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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36589 Posts |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36589 Posts |
 Posted - 19 Mar 2023 : 22:13:27
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Just got home from seeing the D&D movie with my son.
He liked it, and he doesn't know a thing about D&D.
I quite liked it, myself. And I think they struck a nice balance between giving fans of the game and the setting something, while keeping it all accessible for non-gamers.
I expect this one to do well in theaters, when the full release happens.
I do have some minor quibbles, here and there -- the Harpers explicitly being called a faction, they didn't get the appearance of the Tears right, and ye gods, Ed should have had a cameo! |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36589 Posts |
Posted - 19 Mar 2023 : 23:16:42
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| Oh, and I've apparently been mispronouncing tiefling and Mordenkainen. I've been saying "tie-fling" and it's "tee-fling" (long E, not long I) and I've been saying "More den kie nen" and it's "More den kay nen" (long A, not long I). |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Master Katarn
Acolyte
7 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 01:06:28
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Oh, and I've apparently been mispronouncing tiefling and Mordenkainen. I've been saying "tie-fling" and it's "tee-fling" (long E, not long I) and I've been saying "More den kie nen" and it's "More den kay nen" (long A, not long I).
I was more surprised at how Elminster's last name (Aumar) is Oh-mar and not Aw-mar. Why spell it as Aumar then and not just as Omar?
I knew the tiefling pronunciation but the Mordenkainen was different than how I had pronounced it.
I looked up Elminster's Forgotten Realms fandom page and he has no sons listed so who
is Simon descended from?
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Gelcur
Senior Scribe
486 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 03:56:42
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I got into an early viewing, I disliked it. I had a feeling I would be I hoped that I would be surprised.
A lot of the movie was poor in my opinion. The actors playing Simon and Doric were hard to watch. The dialogue was all over the place, felt unnatural. The story and villains fell very flat. And the plot may have been the worst part, I won't go into details as not to spoil things.
But honestly I could look past all that if it felt like the Realms. But to me it felt like the 5e Realms, a thin coat of paint, how the Dragon Heist module felt. Sure they are using the names of Realms locales, groups, and the rare NPC reference. But there's no substance there. If you take out those names you'd be hard pressed to know it takes place in Faerun. I think I was especially let down by the art direction and music. The sets didn't seem populated with the minutiae of life, where they could fill in all the Realms Easter eggs. Honestly it felt lacking of even D&D material.
Things also just looked wrong, Bobby from the D&D cartoon, or the dwarf in the maze. I watch this and think the LotR movies are over 20 years old. Why can't we hit that level of quality? I also think about the movie Detective Pikachu, every scene of that movie was packed FULL of Pokemon content.
I will say though the special FX were hit or miss, but when they hit they were very good. Also the scenes with red dragon and the one with the druid shape changing from animal to animal were very well done action sequences.
I also believe Ed should have had a cameo and it should have included lines, like Stan Lee in the Marvel movies. Really wish they had followed the formula of the first few waves of Marvel movies, lots of Easter eggs for super fans and characters we already know and love. |
The party come to a town befallen by hysteria
Rogue: So what's in the general store?
DM: What are you looking for?
Rogue: Whatevers in the store.
DM: Like what?
Rogue: Everything.
DM: There is a lot of stuff.
Rogue: Is there a cart outside?
DM: (rolls) Yes.
Rogue: We'll take it all, we may need it for the greater good. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36589 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 04:42:52
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quote:
Originally posted by Master Katarn
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Oh, and I've apparently been mispronouncing tiefling and Mordenkainen. I've been saying "tie-fling" and it's "tee-fling" (long E, not long I) and I've been saying "More den kie nen" and it's "More den kay nen" (long A, not long I).
I was more surprised at how Elminster's last name (Aumar) is Oh-mar and not Aw-mar. Why spell it as Aumar then and not just as Omar?
I knew the tiefling pronunciation but the Mordenkainen was different than how I had pronounced it.
I looked up Elminster's Forgotten Realms fandom page and he has no sons listed so who
is Simon descended from?
I would say that Elminster -- and some of the other Chosen -- likely have offspring we've never heard of, simply because there's never been a chance to mention them. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Master Katarn
Acolyte
7 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 04:48:19
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spoilers for movie
They're going to need a 2 year span in the lore to fit when Neverember was in a coma and Forge takes over.
What seems like Elminster appears halfway through the movie, but it's later revealed this is just Simon Aumar seeing a vision of his older self that he mistook for Elminster? No mention of the status of Elminster himself as of the movie, I'll just assume he's an even worse film grandfather than Emperor Palpatine, who knew?
