Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves premiered in Austin this last weekend and it got some solid reviews.

https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dungeons-dragons-honor-among-thieves

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dungeons_and_dragons_honor_among_thieves

Granted this was reviews from the premier but some of these reviewers are reliable and have a good reputation. The Austin Chronicle in particular is usually pretty harsh and they gave it good marks.

Lately, I've been unable to trust professional reviewers for two reasons; either they're getting paid by a studio for the review, or they're trying to show their willingess to "play ball" to secure access to future releases. Or both.

In general, I've always paid more attention to medium or negative reviews than positive ones, not only for movies, but for other goods and services. Positive reviews at best claim that the thing being reviewed "works as intended," but often don't add anything more. Less positive reviews, on the other hand, will either cite specific issues, or will "out" the reviewer as having some personal issue that has nothing to do with the thing being reviewed. In either case, I know what I'm getting from the review.

Coming back to this movie, nothing in the trailers "sold" me on it (the "five questions" scene was fun, but predictable). To get specific, I'm not a fan of "pretty face" actors. Occasionally one will impress me with their acting or comedic ability, but too many don't. So far, Pine hasn't. Plus, the trailers were very heavy on effects, which tells me nothing about the movie except that they're going to give me an over-the-top sound and light show. On this, I think the review from RogerEbert.com make a good point, i.e. that "practical" effects can help a scene feel more real than OTT CGI.

I hope people enjoy it, but I won't be seeing it until it shows up on Netflix (the only streaming service to which I'm subbed), or until a trusted friend tells me that it's worth watching.

Glancing at review sites I tend to follow response tends to be on mediocare, but positive, side. Honestly not bad.

It looks like a subscription service movie to me too.

Looks like campy, silly fun to me. Will probably watch at some point, but I am not expecting high level plot or storytelling. Trailers have a very spectacle-meets-quips tone, so I expect a few smirks and eye-rolls while watching (which is fine).

I don’t really get that bent out of shape about most fantasy and sci fi films, as I sorta live by the idea that if I start taking DnD too seriously, I’ve probably gotten to old for it.

The exception are movies based on beloved sci fi and fantasy books, which I am happy to rage about when they are done poorly. But generic DnD movies? I am much more forgiving, personally.

I genuinely would like to watch the movie, I thought the trailers looked like fun. When it comes to reviews, I don't listen to or seek out many. Not because I don't trust them or think they're being paid off. I just find that so many people can have wildly different opinions that a bunch of reviewers aren't a good place for me to go to know if I'll enjoy a movie. I'll trust them to talk about technical quality and such, but that's honestly not what I care about so much. I have two or three reviewers I pay attention to because their tastes in films generally align with mine, such that if they think the film was good, that's an indication that I'll probably like it. And honestly they'd have yo seriously pan a movie to get me to skip it since I have a generally good sense of what I like and don't like.

Looks surprisingly competent considering general expectations for where the bar is in regards to D&D movies. From what I have heard it sounds like they really went for the 'marvel'-esque spectacle and quippy humor sort of thing. Positive feedback I have heard likens it to the 'absurdist hijinks that players get up to'. Which while entertaining on the table, isn't quite what I look for in my D&D stories, if you catch my drift-I'm more interested in something that would leverage the Forgotten Realms IP with a more serious intent than something that aims to capture pop-culture's perception of a wacky D&D session first and foremost.

I'm sure it'll be right up the alley of a lot of people though, that sort of thing is very popular in media lately.

I chose to view it through the lens of where past D&D movies ended up. General Audiences panned them because they took themselves too seriously, the acting was bad, and the story was ridiculous.

This one seems to try to get around all that - the only weakness it may have is all the exposition needed for the non D&D players. Having competent actors that can sell the story is also a big win.

I wouldn't call Pine or Rodriguez pretty - though they have both done serious roles and demonstrated acting chops - they are average looking. They both need a lot of time in makeup.

It looks rather funny. Im not gonna soil it by reading criticism. They've said the Joker was bad that movie was actually quite good

Would be nice to get a more serious movie set in Forgotten Realms or Dragonlance. In the tone of books by R.A. Salvatore or Hickman and Weis. We have many examples of fantasy films and series that are successful without being silly and "light".

