Warcraft - Fantastic Movie for fans and uninitiated

Rating: 9/10 (11 June 2016)

Ignore all the critics. Legendary nailed Warcraft with this movie. Bravo!!! As a long time Warcraft fan (bought the original at Best Buy circa 1994, and have played every game since), I went into this a huge spoonful of skepticism and doubt after reading all the bad press.
Within 10 minutes, all those concerns were abated, and what a ride it was. The story felt epic and honored the original story closely. The characters were well developed and interacted in surprising, yet believable ways. The battle scenes were amazing and were choreographed and filmed excellently. The effects were spot on and amazing (the magic especially... not over the top, but a visual feast).
The only thing I'd give it a ding for was the pacing. It was a LITTLE to fast at times... but honestly, they covered so much, I don't think they could have slowed it down without it being a 3 hour movie (can't wait to see the director's cut!!!).
And even if you don't know Warcraft, this is GREAT cinematic high fantasy, and can stand shoulder to shoulder with the Jackson LotR movies.