#MovieReview: Dungeons and Dragons is mostly mindless fun

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves is an unpretentious and mostly enjoyable throwback fantasy blockbuster.

Although based on a tabletop gaming tentpole, rather than one played on a console, Dungeons is among the better ‘game related’ movies to reach the screen in recent memory.

In the past two years alone, studios have released Uncharted, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tetris, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Dungeons and the Last of Us series, all of which are at least tangentially related to gaming IP.

This is by no means a new phenomenon; Hollywood has tried to cash in on the success of the gaming industry since the 80s, but the movies and series they produced were largely panned.

Since the 2000s, they have slowly improved their commercial viability and critical success, which combined have lent adaptations wider heft in the cultural zeitgeist, when they were once just viewed as gimmicks.

There is an entire slate of further movies in production over the next few years too, so expect to see your favourite games transposed.

It appears studios see gaming as the next cash cow after Superhero movies have begun to trend downwards following 15 years of box office dominance.

Making the output watchable has certainly been a positive first step and should target the prized teenager demographic, as well as older fans who have nostalgic links to specific gaming franchises.

Paramount Pictures did exactly that with Dungeons, hiring the director pairing of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley who were behind the excellent and criminally under-watched Game Night.

Their command of comedic tone fits the intentions of the movie, which delivers some solid laughs, without being an all out comedy.

And although there is the requisite magical setting and high fantasy plot points, Dungeons does not get too far into the minutiae as to be unwatchable to someone who has no history with the game.

Whether it pays fair homage to Dungeons & Dragons is a question that will be answered as more loyalists get a chance to see the movie.

What Dungeons does well is to trojan horse a heist story into the fantasy setting, reworking familiar but enjoyable tropes that are universally enjoyable.

Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez are good as the morally doubtful but likeable heroes, and Hugh Grant delights in playing an outlandish villain.

The rest of the cast can be a little wooden at times and the movie really should not need two hours to tell its story.

But for most of Dungeons, it’s easily digestible fun that has more for teens, but enough that adults will have a decent time when watching alongside.

Rated PG-13 for some Language and Violence.
3.5/5.

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