Dragonheart – 1996
These special effects were mostly good, though not all of them. They were groundbreaking, but unperfected. The movie’s big draw was the talking dragon, and for the most part, the effects were innovative and well done. But sadly, the few flaws that were there just seemed very noticeable. In a documentary included on the DVD, director Rob Cohen explained that they had a story they hadn’t been able to tell the way they wanted until they saw Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.
The CGI dragon was unique from any previous animated dragon. The main thing was that it talked by using lips that very distinctly shaped its words, an impressive effect. And I just want to give a quick shout-out to Sean Connery who expertly gave the dragon its voice. When you compare its image on the screen to the only other competently realistic dragon from the 1981 movie, Dragonslayer, it had incredibly smooth motion, a wonderful design, and depth and realism… usually.
The problem is that while they gave it skin texture, shadow, and depth, they were inconsistent. As a result it looked like they were inserting footage of the dragon from various stages of its development, and I know that could not have been the case. Sometimes he looked a little two-dimensional, sometimes he looked smooth, sometimes he looked rough. I’m just not sure if this was intentional.
Another thing that sometimes bothered me is that the dragon didn’t always appear to belong in the image. He didn’t have any dark lines around him, but maybe it was the lighting that was off. I’ll be the first to admit that my lack of education in filmmaking prevents me from putting my finger on what the problem really was, but I know when something doesn’t exactly look right. To emphasize this, there is a certain scene I can recall in which Draco is walking next to Bowen who is on his horse. They were moving through tall grass, but when the dragon took a step, he didn’t disturb the grass in any way, as if he was completely insubstantial.
But I’m really being nitpicky. The things they got right far outweighed the things they got wrong. For most of the film, the realism was fantastic, and the fire breathing effects were perfect. A couple of things that looked especially good were the little comic battle when Bowen first encounters Draco. When Bowen gets caught in the dragons mouth, with his sword resting against its upper pallet, the little stand-off looked good. I also liked when they showed the dragon swimming under the water of a lake. Then when his head emerged into the open air, the dark, wet texture of the dragon’s hide was really awesome.
There were a couple other unique effects like the Bowen being dragged along by a rope attached to Draco’s ankle. He is towed through a forest, banging into trees as he goes. There were a few battle sequences between soldiers and peasants that brought a little action to the movie. And there was the film’s climax where Draco dies and turns into a magical golden mist that floats away into the sky, there to become a new star. In all, the effects helped to make this a fun movie to watch.