Review of The Flight of Dragons (1982) by Caleb B — 16 May 2009

Rankin/Bass delivered a fairly decent animated fantasy film. Their production concepts have always been interesting to me: Thundercats, Silverhawks, etc. All those ideas worked.

The story for "Flight of the Dragons" is strong mostly throughout, although it is at times episodic. Peter, when he is trapped in the body of a dragon, must learn how to fly. Then, they must fight an ogre. Then, they fight a huge worm.

I did not like the final battle scene between the Red Wizard Ommadon and Peter. While the wizard speaks in what I assume is Latin to cast his spells, Peter simply recites scientific maxims to counter them. Lame.

I did like that Peter used logic to understand how flight and fire-breathing for a dragon is possible. That was interesting.

Kids should love this film, if they are not ritalin runts. There is no slapstick comedy as one sees in animated films today. The jokes are more like the ones grandpas sitting on the front porch would use.

Did you ever want to see a dragon sing "Oh, Susanna?" Well, here's your chance. I think this should be good, adventurous entertainment for the kids. Animation is not exactly high quality, but it is very detailed. The music is unbelievably superb; you can thank the London Philharmonic for that. Keep in mind, parents, that sex is hinted at in the film. When Sir Orin says that dawn is coming soon, Danielle says they may never see another night. He then takes her hand and leads her to his bedroom. The dragons later mention that they were "in bed together.".