132. Dragon Rider; movie review

 

DRAGON RIDER

Cert TBA

91 mins

BBFC advice: TBA

What makes Mrs W laugh every time? Silly voices! Or Mr Bean-style humour.

Consequently, there were a fair few giggles during Tomer Eshed's Dragon Rider.

This is a movie which will keep the kids happy and has enough in it for adults to be tickled for most of its hour and a half.

Its focus is Firedrake (voiced by Thomas Brodie-Sangster), a young dragon whose thunder (the name for a collective of dragons) are faced with coming out of hiding because of humans burning down their habitat.

Firedrake is motivated to find an alternative to war by the stories of Slatebeard (Peter Marinker) who claims that their fabled home is the Rim of Heaven on the other side of the world.

The impetuous youngster flies off with his best friend, Sorrel (Felicity Jones), a forest brownie and along the way they pick up Ben (Freddie Highmore), an orphan who cons them into thinking he is a Dragon Rider.

Oh, and they have to avoid Nettlebrand (Patrick Stewart) - a giant dragon-eater who is keen to fill his belly.

There is plenty of pathos in Eshed's film but it never gets in the way of the high-speed fun and the old-fashioned battle of good again villainy.

And there are plenty of fun moments - I especially enjoyed Meera Syal reprising the voice of the grandmother from The Kumars at No.42.

Overall, it has enough entertainment to keep minds occupied on a rainy day.

Although, I am still wondering why the obsession with dragons which animation studios seem to have recently.

Reasons to watch: Fast-flowing and fun

Reasons to avoid: A bit too obvious

Laughs: Four

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? Dragon Rider is adapted from the 1997 German children's novel Drachenreiter by Cornelia Funke.

The final word. Thomas Brodie-Sangster: "He (Firedrake) is charismatic, he’s full of energy, he’s enigmatic and quite intoxicating really, and it kind of rubs off on you. I think because of his childlike passion towards wanting the world to be a bit better is a lovely thing and somewhat an appropriate message at the moment.." Premier Scene

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