The Flight Of
Dragons (1982/Warner Bros. Archive Collection DVD)
Picture: D Sound: C+ Extras: D Rating: C+
The world
of magic is fading, as the world of man increases comes the new age of logic
and science. The Green Wizard Carolinus
and the remaining wizard's attempt to create a magic realm to save the
remaining magic and enchanted creatures, except for the Red Wizard Ommadon. Ommadon decides rather than disappear, to
destroy the world of man and rule with evil magic forever. Carolinus summons a group of adventurers on a
final quest to stop Ommadon; ironically the ancients bring a man from the
future to save the past.
This is
an old animated production and it shows; the story main character is Peter who
is sent back in time to save the realm of man and magic. As the civilization of man increases so does
their machines and technologies, destroying the realm of nature which is
tied to realm of magic. The Wizard
Ommadon refuses for magic to fade without a fight and decides rather than to fade,
it is the world of man that must be destroyed. Peter along with a dragon, knight, ranger, elf
and other enchanted beings begin their quest to stop the evil wizard Ommadon by
stealing his magic red crown, the source his powers. Armed with his companions and his wits, logic
and modern sciences Peter overcomes various monsters, trials to the land of Ommadon.
From
Warner Brother's Archive Collection comes the animated 1982 Flight of Dragons,
an early film in of the cycle we can call “dungeons and dragons”; good for
family and children of all ages. It
seems to have only been released very belatedly in 1986 and went completely
unnoticed; made towards the end of the Rankin-Bass production company’s
reign. Besides hand-drawn animation,
they are best known for their stop motion Holiday TV specials and now cult
features like Mad Monster Party?
(1967, reviewed elsewhere on this site), but this did not become even that much
a hit.
Taking
old legends and mixing them with a modern twist by bring a character from modern
day; oddly enough the character uses logic and science to explain (amusingly)
the magic realm and aids the quest against the evil wizard. With the songs and characters and voice
actions such as Victor Buono, James Earl Jones, John Ritter, James Gregory,
Harry Morgan, Larry Storch, Don Messnick, Paul Frees and more..., the film
reminds me of older animated features of the time including The Hobbit and The Last Unicorn.
As an
older film production, the DVD shows much dust from the animation cells in its
1.33 X 1 frame which I weaker than expected, but after a while, you don't even
notice it anymore when you get caught up with the story. This still needs some serious
restoration. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
is better, but still shows the age of the film and has the expected harmonic
distortion. With all the computer
graphics nowadays, it is refreshing once in a while to get away from all the
special effects and enjoy old school animation and story telling. There are no extras.
You can
order this and other Archive releases at this link:
www.warnerarchive.com
-
Ricky Chiang
