Staged in a land of kings and dragons, Dragon
heart is an exciting film of digital imagery bound to mystify. In the 10th
century the King of England was intent of flushing out the commoners and taking over the
land. While he is off slaying helpless peasants his noble son Einen is being taught to be
a real man. Bowen (Dennis Quaid) is his teacher and teaches him the old code of knighthood
in an effort to stop him becoming like his father. In a great battle with the peasants his
father is killed and Einen rushes to his aid only to be injured himself with his fathers
crown piercing his heart. Bowen rushes him home hoping to save his life and have the
kingdom ruled by a man with values. He is however bordering on death and the only way to
save his life is for his mother to take him to a wise old dragon for help. The Dragon
(Sean Connery) believing that Einen does have a good streak gives him a piece of his own
heart to save his life.
12 years later Einen is more of a tyrant than his father ever was and Bowen is
convinced that the dragon had tricked him and made Einen that way when he gave him his
heart. Bowen decides the only way to avenge this is to slay every dragon in the land. He
discovers however that Draco (Sean Connery) is the only surviving dragon and that if he is
killed, his days of dragon slaying are over. After a long and slimy battle they decided to
come to a truce. Draco agrees to terrorise Villages while Bowen pretends to slay him, thus
making him a lot of money. It is in his efforts to con the villagers that he makes friends
with a young maiden Kara (Dina Meyer), who happens to be the one who originally, injured
young Einen.
Realising that in fact it is Einen who is evil and not the Dragon, Bowen then sets
about destroying Einen with an army of angry villagers. With Einen carrying the heart of
the dragon he holds all the power for if he dies the dragon will die too. The choice is
Bowen’s.
So How Does this Transfer Hold Up?
I was most impressed with this transfer. It’s getting hard to criticise Columbia with
such good transfers. There is a little ailiasing if you look closely in baskets carried by
peasants but nothing to really get annoyed with. Overall the images were sharp and clear
and the detail in the dragon was exceptional. The digital work on the effects and the
dragon is fabulous, and very realistic. I loved the scene of the dragon as a rock that
then transforms into the dragon.
The colours were vibrant, and while sometimes a little depressing, they very much
suited the period of the film.
The audio (English DD 5.1) is quite spectacular and the surrounds are used to full
effect for the majority of the film. Sean Connery’s voice is awesome and has that
hint of deepness, which is perfect for the dragon. Sound effects for the dragon are
fabulous and his flying around makes good use of the surrounds. There is a lot of detail
in the audio picking up every little sound possible. Randy Edelman has also done an
exquisite job with the musical score. This is a powerful and hardhitting composition,
which reaches out and grabs you.
The extras flow thick and fast for a change. First you have the documentary of the
making of the film which gives you a detailed insight into the digital effects behind the
film, the concepts for its creation and the expectations on the effects artists. Very
interesting and worth watching. Also included in the Documentary are two Scene outtakes
from the film. Then there is two theatrical trailers one long trailer, and a short
version. Also included are 5 TV trailers in fullscreen format, nothing exciting really.
The feature commentary not really a favourite extra of mines is at times interesting. It
gives you a good idea of the director’s passion behind the film, at times though I
found it quite boring. Don’t forget the usual production notes and cast and crew
filmographies.
Overall I enjoyed this film and I found the special effects breathtaking at times but
it was a little less enthralling than I expected. Definitely still worth watching but
don’t get your hopes up too high or you might be disappointed. If you like fantasy
and effects you will be impressed.
