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I'm not sure how many of you already had heard something about this, but it was new to me. So my brother directed me to a website for the animated Dragonlance movie. It talks about the director, writer, some of the voice actors (inlcuding Lucy Lawless and Michael Rosenbaum), and some other bits and pieces. Looks like if all goes well, the release date will be somewhere around Fall 2007.
Anyway, for those who might not already know, the website is www.dragonlance-movie.com
From the site:
The Film
An animated version of Dragons of Autumn Twlight is being produced for a worldwide commercial theatrical release.
Director
The film is being directed by Will Meugniot, whose credits include "The X-Men" and "The Real Ghostbusters".
Writer
The screenplay has been adapted by George Strayton, whose credits include "Cleopatria 2525", "Xena: Warrior Princess" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys".
Production Companies
The film is being produced by Toonz Animation, Commotion Pictures and Epic Level Entertainment, with conceptual artwork from Kunoichi and others. Kickstart Entertainment is managing the pre-production process and Paramount Pictures will be looking after worldwide distribution.
Release Date
Autumn 2007 (northern hemisphere)
Cast
Casting for the Dragonlance movie is currently underway. At present, the following cast members have been confirmed:
Tanis Half-Elven - Michael Rosenbaum
Goldmoon - Lucy Lawless
Tasslehoff Burrfoot - Jason Marsden
Crew
Screenwriter - George Strayton
Creative Consultants - Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Producing Team - Steve Stabler, Cindi Rice, John Frank Rosenblum, Arthur Cohen
What animation style will be used? Last Updated 27-Jun-2006
The animation will be a 2D/3D hybrid, using an artwork style similar to that of the Dragonlance comics.
There you go, 'Zombie. As you are not the Network Nazi at your company and cannot freely access such sites. (The power! Mwah-hah-hah!)
Let's hope it doesn't suck.
Let's hope it doesn't suck.
Amen to that. Let's not have another D&D movie fiasco.
Please. By all that is holy, and in the name of EGG.
Well I looked at Toons Animation and it's hardly stunning. From the examples there it looks like the guys who did Smurfs will be doing this. Not kidding--that really is about the best summation of the art style, which is a shame because with something like this a watchable artistic style is a really crucial thing and I really can't imagine this will be very watchable no matter how good the voices or the writing are.
Anyway here's hoping...
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Well I looked at Toons Animation and it's hardly stunning. From the examples there it looks like the guys who did Smurfs will be doing this. Not kidding--that really is about the best summation of the art style, which is a shame because with something like this a watchable artistic style is a really crucial thing and I really can't imagine this will be very watchable no matter how good the voices or the writing are.
Anyway here's hoping...
I always thought kenders and smurfs were the same, so this would actually make some kind of cosmic sense...
My gut instinct tells me it's gonna suck. But, I'll end up seeing it. Probably twice.
It's about time something from TSR/WotC gets the star treatment.
I'm holding onto hope. The bar has been set pretty high lately with certain movies (cartoon and otherwise), so I hope the creators keep that in mind.
I always hoped the first DL movie would be a cartoon. I'm excited.
If I'm understanding things correctly, and I may be vastly wrong about this, Toonz sounds like an outsource house to handle all the tedious tasks of in-betweening the animation, while the actual design & look is being handled by other people.
The Toonz website does not inspire confidence in me - maybe because it's the hives I get from a site that's completely made out of Flash.
*offers prayers to Paladine and Takhisis that their movie won't be crap, but more in the vein of Final Fantasy: Advent Children, which should have been released on the big screen*
Hi All,
I have to agree with Cosmo and say that I really don’t have any hope that this will be good.
That said, I wanted to add that the comics released by Devil’s Due Publishing have been well rendered and capture the feel of Dragon Lance fairly well. However, I wasn’t as impressed with their Drizzt series, though it is not terrible.