Baldur's Gate HBO series.

Looks like a fun movie! Glad to hear it is getting good reviews.

I am ready to watch it!!!

If you had to choose one city in FR to have a Rome style HBO miniseries set in, which would it be?

Not Forgotten Realms, but Sigil.

Yes, I almost edited my post after thinking about that. Baldur's Gate, is probably the most monetized city, Waterdeep is probably the most well loved city in FR, Athkatla is the city someone who loves Shadows of Amn too well would choose, but Sigil might just be the right choice.

Extraplanar isn't as much of a barrier to entry it once was, so I could see it being viable.

If that ever happens? Count me in too!

Gosh, could you imagine, all the factions and political maneuvering builds up to the point where it erupts into street violence, the city-state at war from within, only for the Lady of Pain to float overhead and turn all the combatants into red paste...

+1

Twilight War trilogy or anything involving Erevis Cale or Khelben Arunsun would be very cool too.

Waterdeep or Cormyr

Seems to me they are trying to mimic the Marvel template. The trailer I saw lost me at the Led Zeppelin soundtrack. I love Led Zep but it feels out of place in a fantasy setting.

Interestingly, Led Zep almost did the soundtrack for the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings film.

Plant is a big fan of Tolkien, so that tracks. Is Led Zeppelin actually in the movie or is it just for the trailer?

I didn't feel the same way about the music in the trailer, not that I liked it, but I didn't find it as disgusting as using a cover of Come Together for the Justice League movie, this type of thing has become so overdone.

Led Zeppelin out of place in fantasy? I admit I lol’d at that.

They ref Tolkien, Norse mythology, Greek mythology, and Arthurian legends in their songs. Those British boys loved the fantasy vibe.


Hell, Jimmy Paige basically dressed like wizard most of the time. Silver moons and stars twinkling on those bell bottoms? He loved it! 😝

I have low expectations for a D&D movie. If it's like A Knight's Tale but D&D, I'll be thrilled.

I have no doubt that this true. I also have no doubt that this is not the reason "Whole Lotta Love" was picked for the clip.

My best guess is that it's a throw-back favorite of some decision-maker associated with the show who never saw Led Zeppelin "live." If anyone does know why it was picked, I would genuinely love to know. Until then, I'll have to assume it's a lot cheaper to source classic rock than to write an original score.

Because Thor:Ragnarok used “Immigrant song”?

Funny… I think the exact opposite. Anyone who knows anything about classic rock knows Zeppelin = rockerboy fantasy. Just watch the hilarious “fantasy dream sequences” in the Song Remains the Same rockumentary. The moment I heard Zeppelin, I smiled nostalgically and thought “makes perfect sense for a DnD movie”.

My mind did not go to marvel movies because I don’t watch them. If anything, I recalled Sabatoge (Beastie Boys) in the Star Trek trailers. Why that song? Because the director knew his audience (old sci fi nerds).

It is entirely possible that it was cheaper than a new score as you say (tho I am sure there will be a score in the film). However, I do think it is more likely that zepplin was chosen for fantasy connotations for old dnd nerds rather than trying to be like marvel movies (with their different audiences).

Similar to how Dark Side of the Moon was used for Dune (for more complicated reasons, of course). I think these decisions are usually well thought out…even for cheesy cash grabs.

I've been waiting for a movie to use Blind Guardian's the Bard's Song for their trailer/montage for many years now, but I guess they just aren't known well enough, or are too recent for big studios.

I want some Uriah Heap —The Wizard or Rainbow Demon, personally!! 😝

Yup. Led Zeppelin is my GOAT rock band, and I totally agree.

Again, a great match for that movie given Immigrant Song's lyrics. Plus, it is such an awesome-cool song!!

That song makes pretty clear references to the Norse. What fantasy-themed references does "Whole Lotta Love" make?

Don't get me wrong, I car-dance to Zeppelin on the regular - but that song doesn't seem to match any context in the clip - aside from being fast-paced.

I thought it was just a tongue in cheek reference to led zepps hilarious role playing fantasy sequences in their rockumentary (they were soooo bad! Lol). However, I did not know Immigrant Song was used in Marvel trailers, so entirely possible they are just jumping on the classic rock song for trailers bandwagon.

