Caçadores de Dragões

Wow, how I absolutely love this film. I've seen it a few times and every time I pick up on something new, or simply admire the completely unique animation. I love the characters and it has a great story, too. This is funny, action-packed and adventurous.

This is unlike any other animated film, and wonderfully imaginative. The sheep are simply adorable! The film also sends out a strong message about loyalty, trust and friendship. Love it!

My first impression would be this is Beowulf only with all the good bits of fighting Grendel and dragons intact, making it one thrill ride from start to end. Written by Frederic Lanoir and Arthur Qwak, the two of them had created a fantastical landscape that becomes a character in itself within their story, with its ever changing environment made up of small spheres of land floating around, which can either be wastelands, or globes of greenery.

The story's a simple one, which tells of a land which is cowering in the expectation of a mighty dragon's unwanted visit to plunder and destroy, and the resident knights have all but been annihilated. Enter the king's granddaughter Zoe (Marie Drion) who gathers Lian-Chu (Vincent Lindon), a huge brute with immense strength but truly a gentle giant, and his partner-in-arms Gwizdo (Patrick Timsit), who balances the partnership with his cunning brain. Lian-Chu and Gwizdo (together with their pet creature which too proudly spews incipient fires) share a common dream of owning a farm land and spending idyllic days tending to their farm animals in retirement, but in order to do that comes the requirement of being financially free, hence their career in monster-extermination which doesn't exactly pay off.

That's basically the whole gist of it, but what makes this film a spectacle, is its CG graphics, which is solidly rich, detailed, and an eye-popping marvel to behold. It has some wonderfully crafted set action pieces that were painstakingly designed to draw you into the thick of the action,, and during those fight sequences, there's nary a boring moment. Photo-realistic moments of non-existent landscapes make you put aside the fantasy of make-belief, and it's easy to be in awe of the landscape which goes beyond the usual three-suns and a kaleidoscope of flying thingamajigs (here's having at you George!) And I couldn't get enough of the finale battle as well, though the usual brick-bats will find some fault at the indestructibility of the principle characters.

I guess this film had opened my eyes that there are many more computer-animated companies out there around the world that have quality in their product to match that of Pixar's. And this is definitely a movie that the local filmmakers of Zodiac: The Race Begins and Legend of the Sea can learn from – to keep the story effectively simple, and let your moving artwork do all the talking. Definitely highly recommended!

I really liked the art style and concept in the movie. But as far as the story goes, it's not very engaging. It lacks the polish that the visuals have. The character art reminds me of the game "Mark of Kri". And the floating lands in which the story takes place is breathtaking.

But the story is just too simple. They try to build it up by making the characters fight bigger dragons each time, but this only works if the fight choreography was actually good or if the characters' dragon fighting skill improves over time, but neither of it was the case.

They tried to make it about character development at times but it was too brief and shallow to have any impact.

Then there's the case of the relationships between the characters. There just isn't enough back story to get the viewer into them. But the little girl's character, Zoe, was too cute not to like. Without her character, the movie wild been much worse.

So overall, the art and the Zoe character was reason enough to see this movie. Kids might not mind the simplistic story, because they are young and haven't watched enough movies to see it as a cliché.

After watching the trailer I was surprised this movie never made it into theaters, so I ordered the BluRay. I had a great time watching it and have to say that this movie is better than some major animation movies out there. Of course, it has its flaws but I can still really recommend it. The animation is well done, very entertaining and unique and the story kept me watching it all the way to the end. Some of the backdrops are just drop-dead gorgeous and you can see the French talent behind it. I thought that Forest Whitaker's performance feels a bit lifeless but that is how the character Lian-Chu is depicted in this movie. So overall, thumbs up, I liked it a lot and I hope it is successful enough for all the studios involved to continue making great movies like this. I would recommend to give it a chance and be surprised how great a movie can be with such a small budget. Hektor alone is worth watching the movie since some of his moments are Stitch-like hilarious.

This is a real eye candy. A world made of floating islands and flying ancient cities. Huge monsters whose preferred method of attack is hurling cathedrals at their opponents... Who can resist that? An ancient prophecy, a bunch of underdog heroes and a cute princess in search of her hero... sounds familiar...? Yes we heard that song before. But You will forget that while looking at the spectacular scenery.

This movie is fun to watch while it lasts. But after leaving the cinema You'll be longing for a little bit more story.

What is behind the 30-years-circle? What drove the knight crazy? Who built all these fabulous monuments, castles and cities... and why are they falling apart? And apart from that one bunch of farmers, where are the people? Really, this picture looks so intriguing, but it's no Lord of the Rings.