Finally, another animated movie series worth checking out is the original Record of Lodoss War. It has everything a good campaign possesses and has some stunning animation sequences. If you get the chance, I highly recommend checking it out. In addition, there are a remake/follow up series entitled Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight and Legend of Crystannia. Both are decent, but not as good as the original in my opinion.
Good gaming,
Mark.
Well I looked at Toons Animation and it's hardly stunning. From the examples there it looks like the guys who did Smurfs will be doing this. Not kidding--that really is about the best summation of the art style, which is a shame because with something like this a watchable artistic style is a really crucial thing and I really can't imagine this will be very watchable no matter how good the voices or the writing are.
Anyway here's hoping...
They should have done it in the same style as Walking with Dinosaurs. I mean if your going to have a flight of Blue Dragons winging it around the High Clerists Towers it out to be utterly spectacular.
This sounds like it may not be what we really want, which is too bad because I think this material really has a lot going for it in a movie format.
What's going to make this movie suck, I fear, is the fact that the movie makers have to explain the set up and presumptions to the non-gamer audience (which will turn them off and make the movie fail and be considered sucky by the gamer crowd)
In the books, the authors have the room to do this...in the game modules the DM and players knew they were going to play D&D...in the movie all the presumptive knowledge of the audience has to be provided in a few minutes or it's going to bomb....
....it's going to bomb....(please let my prediction be wrong)
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Come on guys, let's not get too down on this yet. To qoute a not-so-well-known movie charcter, "Always with the negative waves." Its still early. We can hope that these (I hesitate to use the term) people at WotC will not allow something beloved by fans (and customers) to be made into a travesty of modern cinema. And we can also hope that Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickamn will not allow one of their most beloved creations be blasphemed. Let's try to be positive.
What's going to make this movie suck, I fear, is the fact that the movie makers have to explain the set up and presumptions to the non-gamer audience (which will turn them off and make the movie fail and be considered sucky by the gamer crowd)
In the books, the authors have the room to do this...in the game modules the DM and players knew they were going to play D&D...in the movie all the presumptive knowledge of the audience has to be provided in a few minutes or it's going to bomb....
....it's going to bomb....(please let my prediction be wrong)
Well if the format is that the first movie is just going to be Dragons of Autumn Twilight then they have enough room to explain the details. The catch is if they have what it takes to make explaining of the details in this Krynn epic in a cool manner. Krynn and this particular tale only makes sense if you understand the background from the Cataclysm etc.
Mainly I'm concerned with the idea of making this an animation flick – nothing against cartoons ... just saw The Incredibles the other day and it was great but I strongly question if this material works with that format. This is an epic of Good and Evil and one wants to come away understanding that the nature of Good is that it redeems its own and that Evil feeds on itself (but it also feeds on Good). I question whether an animated flick can convey some of these aspects in an impactful manner.
In the end Tolkien's work could never effectively be portrayed as a kids movie (despite some attempts to do so) and I would contend that the same holds true for the Dragonlance Epic.
Weiss and Hickman are supposed to be heavily involved in the process. They have always produced quality work...so that is on the plus side.
I'm so-so on the animation of the movie vs some real cinema. Can LoTR be done again? I thought that DL had that chance. Animation is the 'safer' route to take.
In recent years there have been some high quality animations done on TV that I have really enjoyed watching. It is my hope that this will be the case here. I think the voice actors will be very important.
There are just some emotional aspects that lose intensity in an animation so I hope they are thinking about that.
I'm always hopeful that our beloved D&D will make that QUALITY jump to the big screen. DL seemed to be the ticket if it is done right. I have to admit when I read the words animation I was disappointed immediately not because there can't be good animations but because I thought DL deserved better. K. I've rambled enough.
Everyone knows non-Japanese animation sucks. Nippon ichiban! ;)
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Mainly I'm concerned with the idea of making this an animation flick – nothing against cartoons ... just saw The Incredibles the other day and it was great but I strongly question if this material works with that format. This is an epic of Good and Evil and one wants to come away understanding that the nature of Good is that it redeems its own and that Evil feeds on itself (but it also feeds on Good). I question whether an animated flick can convey some of these aspects in an impactful manner.