But I mean…look at these silly boys! 😝

Heh, all they need is an 18-inch Stonehenge and a couple of leprechauns dancing around...

🤣

Thor: Ragnarok was five years ago. I think if there's any bandwagon being hopped on, it's not Thor's. I'm also quite certain it wasn't the first trailer for something fantasy-ish or fantastical to use a rock or otherwise seemingly incongruous song in its trailer.

Here is an actual uninterrupted clip of the movie. Good stuff in here.

If anything, Ragnarok was continuing the trend started by the first two avengers movies.

That’s fun.

I would say Bezantur, deprived Thay would make for an interesting Rome style miniseries.

Where are those stellar reviews? Yes it has a good score on RT, but many of the fresh reviews are 6/10 and not 8/10.

Unlike gaming journalist movie reviews don’t shy from rating mediocre films as mediocre. I don’t think anyone expects it to be a classic of fantasy adventures - just an entertaining generic licenced flick.

I will watch it...have seen all the DnD flops so far. Why can't someone do DnD like Game of Thrones or like LotR: Two Towers? Why can't we have an epic DnD move with a good story/plot?

This movie feels like someone asked a bunch of DnD fans what they liked then someone made a checklist. Displacer beast, check. Mimic, check. Dragon, check. Gelatinous cube, check.

I hope I will be pleasantly surprised.

I’m all for a good story and plot, but while I do love GoT and LotR, I’m not sure that their brands of fantasy are what I’d want from a D&D movie. I guess a serious, gritty, epic fantasy set in the Forgotten Realms could work and there’s lots of interesting lore to play with, but for me what’s really special about this world is that it’s first and foremost a game setting, so I feel I’d see a film that didn’t try to engage with that, with the fun, randomness and potential absurdity it entails, as something of a missed opportunity. Though perhaps I’m influenced by the fact that I’ve not been a fan of the few serious stories I’ve read set in the FR, basically just a few early Drizzt books.

Personally, I’m glad they seem to have gone for a lighter comedic tone with this D&D film, though that could also misfire (someone mentioned A Knight’s Tale earlier, which made me shudder in horror). I’ll keep my fingers crossed it’s good, watchable fun that manages to catch some of the spirit of a D&D game without the comedy becoming cringeworthy, and am cautiously optimistic based on the reviews.

Yeah, IDK about that. Lighthearted and fun certainly has its place out there and can obviously work with D&D, but IDK about for Forgotten Realms. It's not leveraging the expansive setting to its strengths for storytelling and worldbuilding when it's being used for a comedy about meta-humor revolving around the gameplay and pop-culture identity of D&D.

Forgotten Realms very easily *could* be a serious lotr-style epic, so IMO it's kinda disappointing to see it exploited in a very surface-level manner to chase popular cinematic trends, no matter how well executed.

Well, I’m all for “a comedy about meta-humor revolving around the gameplay and pop-culture identity of D&D”. It’s great news for me if that’s what this film is, but obviously not so fantastic for you. Hopefully there’ll be another film or TV show that’ll be more your cup of tea in future. And I’d definitely watch that, too!

Well, that we can agree on! This might not be my cup of tea, but hopefully it's success will encourage WOTC to expand into more (IMHO) bold territory with any future movies they might consider.

I think a full length film only works for a setting like D&D if you keep it light hearted, because you have a LOT of information to introduce.

GoT worked because it was a series and they could spend most of the time doing worldbuilding and character building so they had a LOT of time to draw the audience in with that information before delving into magic.

Previous D&D films failed because they took themselves too seriously and thought that would allow them to reach general audiences. You end up with an exposition problem, so either you find a fun way to make exposition work or you bore your audience to tears.

LOTR worked because it spent most of its time grounding itself in character building and worldbuilding through non-dialogue. It focused on a story it was telling, not explaining everything - where explanation was required it used the visual medium to do it.

So it comes down to this - in any D&D story you are going to have an exposition problem that you need to solve. If you fail to solve it then your movie/series will flop.

