Customer Reviews

Dragon Hunters [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have to admit that my first reaction to seeing this on the video rack was suspicion that this might be another Aero-Troopers, the Plan-9-from-Outer-Space-awful, worst computer animated film ever made I wasted 90 minutes of life I can never get back upon the last time I took a chance on a computer animated film I'd never heard of before. However, despite some eerie similarities in world construction, this turns out to be one of the BEST computer animated films ever made, one I can recommend without hesitation.

To begin with the world of Dragon Hunters is simply gorgeous, a world of islands floating around in the sky, upon which gravity works oddly when it works at all. But this beautiful world is threatened to varying degrees by the dragons of the title, which range in degree of threat from annoying crop stealers to terrifying world devourers, thus the necessity for hunters of same.

Twenty years ago Lord Arnold lost his sight and his health trying to stop the World Gobbler's last rampage, now he impatiently and all but hopelessly awaits the return of the knights he dispatched to try and stop his pending rampage. So his fairy tale loving niece, Zoe, decides to lend a hand by sneaking out and finding some noble knights like those in her fairy tales, but what she finds are our two hapless heroes. Can a little girl's belief in them inspire a couple of two-bit, fly-by-night, down-on-their-luck dragon hunters into succeeding where a troop of noble knights failed, into stopping the most horrifying dragon this world has ever seen?

Well, the answer is obvious, but the fun is in how we get there.

Gwizdo and Lian-Chu make for a hilariously mismatched pair, whose widely differing reactions to Zoe, the dragon hunter groupie who is not quite as naive as she appears, threaten to tear their partnership apart,...

assuming of course that anyone survives this fiasco.

Note: Some retailers package this DVD with a free Dragon Hunters comic book, which is little to get excited about IMHO; Sergio Aragones did this sort of thing much better in Groo the Wanderer. The first 17 episodes of the first season of the animated TV show, which this movie is a prequel to, have been released on DVD: Dragon Hunters: Vol. 1 It's A Dragon's Life (ep. 1-4), Dragon Hunters: Vol. 2 Dead Dragon Walking (ep. 5-8), Dragon Hunters: Vol. 3 There's No Place Like Home! (ep. 9-11), Dragon Hunters: Vol. 4 Don't Look Now (ep. 12-14), and Dragon Hunters: Vol. 5 Unwelcome Guests (ep. 15-17).

I watched what I could of the original cartoon. And when I saw that a movie was made, I though it was going to be quaint and cute. But I didn't think it was going to be great. I thought just like many cartoon CG movies, it was going to be amusing but that's about it. Once the menu loaded up, I got the first impression that something different was going on. The sound quality was thick and the surround sound even on my cheep speakers was gripping. Then the actual movie started, and all preconceptions fell to the ground. The movie is DE-TAILED. And beautiful! The vision of the backgrounds of the show were amplified by the merciless CGI.

Another thing in this movie is a great beating heart. Care is all over this picture. Most CG animated DVD movies get the job done, but there is not much to get attached to. This move is detailed even between the lines.

Forest Witaker did a great Lian Chu. His deep voice fit. This is an AWESOME movie. Not just for kids, anyone, open to it, would enjoy this movie to pieces. Absolute recommend.

An underdog of a film, but the question of how the Blu transfer would turn out was being asked since the announcement this year. In brief summary, it turned out great.

We have a story of fantasy, peril, comic relief, bravery and action all set against a beautiful world where gravity has a much different outcome. The picture clarity looked amazing. There are brief blips in the motion here and there, but overall the quality turned out vivid, crisp and articulate. Reference the wide pan shots where the characters are extremely small; on the DVD they were little blips, on the Blu they were distinguishable with arms and legs.

The sound was outstanding. All five channels are used extensively, and it appears no imagination was spared on how to make these floating villages and action sequences surround you.

The special features are catered to the kids who follow stories like this with trading cards and such. The Universe of DH, Character Biography and Dragon Gallery options can be surfed through like reading a book on all the creatures and locations we just watched. The Interview With Forest Whitaker lasts less than five minutes and shows the production process of recording in studio.

I have not watched the original series, but I hope they continue with more films of this quality and story. For the parents wondering on content, the PG rating on language is for fart stuff, the fantasy action and scary images will most likely be scary for 6 and under. But between the music, scope of pictures and action I was noticing kids younger than that loving it as it played today.

My 6 year old son borrowed this movie from my brother and I was a bit skeptical, assuming it would be a second rate children's animated movie. We started watching it and I was immediately impressed with just the images. Beautiful, creative and fantasy like. The story was great, the characters lovable and had a very nice message that wasn't delivered with too much sugar.
I am certainly purchasing this dvd for our family collection!

as the other reviewers have stated, this movie is an absolute visual treat! i had never heard of it, but since it was very nicely priced, i picked it up on a whim and consider this the most well-spent 10.99 ever. It took several viewings to really get an appreciation for the story line as i was so distracted by the stunning imagery. the plot is well-written and enjoyable, but the artistry is amazing. i am stunned, and somewhat envious of the creativity and am hard-pressed to believe that it was computer-generated. there is nothing about this movie that i do not love. even the music is well-done. i cannot recommend this title enough.

My family really enjoyed this movie. It's visual presentation is above most animated pictures in terms of style. My only regret is that the movie is listed as having a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack on the DVD which is not true. My receiver would only decode the movie in 2.0 for some reason. The sound I do get is excellent but far from the 5.1 I was expecting.

I stumbled across this movie while searching for some other DVD's for my 7 yr old son's birthday. I had never even heard of the film, but because of the rave reviews here on Amazon, I decided to give it a try. "How to Train Your Dragon" is a favorite at our house, so I guess I was expecting something more like that movie. I was really disappointed. The plot didn't really hold the interest of either the kids or the adults in our house. Very few scenes actually featured dragons. The story itself seemed a little dark to me, and I just didn't care for the way the violent scenes were depicted. I also didn't care for a lot of the language; not that there was any profanity, but I prefer that my kids don't learn to call each other "stupid," or walk around talking about "butts." At least I didn't pay a lot for it.

Both my kids age 8 and 13 and I LOVED this movie. Very creative and beautiful. A great story and characters. This is a gem! This is the kind of movie that didn't get alot of attention when it was released but should have.

I'm torn between a four and a five star. I picked four stars because the storyline is very simple. I agree it's geared more for kids rather than adults. There are only a few characters throughout the movie which makes it easy for kids to follow. However, it is too violent and dark for young children. We started out watching it with our 2 and nearly 4 year old and they had a hard time once it got really dark and more dragon hunting. But, it's a PG rating and should have known better. With that being said, my husband and I really did enjoy it. The world that was created was incredible and my husband and I were fascinated with the animation. The fact that it is so different than the standard Disney Pixar stuff we usually watch really got our attention. We thought the voice talents were great and we really enjoyed the score of the movie. Kind of made us think of Chinese techno at times. I hadn't heard of this movie until it popped up on Amazon as a pre-order and had several wonderful reviews. I'm glad I took a chance with a movie unknown to us. We'll be watching this occasionally and I'm sure our two kids will get into it when they aren't so scared.

I have to be honest, I don't have the DVD but have an electronic copy of this film and have watched it several times. I've never read the comic or watched the tv show, or even heard of it before I saw the movie and was completely blown away by everything from the script to the amazing characters but most of all by the imagery.

If ever a film called for a blu-ray release, it would be this one.

I've been waiting for about a year for one to be released but just saw the regular DVD with comic book bundle at Sams' Club yesterday. I almost got it but I'm still hoping there'll be a blu-ray version.