Product: Dragonheart: A New Beginning (2000)
Rating: 3.0
A New Beginning
I must first confess that while I definitely enjoyed Dragonheart, it is by no means one of the best fantasy movies ever made. However, it had its charms, and so does this follow up. I would not call it a sequel outright, and neither do the film-makers. The subtitle, "A New Beginning," seems to speak volumes. This time the film is clearly marketed toward a younger audience. Violence is taken down several notches, and though the concept of a knight and his friendly dragon return, they are both much younger versions.The opening does little to explain the dragon's egg which brings about the birth of Drake, the new dragon of the film, but it doesn't really need to. However, the movie offers some wrinkles and surprises that make things interesting. The ending was particularly satisfying.The swordfights run from poor to fairly well done (on par with those in the first film), and now East meets West as martial arts comes into the picture. Drake does not look nearly so good as Draco, but you can't expect anything more from a straight to video follow-up. However, this is not to say the visuals do not do their job, and are better than expected. The production values in general are better than most such non-theatrical films.It may be targeted at the young, but fans of the original Dragonheart and older newcomers alike may just be surprised to learn that it's a pretty darn good little fantasy flick.