Age of the Dragons

No Fun And No Excitement: A Wacky Literary Adaptation That Takes Itself Too Seriously
I'm not sure how many people that tuned in for "Age of Dragons" on the SyFy network (or who are now shopping this DVD) have read the classic Herman Melville novel that inspired the story. Taking its basic premise from "Moby Dick" while jettisoning just about everything else, this was one mightily bad idea from the inception. Why would you set yourself up for the comparison if you didn't have to? Seriously, though, no one watching this film would be expecting a grand literary interpretation. In most regards, this is unrecognizable from Melville's tale of obsession and the great white whale. I'm not sure, therefore, why they tried to keep the dialogue somewhat faithful. In a strange decision, the movie makers didn't really seem aware of their intended audience. By taking everything so seriously and trying to play it straight, this movie just isn't much fun. I expected it might not be very good, but I had hoped for some genuine bad movie camp and silliness.

The tale...

Unbelievable
I approached this movie with extremely low expectations which I thought might help me enjoy at least some aspect of this movie. I was wrong unfortunately and it cost me. I have been reading the Eragon books by Christopher Paolini and love them. So naturally I wanted to watch a movie about dragons. This is 1 of 3 movies in my entire life I couldn't make ii through the whole movie. I watch at least 2 movies a day (at least). So to say it is uncommon or rare is an understatement for me to give a movie 1 star and not finish it completely. I am sorry to be harsh but between the acting, the "boat" on wheels and the computer "attempted" to create a dragon, all of those areas felled miserable. So if you are thinking to yourself I really just want to see a movie with dragons, don't. Look elsewhere (although there really many out there). If I had the money and team I would create a movie about dragons because there are very few and the few they are aren't that great. Anyways, do what you want...

Moby Dick Re-imagined: Uninspired and Boring
Some ideas are great on paper, not so in practice, and "Age of the Dragons" is one of such examples. The fantasy adventure film is a re-imagined version of "Moby-Dick," a classic novel of Herman Melville. Looking for the legendary white dragon, Danny Glover's vengeful captain Ahab leads the dragon hunters including Ishmael (Corey Sevier), Queequeg (John Kepa Kruse) Stubb (Vinnie Jones) and Starbuck (David Morgan) in a landship named the Pequod.

The film is set in a fictional mythical land that looks like medieval Europe, though some part of the film (design of the landship, for instance) reminds us of the steampunk world. Dragons are hunted, it is explained, for vitriol, a highly sought-after energy source. The hunters enter deep into the woods and wilderness to kill the flying dragons, and spend most of the time ... talking, talking and talking.

Turning a Herman Melville novel into an action fantasy is not a bad idea. For this kind of fantasy film to succeed,...

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