I think the key here is that they aren't making a Forgotten Realms movie, they're making a D&D movie. Those things do not immediately go hand in hand. They're leaning on the idea of D&D and what people think of whrn they think of that. And they're presenting the engaging, fun version of that rather than the mean-spirited, "for nerds" version. And I think that's on purpose. The Forgotten Realms seems almost vestigial to the game at this point based on what I've seen. The main books clearly expect you to make up your own stuff. It name drops a bunch of things but provides no details. Stuff likes Volo's guide, Tashaa's cauldron, etc, all are clearly meant to evoke names old fans will recognize, but fans who only got into 5th edition? Those names are meaningless. Speaking of sourcebooks, there have been more sourcebooks about Magic the Gathering settings than about Toril. Sure the adventures happen there, but there's no "here's an overview of the world" book. That lack of care seems to have rubbed off on Larian too for that matter, since act 1 just fails on a worldbuilding level in my opinion. They care about the big, iconic names and that's about it.

Which isn't to say I think the movie will be bad because of it. The trailer certainly captured my idea of D&D. It's just an issue I've seen with D&D as a whole. And on that subject of WotC only caring about big names, you know there's a D&D themed game of Clue out? It's about Zariel cultists in Baldur's Gate. Which is... interesting. It even references Elturel.

Wow, I actually loved that movie. Not the style I want for a DnD movie and not saying it was a great movie...but I really loved it. I thought Paul Bettany's Geoffrey Chaucer was an absolutely HILARIOUS character.

Again, we all have different tastes (which causes a lot of fights about what this game should and shouldn't be) so it is not surprising that someone wouldn't like that movie, just funny that you picked it in my case.

BTW, not sure how long you have been a moderator, but grats.

Cheers!

I’ll be honest I couldn’t even finish watching A Knight’s Tale so I’d accept that I didn’t give it a fair shot. But I have an overdeveloped sympathetic embarrassment reflex, and I seem to recall cringing in mortification and having to bail. It was a long time ago, though, so I can’t even remember what set me off, but I do still seem to have a visceral reaction to mention of it! Perhaps I’ll try exposure therapy one of these days, but I’m not yet ready . As you say, tastes vary!

One of my go to YouTube reviewers is also positive. Perhaps some spoilers, as he gives story setup and lists some of the characters that appear in the film:

Thanks for sharing! That does sound positive, especially as he’s coming at it from the perspective of a non D&D fan. After watching that review, I’m actually now thinking I’ll venture to the cinema to see it after all, whereas I was previously thinking I’d wait for streaming options.

Another one. Raving review: “It felt shorter than it was”

Hey, even Matt Mercer got a mention. Kermode is making a valiant effort of being hip with the kids.

its messed up from a starting date point of view... all the adds say 30th March or 4 April but it came out a week ago in most places

the actual show had a lot of pointless cgi but the story is okey and the actors carry over the line for me turning a C grade movie into B

Just saw it, it's really very good. The humor was solid and Hugh, Rodrigues and Pine carried it of course. I have some minor quibbles about …


There were way too many scenes that started by ignoring "how did we get to this location with this going on", but if you ignore that stuff it's great fun. Easily the best D&D movie ever made - not that that is saying much.

Just saw it. Wonderful movie! Funny? Yes, but carried emotional weight in other places.

Absolutely packed full of subtle (and not so) D&D’isms.

Great bad guy and solid plot. Loved Hugh Grant! Ensemble cast totally worked.

5 stars!

The movie was a lot of fun.

Page 3 in the thread, come on, there's gonna be spoilers. ;-)

Are you spoiling the movie?

Tell you what, if you haven't watched the movie yet, you're missing out big time! Go on, spoil yourself.

The trailers looked like fun, and I could use some light-hearted entertainment right now. I would like to watch it with my partner and some friends, but we can not even find a date that suits everyone's schedule - this reminds me very much of our last attempt at playing D&D ...

Nope. Randomly posting a list of spoilers for a film that just came out without a spoiler tag in a thread about said film reviewing well is not normal and not cool. I’m not planning on seeing it either way, and I’m not personally that precious about spoilers, but some other people probably don’t want you giving away major plot details like that.

Would indeed steer clear of blatant spoilers. There's really no reason to not be considerate.

