Eragon (2006)
Epic Dragon Fantasy
A dragon fantasy adapted from a popular book series that has Lord of the Rings wannabe stamped all over it and only unimaginatively follows in Peter Jackson’s footsteps
Dragons
The dragon is a creature from folklore. It is usually seen as large and reptilian in nature, able to fly and breathe fire. Dragons are frequently hostile to humans but can be tamed and ridden by a select few. Some depictions of dragons have them as intelligent and able to speak. In other versions, they desire to hoard treasure, while possessions of their teeth, blood or scales can offer magical boon.
Dragons have appeared in various works of fantasy and fairytale where they are fought by heroic adventurers and dragonslayers. The depiction of the dragon on screen goes back to at least the silent Siegfried (1924). There have been a number of animated examples but the live-action equivalent took flight with the CGI revolution of the 1990s. Following the boom in Epic Fantasy films in the 2000s onwards, there have been a number of fantasy works about and/or featuring dragons.
There is also the tradition of Chinese dragons, which are not reptilian or fire-breathing in nature but are more wisely creatures that often aid people in adventures.
The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter (1990)
Adventures in a Fantasy Land
Sequel to The Neverending Story made with a better budget. This delivers some amazing sets and creature designs but is killed with a script that discards the metaphors and complex level of meta-fiction of the original
In the Name of the King: Two Worlds (2011)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
Uwe Boll strikes again! Sequel to his passable earlier epic fantasy, which is dragged down by a lack of action and the need to provide star Dolph Lundgren with a series of excrutiating witticims
Monster Hunter (2020)
Videogame Adaptation/Monster-Filled Other Dimension
Resident Evil series director Paul W.S. Anderson and star Milla Jovovich return with an adaptation of another popular videogame series
Luck (2022)
Animation/The Land of Luck
Disgraced former Pixar head John Lasseter makes a returns to animation for Skydance in an incredibly lightweight effort about adventures in the land of luck
Dudes & Dragons (2015)
Epic Fantasy Comedy
This sets out to parody the Lord of the Rings fantasy. Or at least you think that is what it is trying to do. All suspension of disbelief is killed by a series of grating and anachronistic quips
Adventures of a Teenage Dragonslayer (2010)
Children's Fantasy Adventure
A children’s fantasy adventure that never strays beyond the environs of an American high school and comes with the lowbrow slapstick, excruciating comic caricatures and incredibly bad effects
In the Name of the King 3 (2014)
Epic Fantasy Adventure
A Uwe Boll film that feels as though he didn’t cared about what he was making. You’d have to go back to the Italian sword-and-sorcery films of the 1980s to find a more shoddy work of epic fantasy
The Throbbit (2015)
The Hobbit Parody
An excruciating fan-made parody of The Hobbit films filled with amateur actors delivering performances in ridiculous falsettos. What makes this mind-boggling is its realisation it can’t compete with Peter Jackson on effects, resulting in things like Smaug played by a drag queen
The Neverending Story III (1994)
Adventures in a Fantasy Land
Abysmal third entry in the series. The creatures lack any conviction and everything is wrecked by taking the story out of Fantasia back to Earth amid hip contemporary jokes
Legend of the White Horse (1986)
Magical Horse/Dragon
Christopher Lloyd and Dee Wallace star in one of the tattiest of 1980s fantasy films about a magic horse that is really a dragon. This is killed by some abysmal effects.
Descendants 2 (2017)
The Children of Disney Villains
Sequel to the painfully bad Disney Channel film that copied the success of High School Musical and featured the teenage children of classic Disney animated villains. This is just as empty-headed and unwatchable
Descendants (2015)
The Children of Disney Villains
This has an appealing premise – the children of all the Disney villains have grown up and go to school together. This is promptly killed by the awfulness of the film itself, which is essentially High School Musical set in the Disney universe