The Last Dragon (2005)

Better Late Then Never

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This takes the premise that dragons one existed alongside humans and creates a 'documentary' of those long-lost creatures. It treats the subject matter seriously...but in a way that the viewer knows that the film isn't actually describing any true history. It's a creative work, describing the habits of various types of dragons (Chinese, frost, etc.) and how they interacted with their environment, hunted, nested, and how humans affected their futures. Obviously it's all pure fantasy, but it's incredibly fun to see these magnificent beasts treated as if the legends were true and they once existed (and that we knew something about them). The special effects, while a bit dated now, still stand up well without detracting from the experience. This is perfect for people to who'd be interested in the subject matter (dragons or myths) or for anyone looking to see an alternative to the usual film style (neither strictly a documentary nor a narrative fantasy or adventure story). It's safe enough for children (if they're old enough to see a lion hunt down a zebra in a nature documentary, then they can handle this!), and would probably interest a child who doesn't normally like non-fiction, since it straddles the line.

I first watched 'The Last Dragon' on Animal Planet when I was 12 years old, a brilliant age to be introduced to it. It was the peek of my interest in fantasy, having experienced 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Chronicles of Narnia', and to see a documentary depicting such creatures in a naturalistic context - a kind of mystical 'Walking with Dinosaurs' - that was like a dragon hoard of awesome. But even after ten years, when I watch this video again, it still fills me with great satisfaction knowing that a lot of effort went into creating such a visceral depiction of the creatures. I love fantasy and mythology, but what makes the film succeed is how it meshes those elements with a certain element of natural history. A lot like the Rankin/Bass cartoon 'The Flight of Dragon', 'The Last Dragon' attempts and ultimately succeeds in creating a scientific explanation for their behavior - how they flew and breathed fire, mating rituals, family dynamics, even explaining the diversity of visual depictions between cultures worldwide.All of this is depicted in the same way as 'Walking with Dinosaurs', digital creatures displaced against live action backgrounds and they all look spectacular. One particular scene involving two classic European dragons I remember as a teenager actually being on the verge of tears. I dare not give away what the action is specifically but suffice to say that the visual style mixed with a really clever and creative depiction of their natural behavior is what won me over and I was completely immersed in that world.As a huge fan boy of folklore and mythology, a little bit of me still carries that child-like belief that some kind of creature as a dragon did exist at some time... Hey, if 50% of Icelanders are allowed to believe that elves still exist - and they definitely do - I get to believe these creatures could have feasibly exist. 'The Last Dragon' gave me that sense of possibility and if you're like me or you have kids who are at that age, this documentary will certainly have a similar effect. It has the right balance of sweeping visual adventure mixed with the scientific-ish jargon that appeals to a lot of audiences. It also helps that both narrators provide real gravitas to the script; both the British narration by Ian Holm and the North American track by Patrick Stewart are brilliantly cast. This is a real sweeping tribute to the 'what-if' genre of documentary television and can be enjoyed by families, fantasy lovers or just those people looking for an adventure.

I think that most everyone wants to believe that extraordinary things exist and this film shows no restraint in trying to exploit that to the fullest. The presentation is very interesting, well presented and the graphics are state of the art, but from a scientific point of view it just doesn't work. Hydrogen filled flying bladders? They would need to be the size of a Mack truck to be useful. And then there's the ever-present possibility of a catastrophic explosion. I have no problem with fantasy, just don't try to pass it off as fact. Some folks will always misunderstand. All in all the film is entertaining, but I constantly found myself saying "oh brother, what a load of ....". If you want a FAKE documentary, watch This Is Spinal Tap instead. Or at the very least turn the sound off.

The Carpathian Mountains of Romania: hikers exploring this fabled range have stumbled onto a unique find, one that requires an official investigation. Paleontologists arrive to find an ice cave in a glacier, revealed by unseasonably warm weather in the region. Inside, they find the corpses of several 15th century knights and make an amazing discovery; a frozen, yet perfectly preserved body of a creature once thought to be only a myth: a dragon.So begins the latest foray from the BBC and the Discovery Networks, "Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real", with effects by Framestore, the same company that gave us "Walking with Dinosaurs". The story takes a simple concept - what if dragons were real - and runs with the idea, using science to explain how these animals might have existed.I'm a big fan of the dragon, perhaps the most powerful and inspirational beast of myth, legend, and literature. As a fan of these spectacular beasts, I was practically salivating when I first saw the teaser in January for this program on Animal Planet and have been checking out their website since. It was an exciting thought to think that I would be seeing wyverns taking on T-Rex and winged drakes soaring over snow capped mountains. Dragons were coming to life in the real world.Personally, I enjoyed the program I saw on Animal Planet, narrated here in the US by Patrick Stewart. Stewart is an excellent narrator, and even he apparently got caught up in the action of the program, actually missing a cue at one point. His narration will be missed when I get the actual program, which I hear is narrated by Ian Holm. The program transitions smoothly between the dragons scenes and the scenes involving the investigation into the dragon corpse. Even the autopsy scenes are done well; I wasn't tempted to go look for a snack during these scenes.This program is not without it's faults. While I can believe how an animal that can get to be 900+lbs took off, I'm not quite as sold as how they breathed fire. I can see why the writers and producers went with this method - ancient manuscripts describe the dragons' fire in this way - but I prefer the "Reign of Fire" method. I'm also a little wary about how dragons warmed their eggs; somehow, the idea of dragons "cooking" their eggs doesn't appeal to me, but again, according to most ancient literature, this is how it was done. I also felt that the program should have paid more attention to the aquatic and marine dragons, the fabled "wingless" dragons of China.Perhaps my favorite scene was the mating dance of the mountain dragons, inspired by the rituals of eagles. To see these dragons grasping their claws together and free falling is a sight that anyone would have been awestruck to witness. I was also impressed with the scenes involving the dragon corpse, which actually looked real in many scenes. Usually, when Framestore uses latex models, they somehow can't seem to make them look like anything other than rubber puppets; this was not the case here. In a program where the majority of the dragons were CGI productions, this is a plus.I would recommend this program to anyone who is a fantasy aficionado, or someone who likes dragons and a good story. I've read one reviewer's comments that maybe that this should have been on the Sci-Fi Channel instead of Animal Planet, but I disagree. As one producer said, this is the ultimate animal, one that is known by nearly all human cultures, from the Inuit in the north to the Aboriginies of Australia. It would have probably been more at home on the Discovery Channel, but considering that the BBC has a contract with Discovery's parent company for programs like this, I'm not complaining. And one must remember that while it is done in the style of a documentary, it is a story; but then, isn't that what a documentary is anyway?