In 1981, Disney released Dragonslayer, a grim, dark, gritty fantasy film that was intended to be a showcase of state-of-the-art special effects. What tends to get lost, however, is the story itself which is yet another variation of the hero-quest in which an apprentice magician finds his destiny. In and of itself, there isn’t much behind the premise of the film to make it worth the time to view it — beyond the appeal of, perhaps, nostalgia. Fortunately, the immersive quality of the film’s setting, as well as the sinister design of the dragon, named Vermithrax, provide enough impetus to make Dragonslayer memorable — even if, ultimately, it’s an average film.

Considering how much emphasis is placed on the special effects of Dragonslayer, it’s interesting to note just how convincingly it portrays not only its grimy setting, but the magic that takes place in such a setting. The aged wizard, Ulrich (Ralph Richardson), goes about his business of dimming candles, lighting flames, and conjuring objects with a simple realism. There’s a triumph in simplicity to it all, effectively evoking a very plausible world of sorcery. In fact, this is easily one of the strengths of the film. The realm of Urland is a palpable, plausible place, even with its fantastical elements. For its time, the “dark” portrayal was uncommon and striking.

Many of the characters, too, are plausible enough. It’s not difficult to accept that Ulrich is a wise and powerful wizard, that King Casiodorus (Peter Eyre) would be an ruthless opportunistic tyrant, or that Valerian (Caitlin Clarke) would be a strong female character in a world in which virgin girls were still be sacrificed to appease an ancient dragon. Unfortunately, the film’s main character, the wizard’s apprentice Galen (Peter MacNicol) is not quite up to the task of carrying the film. It’s true that his character isn’t meant to be one of classic heroic physical prowess or leadership. Galen begins as an almost timid child and ends as a man, completing a worthy character arc. But the actor’s portrayal borders on being an grating combination of arrogance and clumsiness. He’s just not likable enough.

The story itself moves at a fairly consistent and engaging pace. And, in fact, the long slow buildup to the reveal of the the dragon, Vermithrax Pejorative, is a worthy one. The strength of the story is its relative simplicity. It’s all about the menace of just one dragon — about how the realm of Urland goes about appeasing the dragon and how Galen, with help from Valerian and others, goes about trying to rid the world of the dragon once and for all. The story goes a long way to helping the film overcome the detriment of its main character — Galen’s unrelenting attempts to kill Vermithrax, even after some spectacular failure’s is admirable. And, of course, the dragon itself is a fearsome creature, nicely evoking equal measures of awe and terror.

But much like the character of Galen, Vermithrax is a mixed bag of success. The design and reveal of the dragon are exceptional. There are also some fairly realistic portrayals of the beast. But the “go-motion” (a variation of stop-motion) technique used to animate the dragon clashes rather harshly with the realism the film uses to portray its setting and the rest of the magic in the film. It’s simply a matter of a gulf too wide to breach. While the effects may have been stunning in 1981, they certainly have not aged well. And unlike the original Clash of the Titans, which was an exercise in using a specific visual effect to tell a story, the monster visuals in Dragonslayer run contrary to the realism of the rest of the film. The result is that the film’s climactic moments seem less ominous than they might otherwise have been.

Also worth mentioning is that the movie has a thematic message: Namely that magic, while oftentimes wondrous, is also a source of the world’s greatest evils. The death of Vermithrax also signals the end of mysticism and magic in Urland, which are replaced with religion. And not just any religion, mind you — Christianity is explicitly prominent (portrayed by Brother Jacopus — a youn Ian McDiarmid). What’s interesting is that while Christianity claims a “victory” over the satanic Vermithrax, the movie is pretty clear that the dragon was slain by the combined efforts of Galen, Valerian, and Ulrich.

Overall Grade: C+

Dragonslayer is a film that, minus the obvious effects for the dragon, doesn’t show much age thanks to its realistic portrayals of settings and characters. Unfortunately, the main character is an anchor and the visuals are just to glaring against the film’s realism. Furthermore, the score, by Alex North, is an unpleasant cacophony of dissonance. I honestly don’t know how the score could have been nominated for an Academy Award. It’s like listening to a singing dragon.

An final note:  According to wikipedia, Guillermo del Toro had this to say about the dragon, “One of the best and one of the strongest landmarks [of dragon movies] that almost nobody can overcome is Dragonslayer. The design of the Vermithrax Pejorative is perhaps one of the most perfect creature designs ever made.”  Because del Toro was instrumental in helping design the dragon Smaug for the upcoming Hobbit films, it’ll be interesting to see how closely Smaug resembles, or draws inspiration from, Vermithrax.

Topics: Fantasy, Film Review
Filed under: Film

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