well drawn CGI

Rating: 5/10 (20 June 2016)

Orc warlock Gul'dan drains life out of prisoners for the fel magic to open a portal to Azeroth for an orc horde to cross. He aims to reopen the portal to bring an entire army to the new world. Durotan is the chief of the Frostwolf Clan. Blackhand is a rival and the military commander. Meanwhile, human commander Anduin Lothar has renegade mage Khadgar prisoner who suspects a malicious magical force. King Llane Wrynn rules Stormwind Kingdom and Medivh is the Guardian of the realm. Garona is a captured half-orc.
One of the most important hurdles for this movie is if the CGI is believable. It is able to clear that hurdle. The orcs are major characters and their believability is essential for this to work. It is the bare minimum. In fact, the orcs are some of the more compelling characters in the movie. The CGI is flashy but the story itself is a messy cauldron of old fantasy conflicts. The story should be simplified and concentrated down to one idea. Most of it drags along in a grinding exposition. Much of it is slow. One has to stay alert to understand this world especially for people like me who have never played the game. Some of the motivations are questionable. The action is great but I'm often not thrilled by it. Durotan's fight with Gul'dan is probably the most compelling. I really get to care about Durotan. There are probably too many characters going off every which way. This movie would work much better as a simple quest or road movie with Durotan as the lead.