I Was a 7th Grade Dragon Slayer

A group of kids is running through the secret basement of their middle school, trying to escape a fire-breathing dragon.

Wait, let's back up ...

Arthur, Tim and Natalie are the Knights of the Square Table. They take their fantasy card game way too seriously, but it turns out someone needs to.

Arthur's parents have split up and it's all poor Laura can do to raise him on her own. Arthur's father is now with Officer Annie, who wants very much to be Arthur's mom.

Vice-Principal Metz lets her son Larry get away with bullying Arthur. If Larry did something wrong, it must have been Arthur's fault. So Arthur gets suspended and Laura gets lectured on her inadequate mothering skills.

It's not Laura's fault that Arthur keeps sneaking out and engaging in risky behavior with his friends, including running through the sewers.

But something is definitely going on. Carpet cleaners in Arthur's neighborhood need Hazmat suits. And Arthur and his friends find a blue troll named Bart who talks like Jar-Jar Binks.

That isn't all. Besides Bart, there is someone else who is trying to bring back the evil dragon leader Darksmoke. To get help, the kids go to a convention where Shane, the creator of the fantasy card series, is signing autographs.

At first Shane dismisses the kids as wackos, but he is finally convinced the cards he created are based on reality. There is a reason for this, as he figures out later.

Can Shane and the kids save the world? And will Shane end up with Laura? I think they like each other.

This movie should not be taken too seriously. It's just a live-action cartoon with plenty of laughs, although Wendie Malick does a very good job as the over-the-top tyrant of a vice-principal. Lea Thompson seems frustrated but has her moments.

Bart is adorable in a creepy way.

These kids are brilliant, claiming to be designing a project for the school science fair. But it's much more than that. While the script may not show much intelligence, the kids sure seem to.

The dragon is genuinely scary. This is a family movie but not really for younger kids. And it does have the obligatory potty humor. Violence is mostly cartoonish, but one scene is pretty upsetting.

I'm Wendie Malick's age so you know the so-called music wasn't intended for my generation.

If you're a kid, you'll probably like it.

I am sorry, but this movie is the worst fantasy film ever made. The acting was horrible and the story was so poor that no wonder the dialog was pure torture. I was expecting to be at the least, entertained, and at the most, to be involved. I was neither. The characters were not believable, nor was the plot. Teens will find this laughable. Even young children will be bored. It is unfortunate that it seems that most of the money was spent on very poor special effects. A true disappointment.

The one highlight of the film is the music. At least it was entertaining.

I do not recommend this film to anyone. A total waste of time.

Well, this wasn't at all what I had expected it to be. But the fault is entirely mine alone, because I could just have read up on the synopsis, checked the production year and done some research, instead of just being blinded by Lea Thompson's name and the title of the movie.

This is a children's movie, possibly even a family movie, and as such, it should be said that the movie is to be taken lightly for what it is; a light-hearted adventure comedy for the young audience.

The story is about Arthur and his friends who venture into the local sewers, acting as knights of the square table, searching for monsters. And just one day they happen to stumble upon Bart, a blue-skinned troll living in the sewers. With the impeding disaster of an old, evil dragon being awakened, the children and the troll have to seek the help of Shane, a game creator.

Storywise, then it is quite suitable for a young audience, especially those who enjoy the fantasy genre. For the more adult audience, well, then "Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer" doesn't really offer much.

It was nice to sea Lea Thompson and Eric Lutes back together on a screen again. Those who have seen "Caroline in the City" will know what I am talking about here.

"Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer" didn't really captivate me or interest me in a grand way. But of course, I wasn't watching the movie with my family, so that might have been a part of it. And I was utterly annoyed with the way that the troll sounded exactly like Smeagol from "The Lord of the Rings", that was just too much.

I am rating "Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer" a 4 out of 10 stars, because for the younger audience the movie does offer some entertainment.

As a adult who grew up in the 80's I must say I found this movie to be a lot of fun. It is extremely hokey and retro to say the least. I was expecting this to be about "teenage" dragon slayers, maybe have an element of D&D or something a little bit more edgy than what I got. This movie is a throwback to the 80's but more in the direction of the goonies than the lost boy.s

This movie captures that innocent fun that we all used to have before hormones started kicking in and life seemed to get so darn serious. Anyone who enjoyed the goonies or other "live action cartoon" type film from your child hood you'll get a big kick out of this one. Im giving this a 10 out of 10 because it does a PERFECT job at being it was meant to be.

This movie is cute and charming. It seems younger kids will almost always like it. Adult reaction is obviously mixed. Our two younger kids, ages 6 & 9 loved it. Two others kids that saw it with us, ages 10 and 13 thought it was good but were not as excited about it as the younger ones. None of them were too scared during any of the more intense parts.

Keep in mind, this is a very low budget movie.

For instance, I know there are over 250 visual effects shots (many of which are invisible) They were all done very quickly within 3 months time by two guys for about the price of your average minivan.

What was Avatar's effects budget?