There are some miniature people that feature in the movie, but I wasn't clear whether these were supposed to be halflings. They don't look anything like LOTR's hobbits, more like the characters in Gulliver's Travels. Pretty sure halflings in every Realms comic, game, etc. have been portrayed to look like LOTR hobbits, not what we got here. I'm surprised there aren't more complaints about this.
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Edited by - Master Katarn on 20 Mar 2023 04:51:55 |
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Azar
Master of Realmslore
1039 Posts |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7797 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 06:01:14
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I do have some minor quibbles, here and there -- the Harpers explicitly being called a faction ...
But the Harpers are a faction, strictly speaking, when described from a larger perspective of the Realms. They are an organization which cooperates with, opposes, and competes against other factions in various ways.
But even if "faction" is not an accurate term for their organization, what other descriptor would be better? |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36589 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 11:47:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Ayrik
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
I do have some minor quibbles, here and there -- the Harpers explicitly being called a faction ...
But the Harpers are a faction, strictly speaking, when described from a larger perspective of the Realms. They are an organization which cooperates with, opposes, and competes against other factions in various ways.
But even if "faction" is not an accurate term for their organization, what other descriptor would be better?
He specifically said "the Harpers faction" instead of just saying "the Harpers." That's just weird phrasing, and as someone who has never liked the clumsy faction system they've implemented, I found it irksome.
There were references to the Lords' Alliance and the Emerald Enclave, without explicitly calling them factions, which further makes that one reference stand out. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1365 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 11:52:24
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https://beforewegoblog.com/movie-review-dungeons-and-dragons-honor-among-thieves/
DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES made me tear up a bit at the end. It was an involuntary reaction, I certainly didn't intend for it to happen, but it's something that occurred nevertheless. Against my better judgement, I came to care about these characters and whether they managed to make it through the end of the movie. So, in the words of Rick and Morty, "You son of a bitch, I'm in."
The movie isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination but it is recognizably and explicitly Dungeons and Dragons. Which is a harder thing to embody than many people might think. Dungeons and Dragons isn't a setting by itself but a method of creating and playing a setting. This is the problem of previous adaptations because you can play any fantasy setting with D&D rules but you can't just say, "Dungeons and Dragons is the setting." Here, it's the Forgotten Realms and I kind of wish they'd called it Forgotten Realms or Neverwinter Nights because either of those titles would have been appropriate as well.
Energy-wise, this is a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie for better and worse. I honestly compare this most to Paul Rudd's Ant Man movie in terms of rough mixture between family melodrama, quips, and action. Well, this has a lot more dragons in it and I'll give that is an impressive boost over Ant Man. It's a movie about a failed father trying to reconnect with his daughter, a heist, and an oddball crew of misfits. So let's say Ant Man meets Guardians of the Galaxy meets dragons. Which, yes, is probably why I love this movie against my better judgement. Neither of those films are my favorite Marvel films but throw in an owlbear and the Red Wizards of Thay? Yeah, now we're cooking with fireballs.
The premise is somewhat overly complicated at the start with, essentially, an entire movie's worth of backstory in the prologue that could have been the first part of a trilogy. Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) is a Harper who turns to thievery after his do-goodery gets his wife killed by the Red Wizards. He ends up as heterosexual but platonic partners with Holga (Michelle Rodriguez) and raises his daughter, Kira, with her. Hearing there's a magical tablet that can raise his wife from the dead, Edgin robs the Harpers and gets sent to magical prison with Holga when the heist goes wrong. They break out and decide to get Kira back from their partner who, obviously, betrayed them but is raising the girl as his own. This is just the prologue.
The movie is mostly a heist film with our leads recruiting bumbling sorcerer Simon Aumar (Justice Smith) and kickass Tiefling druid Doric (Sophia Lillis) to help take down Lord Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant) as well as his Red Wizard partner Sofina (Daisy Head). They go from action scene and comedy scene to action scene to comedy scene with the movie never really taking a break. Some of the comedy is stupid like a scene where they waste their Speak with the Dead questions while other comedy is stupid but entertaining as hell (Holga's ex being a halfling? Eh. Stupid joke. Not funny. Holga's ex taking up with another Amazonian barbarian? HILARIOUS).
The movie is utterly drenched with fanservice and you'll be unable to turn off your brain from the, "I recognize that, they said the thing, I recognize that, reference to that thing I know!" Memberberries (i.e. things you remember from your childhood) are a pretty low form of humor perfected by Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Iron Man but it works on the nerd side of my brain. When they mention Simon is Elminster's descendant, I went, "Yeah, him and half of Faerun" and realized they'd gotten me. I can't hate a movie with an owlbear.
