Whitech It is not only a funny movie, but it allows a great amount of joy for anyone who watches it.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Clarissa Mora The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Wuchak I caught about 10-15 minutes of "Dragonslayer" on TV a few months back, which was my first exposure to this film, and I determined right then and there to eventually purchase it. When I finally bought it I watched it TWICE, something I rarely do.THE STORY: A medieval kingdom is harassed by a dragon, apparently the last of its species. The people decide to appease the horrific beast with regular sacrifices of virgin maidens. The virgins are selected through a questionable lottery system. When the King's daughter is picked for sacrifice, the monarch employs a sorcerer's apprentice, Peter MacNicol, to slay the dragon."Dragonslayer" takes the "Jaws" route by not fully showing the beast until well into the second hour of the film. Prior to that revealing moment the film expertly builds up a heap of horrific anticipation concerning the creature. The first virgin sacrifice scene is particularly terrifying. When we finally DO see the monster it's definitely not a let down. Many viewers attest that this dragon is the best dragon to ever appear in film, even though the picture was made in 1981.I've heard some complain that the protagonist, MacNicol, was wrong for the role. Nothing could be further from the truth. He's easy to relate to because he's a flawed human being with naive, boyish qualities, not a larger-than-life superhero (like, say, Conan or Beastmaster). I've also heard some complain that the heroine, Caitlin Clarke, is too "man-ish" looking. Well, duh, that fits into the whole sacrificial lottery plot. When Caitlin ultimately and uncertainly dons a dress and make-up she's woman enough.The Dark Age sets/costumes/locations really impressed me. If you're in the mood for a top-of-the-line medieval flick with castles, dungeons, forests, villages, fair maidens, kings, sorcerers, etc. this is the one to see."Dragonslayer" was an inexplicable flop when it was released in 1981, perhaps due to the glut of similar-themed pictures at the time. Regardless, it can now be treasured on DVD. It took me over 25 years to witness its magnificence but I finally did.GRADE: A-

Phil Hubbs Yep back in 1981 Disney were in cahoots with Paramount and the result was this quite dark film. I mean how much more badass could this idea be?! a sorcerers apprentice must come to grips with his powers, learn his trade and save the land from a 400 year old dragon whilst trying to fend off a pesky knight of the realm. Basically its just an excuse for some dragon battling in a time honoured Tolkien way.I haven't seen this film since I was a little kiddie, long before the days of knowing what 'The Lord of the Rings' was anyway. First impressions are how Tolkien-like the visuals actually are. It was all filmed in the wilderness of Wales and the Isle of Skye and it really looks tremendous. The sweeping lush valleys, the green woodlands, the rocky mountainous dragons lair, wide misty lakes and typically traditional old fashioned dank medieval castles. It all looks so damn good visually it doesn't actually look like Wales or the Isle of Skye, it looks too nice!. Some sequences could of been cut out of Ridley Scotts 'Legend', it has that fairy fantasy vibe at times, you half expect some Elves or Dwarf warriors to turn up.Admittedly for a kick ass title like this the film takes it time in delivering some dragon slaying. Most of the time we see the rather odd choice of hero in Peter MacNicol arguing with the King, arguing with the Kings main knight who wears a silly helmet, looking perplexed, attempting magic, getting locked up and finding out that a young boy is actually a young woman. How in the hell he couldn't see this I don't know. The plot about the King holding a lottery that chooses young girls to be sacrificed to the dragon to appease it is pure fairytale stuff (this is why that one woman disguises herself as a bloke). The Princess finds out her father the King has rigged it so she never gets chosen, so she bravely opts to get sacrificed. Somehow the King can't stop this decision even though he's King so its up to MacNicol to save her.Really the whole crux of the film is the last half where MacNicol must fight the dragon with his big dragon slaying spear, his magic shiny ring which he got from his sorcerer Master and dragon scale shield. Its the effects that make this film stand up and get counted, for the time the effects were mind blowing and they ain't half bad now. A classical mix of stop motion, puppets, large scale puppets, bluescreen and some matte paintings bring the dragon to life. I can't deny the visuals do get a bit creaky as the film progresses through to the big confrontation. Bluescreen becomes very obvious, especially against the stop motion dragon, the flying sequences are a bit iffy looking and the stop motion isn't quite as good as I remembered. Its the puppets and large scale dragon heads that take your breathe away, some really nice detail and great fire breathing effects...even if the dragon design is a bit standard and unadventurous.The other thing that hit me was the level of shock factor in this film. We do see poor old Ian McDiarmid get incinerated up close, we do see the Princess get half eaten by baby dragon puppets, one has its mouthful with her foot!, there is a haunting sequence where a young girl gets torched alive (you hear her screams) and we do see someone getting run through with a spear. In short there is a reasonable amount of blood on show here! I was surprised.Its quite a slow film with a lot of character building which is a tad dull but it works. The whole plot to kill the dragon does seem pretty convoluted really, they're messing around with magic rings, spells, resurrection blah blah blah when all you wanna see is MacNicol hack at the dragon with a large sharp weapon. End of the day they kill it with a remotely detonated old sorcerer via the magic ring it seems, kinda made me think why we had to go through everything just to do that. But I guess the old sorcerer had to die to come back as a magical explosive old sorcerer resurrected from the dragons fiery underground lake...whatever.The film appears to be your bog standard fantasy film where the hero must save the Princess from the dragon, but it isn't, the Princess gets eaten!. The plot also feels a bit heavy at times, a bit bloated with magic when really you just wanna see a bit more kickassery, I guess in this day and age a remake would give you that for sure. I can't moan about the plot as it is well done and offers more than just hack n slash, the characters are all pretty good really which isn't expected. This is a fantasy so you half expect high levels of flaming grilled cheese but no, everyone plays it straight and it works well, I especially liked the portrayal and look of 'King Casiodorus'.So no this isn't entirely a silly childish fairytale story, far from it. The visuals may trick you into thinking this at times but its quite a bleak film mostly. For me I just wanted to watch it again for the dragon sequences, there I said it, I'm sure most would be the same truth be told. In that sense the film doesn't disappoint, despite its age the film offers some great draconem action, and yes I did feel sorry for the dragon when its babies got slain by the hero pfft! screw you hero!.6.5/10

