shikamaru317 on 07 April 2023
Just watched it. I'd give it about a 7.5/10.
The Good
- Good action sequences, I especially loved the final battle
- Good cast, I liked all of the main party members and the villain, everyone plays their role well
- It truly feels like a love letter to D&D and tabletop RPG's in general, the movie plays out like a real fan crafted campaign, with everything from a character accidentally setting off a trap on their first step, plans failing often with new plans needing to be made up on the fly (analogous to missrolls on the D20), the dungeon master needing to create an overpowered character for himself to play because he realized he made the dungeon too hard for the party to have any chance of getting through it on their own, a character opening a chest that turns out to be a mimic, and more things that feel like they are from a real tabletop campaign
- The CGI was mostly well done, aside from a single bad thing I will talk about later
- The comedic bits were on point, heard quite a few chuckles from the audience in my theater and I chuckled a fair few times myself
The Not So Good
- They used practical effects for beastial species like Lizardfolk, Aarkocra, and Tabaxi that ended up looking pretty cheesy, and likely would have been better off using CGI for these races. Meanwhile, they used rather unconvincing CGI for a Halfling character when they would have been much better off using forced perspective like Peter Jackson used for the Hobbits in LOTR.
- Sometimes it feels a bit too cheesy in it's pursuit of feeling like an authentic tabletop campaign
I would definitely watch a sequel if one gets made (might not happen as it seems like the movie won't reach it's $300m+ break even point) as well as the spinoff tv series for Paramount+ which they already greenlit.