And yet you didn’t call out Blackheifer’s spoilers which are still there.

Care to explain?

No spoilers...but pudgy dragon just might be the cutest horrifying terror I've ever seen.

I didn’t think those were spoilers - too vague - but I can’t edit it at this point.

I’m not seeing anything I’d consider specific enough to be a spoiler in Blackheifer’s posts either, but if you can link to the post(s) you think are problematic, @FreeTheSlaves, then I can pop spoiler tags round that content too.

EDIT: I think I’ve realised which post FreeTheSlaves must have meant (and that their post was in response to it). I have not seen the film yet so don’t know how much of a spoiler talking about Sofina is (or indeed who Sofina is), but I’ll spoiler tag the specific points in Blackheifer’s post I think might be a bit tmi. @Blackheifer, I know you can’t edit the post any more as it’s time limited, but PM me if you want any further changes to what I’ve done.

Having read the post myself, there weren't just vague, they were contextless word salad that barely made sense.

Ouch!

I didn't mean it as an insult or anything. Just that without any knowledge of the movie, I don't think the post could be a spoiler because it doesn't convey information that means anything without context. It would be like saying "the diary was a horcrux" to someone who had only read the first Harry Potter book. Yes it is a spoiler technically, but without knowing what a horcrux is or what diary is being spoken of, it doesn't reveal anything.

Ha!

I mean that's what I was going for so thank you!



I don't think anything I put qualified as a spoiler either but I appreciate you doing that.

What we need is a thread in the other channel to discuss spoilers, maybe in a week or so.

I don't think this needs a spoiler tag but it solves the problem of Edgin's Lute used as a weapon.



Whew, ok, that was keeping me up at night. Would be funny if this made it into the game.

I've seen em all and they all sucked.

THIS movie was everything that I wanted in a D&D movie. I saw it with family and friends.

I rate it a 9/10.

GO SEE IT WITH FAMILY & FRIENDS!!

Its been out a week and the reviews are solid both on audience side and the critics.

Rotten Tomatoes 90% and 94% for audience
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dungeons_and_dragons_honor_among_thieves

It has a 72 Metascore on metacritic, which is very good.


Yeah, they really did.

I think it helped that the Directors - John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein are both DMs - and that they made sure to include comedic aspects to the story.

Every successful D&D Media has had comedy as part of the storytelling process. Can't wait for the sequel.

For the second time today, ban evasion is not acceptable on these forums. Alt accounts will be banned with immediate effect and posts from those accounts are subject to deletion at moderator discretion. Which has happened here, so unless you happened to spot the offending posts before they were removed, this warning will lack some context!

So for those who have seen it, - and without any spoilers - who is your favorite character and why?

For me it's Olga The Barbarian. Michelle Rodriguez absolutely killed it in that role, she has such great physicality on screen especially for someone who is only 5' 5". They also captured the class incredibly well with the "everything is a weapon" mentality.

The fight scenes with her were so well-done, funny and brutal at the same time. Can't wait to see it again.

It certainly appears as light-hearted fun that isn't too deep, but I haven't seen a movie analyst hyper-analyze, let's say, the scene with holga's former lover. The movie >could< be deeper than people assume. But if it's not then it's still fun.

Just seen this. Pleasantly surprised. Some BIG laughs in this one. Grinned all the way back from the theater.

- The XXL Dragon subverting your expectations......... and obiously exceeding his eating routines
- Hugh Grant as a villain
- Five Questions For The Dead

The action in parts was a bit Marvel-ish, but this was good entertainment. In retrospect I'm glad that they didn't just go with a more typical epic LOTR type of fantasy movie, just set on the Sword Coast or wherever.

I saw the movie now too. It was really good and felt like a typical D&D adventure group.
I loved the tiefling druid, since that was a concept, I was toying with for a while.
The scene with the Intellekt devourers was really funny 😁

I also finally got around to seeing it and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. It really nailed the feeling of D&D.

I especially love how they portrayed a Paladin. Completely badass but also utterly insufferable.

I’m bummed that the movie didn’t do better in the box office. This seems like sort of movie that would have definitely found it’s audience and earned enough money to justify a sequel back in the days of home video releases, but only pulling in $200 million in ticket sales in 2023 might prohibit another film. Really a shame.

