The Christmas Dragon (2014)

The Worst Film Ever

Sorry, this movie sucks

Pretty Good

Admirable film.

As a child Ayden's (Bailee Michelle Johnson) parents are killed by a dragon while imprisoned by a tax collector/bounty hunter. Six years later she leads a band of orphans to "find the magic" and return it to Father Christmas (Adam Johnson) in order to save Christmas. Orphan and Babe-in-waiting Rosalynne (Paris Warner) plays her frenemy providing us with conflict when the film lacks bandits, goblins, and dragons.This is a heart warming film for those that can make it through till the end. This is done by the same Utah group that has created Mythica, Survivor, Osombie, and that disaster Orc Wars which they re-titled Drangonfyre. (It was still bad under the new name.) The production lacks acting and a plot line that keeps you engaged. Of course the film is all well that ends well except for Garret (Talon G. Ackerman) who was sold into child slavery and never heard from again. What writer dropped the ball on that? Some blood in the beginning. Fight scenes become rather lame afterwards, even for a kid's film. Four people with the surname Johnson in this film. My guess is that they are all related.So if you are a fan of the aforementioned Utah films, that somehow missed my personal favorite list, follow the magic.

This is an original concept and that is a big draw to this film. Set in medieval times (land unknown) this story pretty much gives us the traditional Father Christmas and not the "Coke Cola" money-making man of today.Even in those times, where life is tough, people are forgetting about the spirit of Christmas. This is having a disturbing effect on Father Christmas, as well as the elves. It's up to a group of orphan kids to conjure a little magic and save Christmastime.The plus side to the film is the originality of the story and the strength of the acting, as well as pretty decent direction.The negative sides are the faux English accents, which are bad enough, but when real English accents are heard, it only makes the fake ones more absurd and difficult to listen too. However, this film is for the kids, primarily, and they probably won't notice a thing - adults beware, though.The CGI effects are not too brilliant. At the start of the movie they're fine and the adult dragon is passable. They must have spent most of the budget by the time we get the orphan dragon as this is where the CGI looks quite a bit cheaper.It also seems to be a tad too long, since it's for the children, and there are times where your attention drifts off. If they'd cut it a little tighter it would've made it more enthralling for the kids.I would recommend this for Snow Day viewing, if your kids are tired of snow fights and building snow castles.

I don't know what the other person who reviewed this film was thinking. The movie is heartfelt but the quality is very VERY poor. In the beginning, a bunch of orphans find some magical crystal and decide to follow it on an adventure to find father Christmas (Rip off Santa Clause) and save Christmas. (Note: There seems to be no knowledge of Christianity in this universe so the name of a holiday based on Jesus's B-Day seems kinda out of place). As far as we could tell, none of the kids had personalities that remained constant.The two boys look and act like members of Green Day and the girls appear to have had all personality sand-blasted off and replaced with a happy go lucky attitude. Over the course of the next hour and a half, they meet a collection of actors and scenes which failed to make the final cut in the recent Hobbit movies. We have a Aragorn ripoff with too much eyeliner. A token elf lady straight from the cliché isle and the local fantasy surplus store. And a troll that was actually kidnapped of a New Zealand set.Additionally, many of the scenes seem to be directly copy-pasted from one or more of the Middle Earth based movies. I stoop up in shock at one of the last scenes in the movie (Spoiler Alert: They meet father Christmas) where the characters literally copy the exact movement of their lord of the rings counterparts in a scene taken from the two towers.Somewhere down the line they run into a dragon. To Put it lightly, the special effects have much to be desired. The dragon looks... Extremely fake. No seriously. This movie has many practical effects but the dragon was made by a high school student with half a semester of graphic arts and an addiction to Manga. Every time it comes on the screen, it immediately makes you chortle with laughter at it's pure and unadulterated ridiculousness.That being said, I'm giving this movie a 7/10 because it is legitimately fun to watch with a group of friends. We had an awesome time giving each of the characters nicknames (Can you guess who each of these are?, Token Elf, Billy Joel Armstrong, Green Day drummer, Gretchen Wieners, Middle School Romeo, The Band known as Kiss, Bearded muscle, a Less Hot Natalie Dormer, and creepy Jack Sparrow). Additionally the writing and plot hole created many opportunities to pause the movie and roll around in uncontrollable merriment. You will definitely find your favorite ridicules moment. My favorite was the line declared in front of the aged Father Christmas (Who by the way looks exactly like a dwarf from the hobbit and has a barely intelligible accent) "He's not dead, he's just old" I highly suggest this movie if you want to just have a good time laughing at how bad cinema can get.

THE Christmas DRAGON, by Lord of the Rings standards cost very little, but this made in Utah fantasy film comes to life with amazing special effects and a wonderful musical score as it brings to life a tale of orphan children and a young dragon attempting to rescue the fading memory of Christmas. John Lyde's screenplay and direction do a first rate job in providing an exciting adventure for children and adults to experience together. It might be a bit too frightening for the younger members of a family but should hold the interest of older children, teenagers and adults. The cinematography and editing are top notch as are the special effects - - they really do look quite professional and show that even a magical story like told here can be done on a non-Hollywood budget. A lot of love and care have gone into this production and it deserves to find a large audience. The film should have had a theatrical run but has been released direct to DVD. I only wish that it had been made available as a Blu-ray.