In the end Tolkien's work could never effectively be portrayed as a kids movie (despite some attempts to do so) and I would contend that the same holds true for the Dragonlance Epic.
The way I see it though, is that too many people think of Animation as strictly for kid movies. This does not have to be the case. Adult themes can be used in animation, look at the Animatrix, or Heavy Metal, just to name a few.
Heavy Metal? Ahhhh, thanks for another fond memory from the 1980's--midnight movies....Heavy Metal was quite good in its day....loved it and all the memories I have surrounding it.
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Everyone knows non-Japanese animation sucks. Nippon ichiban! ;)
I like anime as much as the next guy, but how dare you insult the great animation of the Loony Tunes. Blasphemer! I hope Elmer Fudd didn't hear that, or he's likely to pay you a visit with his "spear and magic helmet".
And Disney has done some pretty cool shit over the years: Snow White, Fantasia, even some parts of Beauty and the Beast
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Heavy Metal? Ahhhh, thanks for another fond memory from the 1980's--midnight movies....Heavy Metal was quite good in its day....loved it and all the memories I have surrounding it.
I once purposely set my alarm for like 2:00 in the morning, because Heavy Metal was coming on HBO and I wanted to watch it/tape it with the VCR.
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Well if the format is that the first movie is just going to be Dragons of Autumn Twilight then they have enough room to explain the details. The catch is if they have what it takes to make explaining of the details in this Krynn epic in a cool manner. Krynn and this particular tale only makes sense if you understand the background from the Cataclysm etc.
Mainly I'm concerned with the idea of making this an animation flick – nothing against cartoons ... just saw The Incredibles the other day and it was great but I strongly question if this material works with that format. This is an epic of Good and Evil and one wants to come away understanding that the nature of Good is that it redeems its own and that Evil feeds on itself (but it also feeds on Good). I question whether an animated flick can convey some of these aspects in an impactful manner.
In the end Tolkien's work could never effectively be portrayed as a kids movie (despite some attempts to do so) and I would contend that the same holds true for the Dragonlance Epic.
bolded emphasis mine...
i would highly recommend you watch at least some of the following movies.
Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" & "Spirited Away"
The Wachowski Bro.'s "Animatrix"
Katsuhiro Otomo's "Akira"
Mamoru Oshii's "Ghost in the Shell"
Rintaro's "Metropolis" (Metoroporisu in Japanese)
all of which have deep philosphical underpinnings, serious writing, and adult situations plaguing (mostly) 3-dimensional characters. (the dialogue can get a little ham-handed sometimes, but that is usually an artifact of the translation from the original, rather than a true indication of sophomoric intent)
granted, most are not American, but then again, we're supposed to be a world community, no?
of course, the DL movie will quite likely bite, as we were shown with not 1 but 2 awful Dungeons & Dragons movies.
please don't rag on animation, it gets enough guff already.
namaste'
the hamster
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In the end Tolkien's work could never effectively be portrayed as a kids movie (despite some attempts to do so) and I would contend that the same holds true for the Dragonlance Epic.
I don't recall the animated LotR movies as being particularly aimed toward children. Not all animation is meant for kids. Even Disney has made PG and PG-13 animated movies (although, with the exception of Lilo & Stitch, they were only so-so in many respects). (Yes, Jacobs, I mentioned L&S for you.) Or, if you want to argue the point further, I'll point at The Simpsons, Futurama, Ren and Stimpy, Family Guy, and South Park (note that I'm not discussing the quality of the material here, as I personally despise those last two). :D
My big hope for this movie is that isn't done in the crappy Ralph Bakshi rotoscoping style of his LotR movie. ;D
My big hope for this movie is that isn't done in the crappy Ralph Bakshi rotoscoping style of his LotR movie. ;D
My eyes!! *acks*
That flashback hurt.
