We’ve all had favorite movies that we grew up with that stay in our minds, even if they’re not the greatest movies ever made. Something about them made impressions on us that were strong enough to stick. We consider them classics though our memory may not always be as clear as we thought. We re-watch them years later and sometimes find they were not as great as we remembered. Fortunately, 1981’s “Dragonslayer” falls into the category of films that were every bit as good I remember. Peter MacNicol (way before his “Ally McBeal” days) stars as Galen, a young apprentice to an aging sorcerer, who lived in a time when dragons terrorized the land. When the sorcerer passes away, it is up to Galen to come to the rescue and become a slayer of dragons. I hadn’t seen “Dragonslayer” in ages, but remember loving it when I was younger. Watching it again the other night, I still found it to be an earnest production of an age-old story.

I even felt that the special effects were still wondrous, even by today’s standards. As a mater of fact, I consider the dragon to be one of the best looking and most frightening committed to screen, topped only by those created in last year’s “Reign of Fire.”

The new DVD release by Paramount delivers a great Widescreen picture, and a remastered soundtrack that really fills the room. Unfortunately, there aren’t any special features to be found on this disc. With some movies I can do without them, but a film like “Dragonslayer” begs to have behind the scenes features showing us how all the movie magic was done. And as a Peter MacNicol fan, an interview or commentary would have been welcome.

Even without these extras, I still highly recommend “Dragonslayer” to fans of sword and sorcery fantasy movies.

Directed by: Matthew Robbins
Starring: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke, Ralph Richardson,
Extras: None
Specifications: Widescreen Version Enhanced for 16:9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, English Dolby Surround
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 10/21/2003
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG
Website

We'll give Dragonslayer a B.