Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles (2008/E1/Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B Extras: C Telefilm: C+
In the
beautiful and peaceful kingdom
of Carpia the peace is
broken when a Fire Dragon starts to terrorize the land. Princess Luisa (Amy Acker) goes off in search
of a legendary knight who was the only one to defeat a dragon, but instead she
find his son, Gabriel. Gabriel along
with his friend/teacher Sangimel (John Rhys-Davies) summons an Ice Dragon to
fight the Fire Dragon... but which ever dragon wins is Carpia still doomed?
Catwoman director Pitof gives us Fire & Ice: The Dragon Chronicles
(2008, not to be confused with the Bakshi animated feature from 1983). Princess Luisa is a headstrong, adventurous
girl, but when her kingdom is in danger she searches for a fallen knight whom
has been banished from the kingdoms. Unbeknownst
to her the truth was Fire Dragon was released from a neighboring kingdom, who
was using the Fire Dragon to extort her father to give up his kingdom. Unfortunately for her she discovers the knight
has already passed away, her only hope lies in Gabriel, his son. Gabriel uses
the knowledge his father taught him and the aid of his mentor/alchemist
Sangimel to combat the dragons and stop the takeover of Carpia.
This TV movie uses classic archetype medieval fantasy characters in the movie Fire & Ice. If you like fantasy this film has dragons, a
tomboy princess, a disgraced knight's son, a good and bad king, and an evil
advisor. It was all predictable and I
saw the plot coming a mile away. As for
the special effects and dragons themselves, most of the movie scenes were
beautiful, but it looked like CGI, and the dragons looked more like
oversized stingrays. The film had
more than a few famous actors such as Amy Acker (Angel), John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings,
Sliders),
Arnold Vosloo (The
Mummy), but a good movie takes more than just famous actors,
decent costumes and a few good one liners, the story and
plot lacked subtlety, and it's overuse of CGI took some of the realism
away. The 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High
Definition image is a bit weak, especially with all the digital effects used,
but the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix is actually really good for a
TV production and the highlight of the Blu-ray.
Extras include making of the movie and trailers.
For the
1983 Fire & Ice animated Ralph
Bakshi/Frank Frazetta Blu-ray, you can go to this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10754/Fire+and+Ice+(1983/Blue+Undergrou
- Ricky Chiang
