Wherein Michael Pulls off the "NOOOO!" (A Review of Dragons of the Autumn Twilight)
I stopped off at Best Buy last night to pick up Michael's new movie, (Notice how it instantly becomes "his" movie to me, even if he's barely in it?) Dragons of the Autumn Twilight. It turned out to be worth the twelve bucks I paid for it, if only to hear Michael run the gammut of emotions that he does in this movie, if nothing else.
Based on the popular book series, most of which I read when I was in my late teens/early 20's, Dragons of Autumn Twilight was adapted from the first of those books. The characters were just as I remembered them, which was fun, as I haven't read the series for some time. The animation is very digital; that is, a lot of times I felt like I was watching a cut scene from Final Fantasy or God of War for PS2. The bad dragons, especially, were animated this way. By and by we see Tanis Half-Elven, who is Michael's character. Tanis has all the angst of a CW teenager because his mother was raped by a human male, so neither species really accepts him or trusts him. But Michael made him work, after awhile. His VA ran from something very much like his Wally West to something pretty intense by the end, when his character shouted orders and defied the minions of the evil dragon queen. He even pulled off the Darth Vader "NOOOOO!" which is nearly impossible to do without being laughed at. At times, it was great fun to listen to him and Keiffer Sutherland, who played the mage Raistlin, try to out-purr each other. By the end, I was pretty satisifed. I hope they make another one where he's Tanis again. Pick it up if you have the 12 bucks to spare, it was pretty entertaining, and if you liked the books, you'll probably enjoy the movie.
Based on the popular book series, most of which I read when I was in my late teens/early 20's, Dragons of Autumn Twilight was adapted from the first of those books. The characters were just as I remembered them, which was fun, as I haven't read the series for some time. The animation is very digital; that is, a lot of times I felt like I was watching a cut scene from Final Fantasy or God of War for PS2. The bad dragons, especially, were animated this way. By and by we see Tanis Half-Elven, who is Michael's character. Tanis has all the angst of a CW teenager because his mother was raped by a human male, so neither species really accepts him or trusts him. But Michael made him work, after awhile. His VA ran from something very much like his Wally West to something pretty intense by the end, when his character shouted orders and defied the minions of the evil dragon queen. He even pulled off the Darth Vader "NOOOOO!" which is nearly impossible to do without being laughed at. At times, it was great fun to listen to him and Keiffer Sutherland, who played the mage Raistlin, try to out-purr each other. By the end, I was pretty satisifed. I hope they make another one where he's Tanis again. Pick it up if you have the 12 bucks to spare, it was pretty entertaining, and if you liked the books, you'll probably enjoy the movie.