Not doing well in the box office is a bad thing. WotC put alot strategically into it. Other than BG3 their licensing strategy has been pretty bad. I would really love to see them use the license more liberally and let many flowers bloom like Games Workshop has done with the WH license. No real short term impact on BG ,3 but less network effect and a less successful license owner can lead to less of a long term overall impact.

$200 Million so far with a $150 Million budget - which vastly exceeded expectations. That's just Box office - there are other tie-ins that we won't have the numbers for. They already have a series planned which Paramount+ has agreed to distribute and they are discussing a sequel or other films now in the same universe.

Also, it released 2 months ago, we have not seen home purchase sales or rentals yet (they just became available a few days ago) and it's not on any streaming service. So all told I think you can probably expect another couple hundred million out of this from everything.

To be fair, this movie had to compete against the bulldozer that is the Mario movie. Even with the DnD movie having a big critical success and the Mario movie barely having a plot, people will always flock to the most recognizable and marketed one. At least we can expect a long term success as an underrated gem and this will spawn sequels in better times.

Regarding the Mario movie, its a kids movie and kids movies have an in-built advantage. For every kid who wants to see it, you sell at least two tickets, one for the child and one for their chaperone.

$200 million is not exceeding expectations. That is a significant underperformance. With ticket sales, only about half of the price goes to the studio, and that $150 budget probably doesn’t include marketing, so the movie is very much in the red.

True, it needs to hit about $400 million worldwide to be truly profitable or 2.5x it's production budget.

Again, though, there are a LOT of tie ins for this movie where the movie acts as a form of marketing. Hasbro is making a bet on this increasing interest in D&D's other properties and improving sales. Then you still have Rental and purchase sales and streaming sales.

Three things though that - in my opinion - make this film successful.

1) The show has a 90% on RT - which is really excellent. A record for D&D movies.

2) The 38 Million it made opening weekend exceeded the studios expectations on this.

3) There is already additional content planned, and sold to a distributor as I mentioned before.

I certainly hope that it does pull in enough revenue to warrant a sequel, but it’s going to be an uphill climb. Even if there were already plans to expand the franchise, a poor first showing will scare away a studio like nothing else. WotC already scrapped their plans for more D&D games aside from BG3. The reception of the movie could very well push them in the same direction.

Nay. that's a big flop. General rule of thumb is to double production budget to account for marketing - the more expensive the film, the more cash will be spend to sell it. So the film would need to make more or less $300m to break even.

For example Blade Runner 2049 costed similar amount to produce (&155 million), it made $240 million worldwide, and greatly underperformed - it was reported it would need to make about $400million to break even.

Not all of the money the movie will make will come back to studio who makes the film. Rule of the thumb is to count 1/2 of domestic gross and 1/3 of worldwide gross.

I wanted to enjoy it - but it was just bad - not sure what I was expecting but to much one liners & not much else - very disappointed

I (finally) watched Honor among thieves today, and I really enjoyed myself, I think it is a very good and very entertaining movie (I think it doesn't always has to be Oscar-worthy drama to be a "good" movie).

It was funny, warm-hearted and cute (yes, that's maybe a weird adjective by which to describe a magical heist movie 😄) To me, it felt like a D&D campaign brought to the big screen, with a great ensemble cast.

I liked the attention to detail, e.g. you can see the Tears of Selûne (I immediately had to think of Lae'zel), or very briefly some little rust monsters fighting over scraps in the streets.
I loved to see all the D&D creatures, and to see the spells in action. I don't want to spoiler too much, but there is a lot to be seen.

Spoiler alert for an easter egg (I don't know if this has already been mentioned, so spoiler tags just in case):

I'm hoping for a sequel, and once the movie is on streaming platforms, it's going to be my cinematic comfort food.

It looks like it is streaming now on Paramount+ !😊

I really would love to see a sequel, I really liked that group.

Well, since Honest Trailer is here ...
It feels only fair to post this aswell:

Thank you for the information! I must admit that I didn't even knew Paramount has their own streaming service. Maybe I will have to buy it then, signing up for yet another one is a bit too expensive on the long run.