I feel almost bad about how mad I am for unabashedly loving this movie. I am deeply cynical about Hasbro's handling of D&D and mad at them for a dozen things ranging from the OGL to the novels being abandoned. However, this movie has an morbidly obese red dragon, the cast of the Eighties Dungeons and Dragons cartoon, and Szass Frigging Tam (who is the villain of my current D&D campaign).
What am I supposed to do with that? I can't stay mad at a movie trying this hard to entertain me. The cast is a bunch of bumbling misfits and everyone looks like an idiot but Doric (Michelle Rodriguez gets a lot of mileage out of being a dumb barbarian), yet I can't complain about that since it's my style of humor too. They're also competent when it counts. I even like Hugh Grant in this as he basically shows what he would have been like if he'd play Gilderoy Lockhart in The Chamber of Secrets. Literally my only complaints are the fact that I wasn't aware Faerun was enlightened enough to have prisons with a healthy pardon system and the fact movie dragged in literally two places.
See the film.
9.5/10 |
My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1365 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 11:54:26
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quote:
But honestly I could look past all that if it felt like the Realms. But to me it felt like the 5e Realms, a thin coat of paint, how the Dragon Heist module felt. Sure they are using the names of Realms locales, groups, and the rare NPC reference. But there's no substance there. If you take out those names you'd be hard pressed to know it takes place in Faerun. I think I was especially let down by the art direction and music. The sets didn't seem populated with the minutiae of life, where they could fill in all the Realms Easter eggs. Honestly it felt lacking of even D&D material.
I dunno man, I'd argue that this actually is pretty heavily tied to the Forgotten Realms. If for no other reason than the Harpers vs. Red Wizards of Thay. There's not THAT many fantasy settings that have a necrocracy ruled by wizards opposed by a rebel alliance of bards.
quote:
There are some miniature people that feature in the movie, but I wasn't clear whether these were supposed to be halflings. They don't look anything like LOTR's hobbits, more like the characters in Gulliver's Travels. Pretty sure halflings in every Realms comic, game, etc. have been portrayed to look like LOTR hobbits, not what we got here. I'm surprised there aren't more complaints about this.
Actually, in Second Edition, Halflings were even shorter than dwarves and were given an extra foot in height with the move to 3rd Edition for obvious reasons. |
My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Edited by - Charles Phipps on 20 Mar 2023 11:58:52 |
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Master Katarn
Acolyte
7 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2023 : 21:00:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Charles Phipps
I dunno man, I'd argue that this actually is pretty heavily tied to the Forgotten Realms. If for no other reason than the Harpers vs. Red Wizards of Thay. There's not THAT many fantasy settings that have a necrocracy ruled by wizards opposed by a rebel alliance of bards.
Actually, in Second Edition, Halflings were even shorter than dwarves and were given an extra foot in height with the move to 3rd Edition for obvious reasons.
Bradley Cooper (I assume that was him) was kept in proportion and shrunk wholesale, when realistically he should've had just his upper legs and torso shrunk via forced perspective/CGI like LOTR style. Look at any of IDW's Realms collection comic books and look at who we're supposed to assume are halflings in the movie. They're not the same.
For example, he looked too small for the chair in a way that none of the hobbits in the LOTR movies did for their own chairs. He should still fight width wise, just not height wise, but he didn't fit width wise and that was wrong. Even the recent Rings of Power tv show got the halfling look right.
I don't think you can really call the Harpers a faction of bards per se. Warhammer Fantasy had the army of Nagash vs bards like Felix. Heroes of Might and Magic IV has the Necropolis empire vs the bard class. Mannimarco vs the Blades in Elder Scrolls.
Anyway nice to see you on here also (I'm Yistaan on TrekBBS and used to post on theforce net as sidv88--don't post on the latter anymore due to a long story, you can PM me if you want to know why) |
Edited by - Master Katarn on 20 Mar 2023 21:01:33 |
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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1365 Posts |
Posted - 21 Mar 2023 : 00:20:18
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I thought the chair being sized for "normal" people was deliberate because he lives with two human women.
And cool, nice to see you here!
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Edited by - Charles Phipps on 21 Mar 2023 00:21:01 |
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Master Katarn
Acolyte
7 Posts |
Posted - 21 Mar 2023 : 06:41:41
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quote:
Originally posted by Charles Phipps
I thought the chair being sized for "normal" people was deliberate because he lives with two human women.
And cool, nice to see you here!
I'm pretty sure that halflings are supposed to be like our real world short people, like Warwick Davis or Peter Dinklage, who wouldn't have trouble fitting into our real life chairs, height aside. |
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Dungeons & Dragons movie in the Forgotten Realms!
