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Rating:  - Somewhat disappointing sequel
The story, cast and characters of this sequel are very much up to the original, but the digital animation simply is not anywhere the equal of the first. Sadly, the new star digital character simply does not inspire the same awe as it does in the first.
I enjoyed the first one so much, I had to have this one anyway.
Rating:  - Draco would not approve of this.
I am not someone who hates sequals. I absolutly hate the first Dragonheart it is a masterpiece. Great effects, great story, sad ending. It is a five star movie all the way. This is horible. First of all the effects are awful. Many dragon films form the 1960s looked better. Drake looks like a cartoon. The plot is worse then the effects. It involves finding a dragon egg. Where did he come from. The first said draco was the last one. Now this movie said he wasn't. THIS RUINS THE FIRST MOVIE. The acting stinks. I can't believe anyone over the age of 5 would like this... Watch the first Dragonheart.
Rating: - Direct-to-video "sequel" changes focus to target the young
After watching "Rising Sun" last night I had the luck to spot "Dragonheart: A New Beginning" on the Sci-fi channel. I've always been a fan of Dragons, and the original Dragonheart made such an impact on me that I just had to see this sequel, no matter the fact that it was billed as a 'family movie'.
...
The original Dragonheart was a masterpiece of a comedic tragedy; it dealt with issues like fun, friendship, love and spirituality, yet it also covered racial violence, genocide, guilt, sacrifice, and death. The end is a tear-jerker for a lot of people.
By contrast, "Dragonheart: A New Beginning" comes across as a movie that would be suitable for kids as young as 7-8 if they're not frightened by no-gore violence and characters getting put in "scary" situations. When I say no-gore violence I am specifically referring to the only "battle" seen in the movie where the only blood you see is on the tip of one spear. There are also a couple kung-fu fights. But, while there are a lot of bodies, you don't see any blood!
Being a family movie, everything is naturally light-hearted and never too serious because most of the action is predictable. However, this comes back to bite it in the climax of the movie as some of the characters act way out of character.
The main human character is Geoff (a stable boy at a monastery) who discovers and "makes friends with" the young naïve dragon Drake.
"Dragonheart: A New Beginning" comes in at 85 minutes in contrast to the 103 minutes of the original, and unfortunately you will notice it - there is not enough real character development between Drake and Geoff to show us why they would care for each other in the way that they do at the end. Up until the end, the relationship between the two is strictly kid/pet, with Geoff being cocky and self-centered and taking advantage of his close friendship to the naïve dragon to advance himself, which the bad guy plays on. Eventually, the desires of the bad guy are revealed and Geoff ends up `saving' Drake from a deadly situation which Geoff got him into in the first place, and Drake saves him while they both escape.
After their escape from the bad guy and directly up to the final confrontation is a long scene in which the secondary characters escape from their predicament and uncover another facet of the bad guy's plot. While the scene itself is decently done and doesn't need to be cut, it overwhelms the escape scene. It would have been much better for the entire movie if the escape scene beforehand had been expanded to show the forging of a true friendship between Geoff and Drake. As it is, in the climax when Drake makes his `fatal choice' between good and evil there is no indication that their kid/pet relationship has changed.
A couple people have commented on "bad acting" but I have to disagree. If you look at how the actors show their emotions and believe in their characters it's easy to ignore any technical problems and forget that they're actors - a big plus.
On the other hand, imperfect directing, scripting and editing have led to some nasty plot holes and characters getting out of character in moments that make you want to scream "WHY DOESN'T S/HE...?!". One example of a minor plot hole is when Drake discovers the typical knight/dragon relationship (i.e. dragonslaying) and the entire issue is swept under the rug. While we as the audience feel sorry for Drake as being the last of his kind and feel anger or guilt towards the activities which killed his race, we never really see Drake respond to the issue, which is a let-down for those of us interested in seeing the movie deal with more serious issues. Drake also gets FAR TOO LITTLE AIRTIME, making him seem to be a very two-dimensional character in contrast with the beautiful performance of Draco in the first film.
On the technical side, the design of the dragon is very good, the locations and costumes are decently medieval, and the choreography is amazing for a direct-to-video film. Drake is well-animated most of the time, though his CGI never totally blends with the live-action characters in the way that Draco's did, and some additional CGI in the end seems below Drake's level of refinement.
Overall, the movie's light-hearted tone and musical score, simplistic structure, predictability, transparent characters and surreal childish CGI dragon, not to mention the plot holes that keep it from standing up to the criticisms of adults, lead this movie to be a solid 4/5 star contender with the younger audience in general, 5/5 for being the only good dragon film for kids too young to handle the original Dragonheart, and a 3/5 for everyone else.
Personally, I liked it. :)
Rating:  - Draco, meet Drake. Drake, meet Draco...
How do you spell "DragonHeart: A New Beginning"? A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, that's how.
Clearly the animation is better in the original "DragonHeart", but Drake, star dragon of this movie, looks real enough, if not a little cartoonish.
The movie itself is clearly aimed at younger audiences, but I would not reccomend it for children under seven.
The story itself is pretty straightforward. A bad guy wants to kill the king and take his place. To top it all off, he wants Drake's heart.
Luckily for all of you more serious Dragonheart fans, there are many twists and turns to tickle you silly. There are also some silly jokes (one of my favorites being when Drake's fire comes out the wrong end), but the blood and gore is minimal, which disoppointed me somewhat. But just about everything else in the movie made it where I hardly even noticed it.
Geoff is a stable boy who dreams of someday becoming a knight. When he discovers Drake in the dungeon the eager boy and the somewhat shy dragon become fast friends.
And the ending has a strong chance of making you cry, though not nearly as much as you are likely to cry at the ending of the original.
All in all, "DragonHeart: A New Beginning" is a great movie for the family.
Rating: - Kind, Friendly and Enjoyable
Sure this movie has some bad acting and low budget animation, but I don't care about that. The plot was very good, it was touching, and the end was very pleasing. The only thing that bugs me is that it hardly seems like it's a sequal to the original, because the draogn is young and doesn't have the wisdom of Draco from the original, but it is still good. The movie is probably meant for a younger audience, but I think people of all ages would enjoy this movie.
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