Me too, I would love to see them going on more adventures together.

Thanks for the tip - was able to see it with a trial subscription. Yaaah.

It was great fun! Was interesting to see the similarities between the way the underdark was portrayed in the movie and the game. And it was just nice to see locations like Icewind Dale appear on the screen.

The eyes (go for'em, Boo!) of the dude do not inspire confidence ...
Am going to a theatre with my Baby Boy on the Saturday. Will comment on the movie then.

Me and Sweet Pea both enjoyed it. Our expectations were not high, though.
A very well made B movie.
Pudgy dragon was The Best! And Miss Evul!too!

While watching it I kept on thinking - how coordinated are BG3 and the movie by WotC's marketing department? I mean, the cute white Owlbear?

I genuinely liked the movie, I truly hope it’s successful and we will see more big budget cinema about Forgotten Realms.

Me too. And I'm glad RagnorokCzD posted Greenwood's review - I didn't even know he had a channel! Been listening - his realms is the realms I really like. I just enjoy the childlike glee he communicates and enjoy his stories about cities having a new sense of hope and being united in a vision of all species living together side by side.

Also found it interesting that he disagrees with Hasbro on what is cannon - apparently he seems to think that a legal agreement he signed makes the novels cannon.

BTW - what was the birdman on the Parole Review Panel?
Gave me bad vibes reminding me of the petting zoo freakshow of Star Wars.

Pretty sure it is an aarakokra. It can't be a kenku considering is has wings.

Thanks!
Aarakokra?
Never heard of them ...
Oh, what about the cat people? Sir Anal Retentive pulled their (miraculously still alive) baby from the fish's throat ...

Those are tabaxis! There are tons of animal based races in DnD.
https://screenrant.com/dungeons-dragons-5e-playable-races-real-animals/

Took me long enough ... so i dont really know if anyone still cares about the movie. :-/
But i finaly seen it!

And i must say, im not disapointed ... but honestly after all that praise everyone was singing, i somehow expected ... i dunno, just more.

I mean ... it was great movie.
Action was great, jokes were great (and they didnt disrupt the movie, wich i find quite rare lately), story was ... well, clasic, but good ... chacters were great.

I just cant help the feeling that something was missing, as if i somehow lost half of the movie.

Like the arena ... yes, it was great, lots of refferences, lots of cool stuff, great jokes, great action, yada yada ... but honestly, was was its point? :-/
Same thing basicaly every time the Bard meet his daughter, characters (and no offence but ... as they often do in American films) do or say litteraly anything, but the most logical and natural thing ... the truth!
Ofc, i understand there had to be lots of lore explanation for audience that never seen DnD before ... but there was A LOT of that.
And finaly ... final boss ... i mean, it was GREAT plan, but execution was ... i dunno, just not satisfying enough. :-/

Its still solid 8/10 for me ...
But i dunno, i feel like it could be so much better. :-/
Maybe in few years, as all cut scenes leak out, or will be released as some Premium users bonus content.

I hear you, it's not a perfect film - like it's not Citizen Cane or The Godfather or Lord of the Rings.

It helps if you judge it in context of previous D&D films which have all been hot garbage, and a lot of RPG fantasy movie adaptations have been pretty terrible...ever watch the World of Warcraft movie? - it's shit...easily the worst of the worst.

I wasn't expecting Casablanca, and was hoping for halfway decent and thus I was happy that it exceeded my expectations.

Yeah ...
Even tho i still think that for their time, they were quite good ... not superb, just not terible either.

Anlso ... old DnD movie got us priceless pearls ... like this scene:
xD

I did ...
And i have mixed feelings about it.

I think person who have little to none knowledge about Warcraft universe could really enjoy it ... from visual sides, there was not really much to complain about ... sure, some weapons and armors were ridiculous, but they were exactly as ridiculous as they allways was in Warcraft.
+ There was really lots of easter eggs for casual players.

But then there are people who DO know lore ... and we suffered every second of that story.

