Film Review - Dungeons and Dragons (2023)

Dungeons and Dragons is directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein who were behind the great 2018 game comedy Game Night and this is based off of the successful board game and stars Chris Pine as Edgin a thief who lost his wife to the Red Wizards and his daughter to his former colleague Forge (Hugh Grant) who plans to revive the High Sun Games but in his possession is the Tablet of Reawakening who can revive a person back from the dead which Edgin wants but to get it he'll need a team of rogues (Sophia Lillis, Justice Smith and Michelle Rodriguez.)

Dungeons and Dragons is a good time at the movies, its fun/light hearted and full of the kind of fantasy visuals that was done in the Lord of the Rings movies but also this directing teams experience on Game Night which reminded me of playing GTA 5 at times during that film feels like a great fit for this material and they do a good job translating it to film.

The humour which in so many films nowadays feels forced and unnecessary is well used here and it helps to make the mood of the film not feel too serious and like a game being played with a group of friends, the visual moments are good here as well especially in the arena during the third act and there is some fun action moments throughout the film as well.

But what makes this movie for me is the cast, Pine/Lillis/Smith and Rodriguez work well together as a group and they each bring something different to their respective parts in the heist, Rege Jean-Page is good as well as Xenk a mysterious knight but this is Hugh Grant’s movie and like in Paddington 2 he steals the show as the slimy villain and is great fun to watch in every scene he’s in.

And so that was Dungeons and Dragons and it’s a good time at the movies, 3 out of 5.