AaronCapenBanner Mathew Robbins directed this fantasy adventure that stars Ralph Richardson as an aging wizard who, along with his young apprentice(played by Peter MacNicol) answer the plea of a besieged village which has been forced to sacrifice young virgin girls by lottery for many years to appease a dragon. When the King's daughter is chosen, he finds it intolerable, but unfortunately they are too late to save her, and their attempts at sorcery only prove temporary in stopping the dragon, who grows angry indeed at the attempt on its life...The dragon is impressively realized, though despite a good cast and gritty feel, the characters and story are unremarkable, even forgettable, though contains a surprisingly graphic death scene, which casts a pall over things.

ma-cortes This film blends witchcraft and wizardry , adventures , battles and is extremely fun and amusing . A sorcerer's apprentice (Peter MacNichol) is sent to kill a dragon which has been devouring girls from a nearby kingdom . An older magician (Ralph Richardson) is the mentor of the rockie sorcerer . The young boy dreams becoming a valiant sorcerer and join forces with a girl (Caitlin Clarke) to vanquish a horrible dragon . The young wizarding apprentice suddenly finds himself the only person who save the kingdom from a free-breathing dragon . This fantasy movie packs action , witchery and and sorcery with impressive battles . Likable performance by a young Peter MacNichol , though is the first film released under the Disney name to have full frontal male nudity , as when Peter MacNicol jumps into the water, his legs swing wide giving the audience a quick shot of his genitals . Funny acting by the veteran Ralph Richardson and enjoyable support cast . The story has many familiar dragon motifs found throughout Western culture , in particular Saint George and the Dragon, in which maiden sacrifices were made to appease a harassing dragon. Saint George's tale also includes a sacrificial lottery resulting in the surprise condemnation of a princess , Saint George is also frequently depicted with a magic blessed lance or a sword . Smart screenplay by Hal Barwood dealing with fantasy medieval , dragons , necromancy , fantastic kingdoms and many other things . Entertaining and fun movie with acceptable special effects bringing the dragon to life . Work on dragons made by CG sometimes seem authentic , but is also noted its computer realization . First film to use go-motion, a variant of stop-motion animation in which parts of the dragon were mechanized and the movement programmed by computer . During shooting, the computer moves the model while the camera is shooting, resulting in motion blur, which makes the animation more convincing . The only thing that let it down from this perspective , was that some of the parts in between the dragons fighting were a little dull . Colorful cinematography , shot on location in Wales , though the final scene was shot in Skye, Scotland and many town locals were employed in the film as village extras. Thrilling as well as spectacular musical score by the classic Alex North , some of the score by Alex North was "recycled" from music he'd originally composed for 2001: A Space Odyssey that went unused . This co-production between Walt Disney Pictures and Paramount was efficiently directed by Matthew Robbins and it was more mature and realistic than most Disney films of the time .The picture belongs to Fantasy/Dragon sub-genre ; other important films dealing with Dragons are the following : ¨Dragonheart¨ by Rob Cohen with Dennis Quaid , Dina Meyer , Jason Isaacs and Julie Christie ; ¨Dragonheart , a new beginning¨ with Chris Marterson , Figueroa and Harry Von Gorkum ; ¨Dragom Storm¨ (2004) by Stephen Furst with Maxwell Caufield , Angel Boris , Tony Amendola and John Rhys Davies ; and other latter day movies and belonging to this Dragons sub-genre are ¨Reign of fire¨ (2002) by Rob Bowman with Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey , Izabella Scorupco , and Gerard Butler ; ¨Eragon¨ (2006) by Stephen Fangmeier with Edward Speleers , Robert Carlyle , Sienna Gullory and John Malkovich .