw it in theaters.
Here's hoping the new Hobbit film will become my NEW favorite dragon movie. >>> If they EVER get around to making it. Del Toro is out, you know.
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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?
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Just watched the film again recently and it still holds up SFX wise and story wise. Still hard to believe that Disney had anything to do with producing this movie. You won't find this DVD in any Disney store or attraction at any of the theme parks although that would be pretty bad ass!
sharewell the Hobbit is to be realeased in December 2012. Looking on the amount of money theyre putting into the project my expectations are very high, i hope not too high though.
about the movie: i must say that i was quite positively surprised after i watched the Dragonslayer. At first I thought "well 1981, animations must be one big crap" and well after watching i must say that these folks have done an awesome job! apart from that the movie itself was good, costumes were finely made, making it look more "realistic".