Incidentally, Heavy Metal used some rotoscoping as well. (Me mum gave me her copy of The Art of Heavy Metal and the subject was covered in there.)
It's about damn time!
I just always figured the DLC would be live-action with some great cg effects. Would be nice to see...I would have to keep Lusy Lawless and throw her into the role of Kitiara though ;).
On a side note, if they ever did movies for any of the Drizzt novels, they would have to be animated....Japanese animated ideally. It would just fit the tone and the overall ignorant speed of Drizzt. No human could pull that off, they'd have to add a sucky Matrix overhaul.
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My eyes!! *acks*
That flashback hurt.
Incidentally, Heavy Metal used some rotoscoping as well. (Me mum gave me her copy of The Art of Heavy Metal and the subject was covered in there.)
Rotoscoping done well can be ignored (and sometimes, if done REALLY well, can't be detected). Rotoscoping in that movie... why didn't they just leave it live-action? It would have looked better.
Ugh.
Call me crazy, but I've never liked Heavy Metal either. But then, I wouldn't have liked it live-action either. Just not into those kind of movies.
Call me crazy, but I've never liked Heavy Metal either. But then, I wouldn't have liked it live-action either. Just not into those kind of movies.
The first time my friends and I saw this, we were in high school. We all thought it was awesome, and then when it was on HBO I taped it. A few years later I watched it and started thinking . . . what the hell were we thinking?
Amazing how hormones can affect one's viewing habits. Animated naked women were such a novelty we didn't notice how pointless the whole thing was. I liked the soundtrack though.
Yes . . . there were those lines . . . plus we got to hear Harold Ramis as a stoned alien . . .
The Soundtrack to Heavy Metal is one of my favorites....what an odd mixture of songs, too....Sammy Hagar to BOC to Stevie NIcks????? Whatever happened to Riggs anyway?
I think we all know that Heavy Metal wasn't intended to be watched with a clean slate of mind. I never took drugs, but I never watched Heavy Metal sober...(thank you, Mickey's Malt Liquor, for being cheap enough for a 14 year old to afford with his lawn-cutting money--isn't that touching??)
Way to tie those threads together man . . .
Hrm...The general feeling I'm getting here is that this movie won't suck per se, but it won't be particularly good. Then again, who knows- it could create a new guideline by which all other american animated stuff would be measured by.
On a somewhat unrelated topic, did anyone watch King Arthur and the Knights of Justice, or was it just me?
Ah yes, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice...as bad as it may have been, it's cartoons like these that shaped my imagination and steered me towards the hobby in the first place. Unfortunately, I don't remember enough of the old D&D cartoon for it to have helped :(
I also loved the Dragon Warrior cartoon :)
Ah yes, King Arthur and the Knights of Justice...as bad as it may have been, it's cartoons like these that shaped my imagination and steered me towards the hobby in the first place. Unfortunately, I don't remember enough of the old D&D cartoon for it to have helped :(
I also loved the Dragon Warrior cartoon :)
OOOOH yeah. Dragon Warrior. Old school anime at it's finest- and cheesiest. I still remember watching it in english then raw japanese and then subbed...*happy sigh* fun times...
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Call me crazy, but I've never liked Heavy Metal either. But then, I wouldn't have liked it live-action either. Just not into those kind of movies.
OK, You're Crazy! Seriously though, to each his own. For some reason, I loved Heavy Metal. Thought it was one of the funniest things I had ever watched. And I wasn't even on drugs. Go figure.
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The Soundtrack to Heavy Metal is one of my favorites....what an odd mixture of songs, too....Sammy Hagar to BOC to Stevie NIcks????? Whatever happened to Riggs anyway?
And don't forget Devo - "We're through being cool." Awesome soundtrack.
