Movie Thoughts: Dragon Rider (2020)

• Released: 13 October 2020
• Directed by: Tomer Eshed
• Running time: 1 h 31 min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

A dragon, together with a forest brownie and a human orphan, sets out on a quest to locate the legendary Rim of Heaven, a safe place for dragons, in order to rescue his species from being driven to extinction by humans.

My Thoughts

I was not excited for this one going in, mainly just because of the character designs. They don't look very appealing to me. Sorrel is the one out of the main three I think look the best, but even she has those really tiny pupils that make her look permanently surprised. Ben also looks just a bit off, and Firedrake himself has a way too goofy character design for what is supposed to be a our hero we're supposed to take seriously.

That aside, how does the movie actually hold up? It's...decent. Nothing exceptionally good, nothing exceptionally bad. It's just average. It does have a few moments with heart, but also has a ton of hit-and-miss scenes where it kind of misses the emotional beats.

One major complaint I have for this movie, the character designs aside, is Firedrake himself. He's our main hero and he's honestly one of the blandest protagonists I've come across in recent years. I didn't particularly care for Ben and Sorrel is only a decent character at best, but at least those two had clear personalities to them. Our lead? He feels like a complete blank slate. He always tries to do the heroic thing and seems to have no character flaws whatsoever other than doubting himself, one of the most simple flaws one could think up. 

He just has no personality to speak of, heck, not even really a backstory. We don't know if he has a family, or why he is somehow different from other dragons just because he has silver scales and blue fire. Is this just because of the prophecy? Is he descended from a special line of silver dragons? Never explained, we're just supposed to think he's special because the movie tells us he is. 

The visuals, character designs aside, also were kind of hit-and-miss. They are definitely decent, but you can clearly see that this wasn't as high-budget as other movies. The fur textures never quite looked right, the water and characters didn't interact with the environment all that well, and the animation (especially during the flying sequences) hardly ever looked right.

Another complaint I'd have would be the villain. He's just very un-intimidating, when he's supposed to be this metallic monster that killed and ate thousands of dragons. His animation didn't look that scary, his voice sounded like just some guy you might come across in the grocery store, and he just didn't feel that intimidating.

That said, the movie isn't bad. It's just decent with some flaws holding it back. I'm kind of on the fence about whether to give is a score of 2.5 or 3, but I think I'll settle on three because it did have some decent emotional moments and character development for Sorrel and Ben. It's just that the main character and villain are utterly lacking.

Also this movie kinda rips off How to Train Your Dragon but in a weirdly funny and self-aware way. Like, them ripping off said series is kinda a plot point within the film.