I think Warcraft movie had potential ...
Could be like ten times better, if they wouldnt pick "Michael Bay approach" (meaning explosions, action, another explosions, lots of cuts, explosions, fast scenes, explosions, chaotic camera movement, explosions, cgi, explosions ... did i mention explosions?).
And if they would decide to make it 2 part movie and SLOOOOOOW down.

I wanted to stream D&D this weekend, but it's not available in my country. It's a bit annoying that they make it harder to pay for something legally than find it illegally.

For me it was a passable 6/10. Many of the best scenes I have already seen in the trailer. So the film could not surprise me anymore. But that was also due to the design of the trailer. I've seen many trailers for other movies, but they didn't give so much away and the movies still had moments of surprise. The jokes were just on the limit of being okay. Some dialogues, on the other hand, crossed a red line for me as they used a way too modern language and / or behavior (coolness) and thus tore me out of immersion. Sometimes it was very well timed, other times just too over the top.

It was bad on a technical level, on a narrative level, and on a performance level. Bad directing, bad script, and bad acting.

They had so many great stories to work with here. Imagine taking the point of view as a new undead, and showing the existential horror and emptiness of that existence from a first person perspective. It could have been a series with multiple POV stories that start to intertwine.

Anyway, just saying in the context of these sorts of things Honor Among Thieves was pretty solid.

let's just say I liked 'Dungeons and Dragons' the movie (2000), so I'm not exactly a discerning critic lol. I just want cheesy fantasy fun.

Like ...
When you played as Sylvanas in W3 ?

Jokes aside ... this is awesome idea, but something you can afford do with established trademark ... no studio will start their universe with something this controversial ...
First you need few blockbusters, to get few trillions ... only after they would be willing to try something that may be for ... lets say more specific audience.

I confess that I liked the previous movies as well. It's just a state of mind you put yourself in. Sometimes you want a frito pie. Is good food? No. Good for your health? Oh hell no. Or, in the long run, your body image or a dozen other things.

Don't compare that to some Michelin restaurant and you'll be happy. If it sounds like I'm advocating for letting your standards take a holiday you're exactly right. Your standards will be waiting for you when you return ( although they may give you that same injured look your cat does when you return from night out)

But - having admitted I liked blue lipstick DnD - this was clearly the best. It was probably a little better than the last Guardians of the Galaxy movie.

What @KillerRabbit wrote - my mindset was "Imma watch a B movie" and I was happy with the fare

The consquences then are on them.

You could buy the steel box blue ray & 4k set with digital download like I did (even though I watched the movie in the Threater).

PS anyone else want the full version of the cloth map of Faerun shown in the movie.

Yup. Agree with @KillerRabbit and @Boblawblah. Movies are always only about entertainment for me. I couldn't care less about quality writing or directing or whatever in a movie, and especially don't care about movies as "art." And cheese and silly humor are perfectly fine in movies. I also liked the old D&D movies, and will continue to like D&D movies so long as they continue to cater to ordinary people and NOT the stupid-ass movie critics.

I mean, thats fair. A lot of movies don't require anything from the audience and I can enjoy those movies too. Also I wasn't making the case that D&D movies were any sort of high Art, nor was I really holding them to that standard.

Zoolander 2 was a shit movie but I still dressed up as Mugatu and had fun. Plan 9 from Outer Space is so bad that it's become a cult classic - it's unintentionally hilarious. The standard for these movies has only ever been entertainment, and that's all I am judging them by. Watching Jeremy Irons - who is a seriously talented actor - an award winning, classically trained, Shakespearean actor basically tear up the scenery with overacting is in itself really funny shit...oh Jeremy, how did this happen my friend?

This is all completely separate from Film that allows you to engage with it as entertainment or engage with it as art. Alien, BladeRunner, and Total Recall are great examples. You can just enjoy them as entertainment or you can step into the work and engage in critical analysis and analyze/discover mise en scène, thematic elements, homages and/or you can compare it to other films.

So yeah - I can look at a film and be like "Yeah it's total trash, completely lacking any subtext or thematic consistency but it's still entertaining." So to clarify, I found D&D: Honor among Thieves to have been the MOST entertaining of the lot. It did a great job blending humor and tragedy and getting you to feel invested in the characters - but I also feel my reaction to it was what the Directors intended. Where in previous movies the hilarity was less intentional.