Dragon Hunters

Lian Chu and Gwizdo are the heroes of the French CG movie, Dragon Hunters. They are small-time adventurers who are never taken seriously by any of their clients, until they are hired by a blind king to rid him of The World Gobbler, the largest dragon in history. Accompanied by the king’s niece, Zoe, the adventurers set off for the end of the world to confront the village devouring monster.

Seeing as I watched this movie dubbed into English, I can’t really criticize the voice acting in the movie. I always try my best to watch movies in their original language, as I much prefer subtitles to dubbing, but this time, the dubbed version was the only copy available to me. However, all the voice acting was adequate, with two exceptions: Rob Paulson worked well as the small Gwizdo, but Forest Whitaker was not the best choice to play the massive Lian Chu. I have nothing against Forest Whitaker, personally, I think he’s an excellent actor. Lian Chu however, is a massive guy, but the voice coming out of him is the soft spoken Whitaker, which could have been what they were going for, but just doesn’t work for me. Keep in mind though that perhaps the original actor for the role was a better fit.

The voice acting is the only complaint I have about this movie though. Overall, I loved the film. This is the first French animation film that I’ve ever seen, but I saw many differences between this movie and what you would see made in America. All of the differences were for the better. Though Dragon Hunters is a small story with a small cast of characters, the tale feels massive in scope. Not because of the story, but because of the world that the film creates feels so real. When the movie starts, you’re thrown into this brand-new fantasy world that you have never seen before, that you know nothing of its history, yet it feels real.

Everything in the movie is beautiful, especially the landscapes. I really wasn’t expecting much when I started the movie, but one of the first scenes involves a floating cabbage patch and a fight with a giant slime-squirting slug. When I saw that scene, I was blown away. Everything about the movie is creative and well thought out. The world features floating islands in the sky unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. The characters and monsters in the movie look great and are all unlike what I was expecting. In a word, this was different. From the ghost village in the sky, to the monster made up of birds, everything looks great and new.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who loves good animation and who wants to see something entirely new. I would say five stars, two thumbs up, excellent show.

-J