‘DUNGEONS & DRAGONS’ IS FUN FOR ALL

In 1974, in a small city in Wisconsin, what could be considered the world’s most well-known tabletop game was born.

For a few years, Dungeons & Dragons was an instant, then expanding hit, but after the rise of digital games, it seemed to disappear. That is until 1996, when Wizards of the Coast relaunched the role-playing game.

Today, D&D has moved from being a tabletop game that only the coolest of nerds played, to a global hit that nearly everyone has heard of. And in late March, geeks and nerds all over the world shared their excitement as Paramount Pictures released the film “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”

As someone who has been playing D&D since I was 12 years old, I had extremely high hopes for the movie. And I’m very happy to say that it very much fulfilled my expectations.

The story follows Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine), a Bard with a tragic past, as he and his party try to outrun their criminal past and reunite him with his daughter, Kira (Chloe Coleman).

His party includes Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), a human Barbarian with a complicated romantic past; Simon Aumar (Justice Smith), a half-elf Sorcerer suffering from poor self-esteem; and Doric (Sophia Lillis), a Tiefling Druid striving to bring peace to the peoples who took her in when she had no one else. Together, they embark on a journey filled with danger, hilarity, and strangely, an impressive number of baked potatoes.

I originally faced a bit of skepticism because there are people who have never played D&D, and I worried that they wouldn’t understand the film. However, one of the best aspects of the movie is that it’s extremely easy for everyone to enjoy. The banter between four adventurers makes it a barrel of laughs for all involved, and knowledge of the game is not needed. The characters do a really good job of setting their scene in a way that helps non-D&D players understand, and forces them to laugh.

I think the actors do an incredible job portraying the often-mischievous characters most D&D players create, and the storyline is good. As a D&D connoisseur, it was so fun to pick out the little things thrown into the movie, touches that were clearly meant for D&D players to recognize.

Immediately, I recognized that the story is set in the Forgotten Realms campaign, one of the most well-known modules in the game. I also was able to recognize several common spells, such as Thunderbolt, Fireball, Detect Magic, and Prestidigitation. I was pleased to discover some of my favorite monsters are included and their presence makes the movie the masterpiece it is. D&D players can expect to see Displacer Beasts, Mimics, Gelatinous Cubes, and yes, dragons.

I was also pleased to see a variety of the diverse races in D&D on the screen, including Aarokocras (bird people), Tabaxi (cat people), Halflings, Dragonborns, Elves, and Dwarves.

All in all, I think that the movie is well thought-out and enacted. The plot is humorous and unexpected at times, as a D&D campaign should be, and I was very satisfied with it.

There are only a couple of things I would change, and that would just be that spellcasting would be more consistent. I saw a few times that component-based spells are cast without the use of components, and more disturbingly, Wild Magic is cast without the random consequences that are supposed to come with it.

I also would have felt like the movie would be more complete if it was portrayed as being a campaign that was currently being played. Even an end scene showing that this adventure has all been a game would really wrap it all together.

Despite those few negatives, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys humor mixed with action.