Surprising

Rating: 9/10 (29 September 2016)

SPOILERS
They made a mistake revenue-wise and for the future of the franchise by five choices. They focused too much on humans and orcs instead of putting the entire realm on display. They chose older lore for their story line. They miscast Medivh with a boring actor. They should have had Paula Patton do her voice work without the teeth. They made the movie like a lore cut scene instead of keeping it focused at the player level.
Karazhan is one of the most popular raid instances in wow history. The struggle of players to overcome its challenges in service to the world is an epic story itself. The movie however doesn't even really address lore immediately relevant to the instance.
There are epically good touches that are too many to name that will only have meaning to WoW players. Re-creation of rooms and costumes. Garona. Legendary weapons such as Atiesh. Small iconic items are throw in like feathered fishing bobbers, mailboxes, polymorphed sheep. The final fight follows a boss fight pattern of stages.
The story itself loses the viewer in that it never comes down to the level of the common man. It's all kings and guardians and chieftains and royal families and clan leaders, and warchiefs.