If the comic tone is skilfully judged, it’s clear that Goldstein and Daley didn’t concentrate quite so hard on other aspects of their film. The plot is so haphazard that viewers might struggle to say what the villains are hoping to achieve. They might also lose interest when the heroes go off on a wild goose chase in the middle, at which point Grant’s character is all but forgotten, and Regé-Jean Page pops in as a noble warrior, for no obvious reason except to get Bridgerton fans into the cinema. The cartoonish visual effects aren’t first-rate, either. In most contemporary fantasy, the CGI is so advanced that every last bristle on a monster’s hide looks tangibly real, whereas this film doesn’t convince you for a second that the characters are in an actual dungeon or facing an actual dragon. Presumably, the theory was that if viewers were smiling, they wouldn’t mind that they weren’t gasping or screaming.
It’s a theory that is just about vindicated. Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is no masterpiece, but it’s warm, upbeat, unpretentious entertainment, and it’s bound to be popular. We certainly won’t have to wait another 23 years before the next Dungeons & Dragons film comes out.
★★★☆☆
Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves opens in cinemas in the US and UK on 31 March.
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