Best of times and worst of times

Rating: 5/10 (18 June 2016)

Any time a popular video game is made into a movie you can expect epic cheese to ensue. Did this happen with Warcraft? Yes and No. The good: The Orcs. Not only was the CGI top rate, the characterization of the Orcs will have you cheering for them and not the humans. The not so good: The Humans. In contrast to the awe inspiring Orcs, the humans were straight out of a renaissance festival. The characters were stiff, uninspired and always costume clean. The very cool: Landscapes. If you are a Warcraft fan the movie brings the game environments to life. We have beautiful renditions of Stormwind, Ironforge, Elwynn Forest, Deadwind Pass and the Dark Portal.
How about the story? Not too much to see here. The Orc story is OK. They need to find a new place to live and pick Azeroth. There is more to the Orc story, but I will let you see that for yourself. The Human story dealing with the Orc invasion is lackluster. The Warcraft universe can be every bit as rich and deep as The Lord of the Rings. However, you don't get that kind of story here. But, what you do get is not bad, from the Orc side. The battle sequences have a reason for being in the movie and are not mindless fighting like many recent superhero movies. The sequencing of scenes was a little odd though, making the movie often look more like flash cards of cut scenes. I'm a big fan of the games so this was OK, but if you are not the story is hard to follow. I would not consider this to be a stand-alone movie, as it does not explain anything going on.
Bottom Line: If you are fan of the games it is visually impressive and the story is passable. If you know nothing of the games you will probably be lost and bored.