Guest Review by Geekbert
I wasn't that disappointed in the movie, mostly because my expectations were low going in. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a 3, largely because of Jeremy Irons. Actually, almost entirely because of Jeremy Irons.
For those of you who don't know, I play D&D. I know it fairly well. Many of my comments are from a player's perspective.
WARNING - MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD
Issue #1: A large part of the movie revolved around getting this staff to control red dragons in order to offset the staff to control gold dragons. Since the good guys already had the staff to control gold dragons, WHY should they waste their time trying to get the red one, too, just so it could fall into the hands of the evil wizards? It makes less sense than Johnnie Cochrane's Chewbakka defense. It's the mother of all plot holes.
Issue #2: The whole point of D&D is to create a PARTY of assorted characters whose skills complement each other: the thief picks locks and disarm traps, the fighter engages in melee combat, the wizard uses magic to assist and the cleric heals the people fighting. (Don't even get me going about the lack of a cleric in the movie, either!) Sending in the hero alone, all by his lonesome and calling it his "destiny" is a) a major cop-out; and b) TOTALLY contrary to the core nature of D&D.
Issue #3: There aren't that many dragons. I'm sorry, but a single dragon lair of 3-5 dragons is MORE than enough for one kingdom.
Issue #4: The thieves' guild maze was cool, but waaaay too short. The "dungeon" had exactly one trap and no monsters. HUGE letdown there. If they had at least spent a decent amount of time in the dungeon I could maybe have forgiven the plot hole. But no, they had to ruin it.
Issue #5: The dwarf seemed to be someone to have around so they could say they had a dwarf. He coulda been soooo cool, swigging ale and bashing in bad guys... but no.
Issue #6: Was that chick an elf or a drow?
Issue #7: Tom Baker should have had a lot more exposure than one scene.
Issue #8: Please, people, I know you're on a budget, but SPECIAL EFFECTS! Have a mage cast a fireball or lightning bolt, or even magic missile! Do something other than "teleport with error!" And on a related note... MAGES DON'T RELY EXCLUSIVELY ON PIXIE DUST!!!!!!!!!!!!! IIRC, there is NO material component required for Magic Missile, and EVERY mage knows Magic Missile!!
Issue #9: D&D + Romance = Bad.
Issue #10: The main character fought awful well for a thief.
THINGS I LIKED ABOUT THE MOVIE:
Jeremy Irons' acting. The rest of the acting was moderate to good, but couldn't overcome a bad script and poor effects.