Speaking of Devo, has anyone heard about this (shudders) new version of Devo? A bunch of pre-pubescent little shits attempting to be "cool" and play music, just like the grown-ups. It's something those bastards at Disney put together, apparently with the approval of the original members. WTF! One of the best counter-culture, rebel bands of all time has finally sold out. Man that sucks. And to Disney no less. Talk about an unholy alliance.
A well, what are you going to do? As the old saying goes, "Money walks, Bullshit talks."
I just always figured the DLC would be live-action with some great cg effects. Would be nice to see...I would have to keep Lusy Lawless and throw her into the role of Kitiara though ;).
That would be a sight to see...
And have Christopher Lee do the voice of Lord Soth... A deep voice, and you just hear the age...On another note, I recently came across the old D&D cartoon series, and I could not stand watching it. Talk about cheesy! I guess I would have loved it 25 years ago, like I loved Captain Future then...
Stefan
Somewhere in the movie....you must have Peter MacNicol doing something, anything!
Sorry, listening to the old audiobooks at present. I think he had some decent ideas for the Companions, especially Raistlin. Ah hell, let him do all the voices...except for Goldmoon...let's keep Lucy working :-D
"He is Vigo!"
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I was just at the website for the movie, and they've posted the rest of the voice cast. It looks like they've got some solid talent for most of the characters - a lot of people who do mostly animation and vidoe game voice work. But they did get someone big for Raistlin - none other than Keifer Sutherland. Sweet!
Keifer is tight. His voice has a nice raspy whisper quality and I personally believe he'll crawl right into Raistlin and bring him to life.
There's still hope!
I was just at the website for the movie, and they've posted the rest of the voice cast. It looks like they've got some solid talent for most of the characters - a lot of people who do mostly animation and vidoe game voice work. But they did get someone big for Raistlin - none other than Keifer Sutherland. Sweet!
Keifer Sutherland! HOLY CRAP! That's GREAT! Did anyone do a fantasy voice actor list yet? Because as great as Mr. Sutherland is, I don't think he would have ended up on anyone's list as Raistlin...
Well, my vote says it will suck, but only because I loved the books so much that I am truly dreadful of someone ruining an attempt at a screen translation, and if I assume the worst, then anything better will blow me away.
On the one hand, I have to say animation wouldn't be my preferred style. However, there are certain aspects to consider. Namely, and I'm completely guessing here, but if the budget isn't high enough to pull off great CG scenes, then it would really make the movie suck to try and put it in Walking with Dinosaurs format. However, if the whole thing is animated, it doesn't break verisimilitude by putting everything on the same graphical level (whatever that may be).
Upon reconsideration, animation was probably a smart move.
However, I am glad to hear that it's not anime. I'd hate to see DL in anime. And I hope that it's not in this 2D/3D thing (rotoshading, you say?); there's just something about thinking of DL in that format that really turns me off. But again, I hope I'm wrong.
And of course, I'll see it several times. :)
Then again, are we positive this thing will even be made? I remember reading the Runelords two years ago with great expectations for the movie that was to be produced this year... and nothing has happened.
Oh, and a little exposition to convey that which was assumed knowledge in the books shouldn't go over bad. The thing to remember is that this should be a MOVIE, not an animated Player's Handbook. A little history flash-back like that at the start of Fellowship of the Ring, where they showed the battle on Mount Doom, wouldn't be so bad.
I'll go and look later, but one of my main concerns is going to be the budget on this thing.
On a quasi-related note, who here would love to see an Order of the Stick movie? (raises hand)
The way I see it though, is that too many people think of Animation as strictly for kid movies. This does not have to be the case. Adult themes can be used in animation, look at the Animatrix, or Heavy Metal, just to name a few.
I just don't think even a well animated flight of Dragons circling around the High Clerists Tower is going to have the same kind of impact as well done CGI and real actors ala Walking with Dinosaurs.
Good CGI can make some of the areal duels between dragon riders spectacular while I doubt that even good animation will pull that off.