Not the best story, but nice to see.

Rating: 8/10 (12 June 2016)

Better than I feared, less good than I hoped, and yet somehow almost the same as what I expected...this movie is hardly a sweeping phenomenon, but it was enjoyable. I hesitate to call it "fun", given that it exceeds even your average high-fantasy epic in how seriously it takes itself (there may have literally been only one funny moment in the whole film, and even that one wasn't even played for laughs); it's firmly rooted in the standard knights-and-wizards clichés and has very little originality to it, but in playing to its strengths as a fairly typical example of the genre, it shows great attention to detail. There were a few twists in the plot, and a few little innovative nuggets thrown in to catch the eye; it certainly could have done more to break the mold, but it stands as a reasonably well-made and decently entertaining movie (albeit that it is essentially a prequel, and thus has an ending that may not satisfy those who were hoping for a self-contained story).
As a casual player of Warcraft 3, unfamiliar with either its predecessors or the MMORPG spin off sensation, I failed to understand any but the broadest references; this combined with a habit of the human characters mumbling or hissing their dialogue under their breaths in certain tense moments left me feeling that I'd missed out fairly often. None of the characters is all that deep or complex, and the relationships among most of them are somewhat unclear; while the film is refreshingly light on extremely obvious white and black hats (just one or two of the first, and a single clear villain who holds his own quite well), neither does it feature anything close to truly grey morality.
I could nitpick the flick's many flaws for a while longer, but I'll keep things as TL:DR as I can manage, and get right to the good stuff. The film is absolutely gorgeous, with breathtaking backgrounds and special effects (not that these are rare in modern filmmaking, but this is still top-notch work), and most impressively the blend between the real actors and their CGI surroundings is virtually seamless; I couldn't even begin to tell where the animation met the motion-capture faces. The soundtrack is by the always amazing Ramin Djawadi, and the horns and drums of the marching orcish horde really get your blood pumping from the very start of the credits, all the way to the end (sadly there's no post-credits scene to really justify the wait, but the music alone might suffice). The movie is definitely pure eye-and-ear candy, with very little nutritional value, and it will almost unquestionably appeal more to die-hard fans of the franchise than to casual fantasy-movie viewers (though I suspect the latter will at least largely enjoy it too).
To sum up, I give the movie a B- for characterization and tone, a B+ for story, an A for the score and an A++ for its visual effects, all of which amounts to an A- for the movie as a whole. I could have wished for more, with a sufficient number of magic genie lamps, but if I had an actual studio the size of Legendary and had to run it myself, I doubt very much I could have done this well (perhaps better in some ways, but certainly worse in others). I definitely feel that the makers of this film deserve to turn a healthy profit; whether I will be as eager to see any more entries in this universe as I was for this one, that I am not so sure. But I went in with great expectations did not find the film a disappointment, even if it didn't manage to blow my socks off either. I'd definitely say it's worth the price of a matinée to experience at least once, and I'm fairly likely to go again. (Especially to see the 3D version, which I cannot vouch for at this time.)