Howefitz Blog

The Dragon Hunters crew look for the 'World Gobbler' as their planet crumbles around them.

It seems that it’s always on the weekend that I post about children’s entertainment. That’s probably because that’s when we generally watch movies!

Last night’s selection was ‘Dragon Hunters‘, a French computer generated feature film originally titled ‘Chasseurs De Dragons’.

Before I talk about the film itself, there is a kind of mystique around this one. (At least for me.) I picked this one up as a Wal-Mart exclusive two-pack that came with a Dragon Hunters comic book. The price tag was only $9.96 and my store only recieved ten. (I just checked, it’s not available on Wal-Mart’s website either!) I had never heard of it before, but as I’m constantly looking for DVDs that the two year old can play over and over without the grown up types pulling their hair out, I couldn’t resist the interesting cover and low price tag. What can I say, I’m a consumer!  ;)

As I watched the film, I was pleasantly surprised. ‘Dragon Hunters’ is a lot of fun! The film takes place on a world where the land masses float in the air, and many are connected by bridges. The fantastic landscapes lead you to the fantastic creatures! None of the dragons are all that typical, but unfortunately, the characters are. As with basically any fantasy story you find, this one is about an unlikely band of heroes: Zoe(Mary Matilyn Mouser)- a girl who believes that the tales of heroic knights in the fairy tales are true, Lian-Chu(voiced by Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker)- the large brute who really wants to be a knight, Gwizdo(Rob Paulsen, voice of too many cartoon characters to site here, but does Yakko Warner mean anything to you?)-a regular con-man who is Lian-Chu’s friend and, um, agent? boss?, and Hector- Lian-Chu and Gwizdo’s rabbit-esque pet dragon. (For a great review of this film, see Scott Mendelson‘s review on the Huffington Post, ‘Review: Dragon Hunters(2008)’)

After watching the film, I decided to Google the thing. Apparently this movie is based on a cartoon series tha was very short-lived. At least in the United States. According to Wikipedia, it had a run of just a few weeks on Cartoon Network, and was available until June 2007 on Cartoon Network Video.

If the show was anything like the film, it’s a shame that this didn’t catch on here in the states. It’s an imaginative universe that it could be easy to lose one’s self in.

What is it about Americans? It seems that anything outside of our comfort zone we reject. The popularity of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller overseas and it’s lackluster performance here is another example of this. Good, imaginative storytelling gets thrown out the window as we clamber over eachother to see the next Saw or remake of Friday the 13th. *sigh*.

Oh well, at least this stuff is out there somewhere. You just have to look a little harder to find it. If you can find ‘Dragon Hunters’, I would highly recommend it! (Hint: you can find them at good ol’ Amazon)

I give Dragon Hunters 3 1/2 gummy bears!

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