Dragonheart: 2 Legendary Tales (Dragonheart / Dragonheart: A New Beginning)

There is something about dragons that is irresistible. You add Dennis Quaid to that and you have an action movie with flights of fancy and loads of entertainment. In the original, a knight who sees the old ways of the code and the measure, a system of honor, being abandoned. He begins to train the prince in the code and the measure to continue the ways of honor. The prince is dying and the knight asks a dragon for a piece of his heart to save the prince. The dragon complies hoping the prince will bring back honor. The Prince becomes the epitome of evil. The knight blames the dragon heart for turning the prince to evil. He begins slaughtering dragons until the only one left is the one who donated the piece of its heart. The two meet and it is nonstop action as they face each other and the prince Dragonheart 2, A New Beginning, is the best of the series. In this one, the knight visits the cave of Draco, that last dragon, long dead. There he finds an egg which he takes to a monastery for safe keeping. The egg is found by one of the initiates and the adventure begins.

First of all, this review is directed to the double-bill version of the DVD, which contains on a double-sided disc the original widescreen movie and alas, also its worse, "meant" for TV, cousin, for which I only give two stars for the effort.Sean Connery, although just in voice, steals the show from anyone else in the movie. And how could it be else?It is as if they wrote the character of Draco, the dragon, fitting it to him and his skills as an actor. A true one at that.Pity he retired, but when one thinks about what Hollywood offers nowadays, with perhaps a few exceptions, it is more than comprehensible.But back to this tiny gem of a movie.It has the style and the flavor of the old good tales of Merlin, Arthur and his good Table Round, combined with an intelligent twist on the myth of Dragons.There is plenty of action in it, as well as drama, comedy and the eternal "good vs. evil" theme.But the difference lies in how the story was developed.It is not taken from the usual comic-book style as is the habit of many unimaginative movie-makers today, but rather interwoven with Celtic myth and often referring the "Old Code" of the, by now gone, fellowship of Knights devoted to justice and righteousness introduced by King Arthur, a few decades earlier.It is the story of real friendship, faith and character strength, but it never turns itself into a preachy piece of moralizing babble.It simply "shows" us these virtues in motion.It is a movie for the entire family and can even be watched by unattended children.It is a well-layered movie that flows like water and never gets boring.This is also a thinking man's movie, despite its mythological contents and highly adventurous action scenes.Like Draco, this movie belongs among the stars for nobleness and purity of Heart.It goes beyond religious beliefs or moral tales, it is a very well studied weave of a tale, told by someone who knows what it is required from a skillful storyteller.Alas, the second movie is not as well written or intelligent as the first one, and is forgettable at best, being just another adventure outing.I would have dropped the second altogether, since it does not add to the glitter of the first one, but for completeness-sake, we might forgive Universal and think that a comparison is in order.A comparison between true Art and purely commercial endeavor and the usual "milking the cow".With Sean Connery, we get Dennis Quaid as a Knight of the "Old Code", played fairly well by him, considering he also starred in movies like "Enemy Mine" which had a very similar approach, Peter Postlethwaite, whose skills as an actor are undisputed and the legendary Julie Christie, who in a secondary role, shines as usual.When we talk about Art, we also must remember the music of a movie, and this one has a very lovely score composed by the very talented Randy Edelman.In my humble view, this is a must buy DVD for the entire family.If you like the Dark Ages, its histories, myths and tales of Chivalry, then this one should belong in your shelves together with "The Mists of Avalon", "Excalibur", "Knights of the Round Table", and "Dragonslayer" (another wonderful installation on the theme, starring a very young Peter MacNichol and an old veteran like Ralph Richardson, master of actors).Take your pick, but remember that this movie (Dragonheart) in its Widescreen scope (2.35:1) and excellent DD 5.1 Surround sound is well worth the effort.After watching the movie, if you have the chance, take a stroll, raise your nose up to the night sky and contemplate the stars, then simply start dreaming...

Well, I just had to do it... I had to order the disc with both movies because 1 - I never saw the 2nd one and 2 - it was cheap so I figured what they hay. The first Dragonheart was a very good movie. It came out shortly after Jurassic Park and used the same special effects for Draco as the dinosaurs... very cool and Dennis Quaid did a great job as a knight.The 2nd movie was ridiculous... maybe it was made for TV? Effects - crappy, Acting - crappy, Story - worse than crappy... It's a shame because the brother from Malcolm in the Middle stars and I like him in general, but this was a kidney stone of a film... I want my 90 minutes of life back I wasted on this flick!

Mundane Camelot -ish movie. Not too interesting or exciting. He's happy with mindless fight scenes. I'm not.

It's an ok movie, not as good as the first one. The dragon is cute, but the story in not written very well. It got a ho hum from me halfway through, although I managed to watch it to the end.

Dragonheart is a great fantasy adventure with wonderful emotion and...No pun intend heart. Fans of mid evil Fantasy adventure will enjoy this movie.Dragonheart: A New Beginning while not living up to the epic feel of the original is still an enjoyable fantasy adventure. Although aimed at a slightly younger audience, fans of mid evil fantasy adventure should still be able to enjoy this movie regardless of their age.

I actually got tow of these DVDs and the 1st one had a defect on the Dragonheart side. I didn't realize at the time I purchased it that I was getting 2 films on one DVD. I called and got a replacement DVD the night I got the one with the flaw on it. All was taken care of by Amazon quickly and professionally. Love getting my films from Amazon.

MY first playthrough stalled in the middle but my player just overheated. I played it later all the way without issue. The movie is very well done and they put a LOT of effort to capture the true Connery as Draco. They watched all his other films to obtain samples of motions and facial displays to build a Draco that would act perfectly with the voice they gave him and all before the new mapping tech we have.The sequel is a bit too predictable for me. It started alright but fell down about half way in for me. Overall I still think having both in a single dvd (2 sided) is better then paying the same for just the first.

i like it very much

It wasn't as good as the original.

Classic. Saw this as a kid and still my favourite christmas movie (yes christmas. It's just nostalgic to me). Of coarse I'm talking about the first movie. The second...meh. Had a lot of 'slap-stick' moments. Like it was made for a much younger audience. Still, nice to have the set.

Bon.

Got it when I was supposed to. The movies worked beautifully. The movies were just as good as when I first saw them. Still waiting on some other orders that will take longer to get here.