Dungeons & Dragons

I saw this at the time it was released in 2000, and I couldn't quite fathom how Oscar winning Jeremy Irons ("Profion") ever found his way onto the screen for this nonsense. The whole thing centres around his megalomaniacal desire to depose the Empress (a shockingly wooden Thora Birch) and seize her sceptre that controls the white dragons. She's having none of that, so he must now seek out the red "Rod of Savina" via his menacing henchman "Damodar" (Bruce Payne) for that controls the red ones. Meantime petty thieves "Ridley" (Justin Whalin) and his pal "Snails" (Marlon Wayans) manage to get embroiled in the plot after a visit to the House of Magic goes a bit awry. The scene is now set for some silly, set-piece escapades with some basic special effects, a daft cameo from Richard O'Brien (reappraising his "Adventure Game" performance) and, well you get the drift. It's poor, this - but I didn't hate it. There is a bit of fun being had, Whalin is easy enough on the eye and the whole thing has it's tongue so firmly planted in it's cheek that it is hard to actually dislike it - especially at the end when Iron hits super-ham mode and the dragons all take flight. Sure, the dialogue is daft but somehow that just didn't matter. Despite myself, I quite enjoyed this....