Dragon Quest: Your Story

Now to another animated film that debuted on Netflix last February after an international theatrical release in 2019! It's a CGI anime film based on the Dragon Quest video games, specifically Dragon Quest V from the SNES. The series is a cultural mainstay in Japan, but a cult curiosity in the US, where it was once marketed as Dragon Warrior. The film is called Dragon Quest: Your Story. Here's the review: 

Our hero is Luca, son of the warrior King Pankraz and his Queen Mada. The evil Bishop Ladja wants to summon the almighty evil Grandmaster Nimzo, so he steals away Mada. Luca and Pankraz travel the world and meet a few friends. But when they encounter Ladja, he kills Pankraz and enslaves Luca and his alleged pal, Prince Harry.

Ten years later, Luca and Harry make a messy escape from Ladja's dungeon. The main plot kicks in when Luca learns he's apparently the Zenithian Hero, the Special destined to vanquish Nimzo forever. There's even a Legendary Sword to prove him such. He has to get it back from the ravaging Bjorn the Behemoose. Along the way, Luca is forced to choose between two of his old friends, sweet Nera and fiery Bianca, to take to the altar. Now to fight Ladja and....

The screenplay by co-director Takashi Yamazaki speeds through the long video game in just 102 minutes. Necessary, but not perfect. The film presents its prologue in SNES graphics form. Luca meets Nera and Bianca, but the speedy plot doesn't give their relationships the time to breathe. So when one of them abdicates to the other, it's more "meh" than "ahh." Luca spends all but one scene with Prince Harry before Ladja shows up. And it has Prince Harry being a royal pain (he gets better). Gootrude the Slime (Slimes being the series' mascot creature) is an important character for the climax, but he's just there for most of the time. The climax derails its chosen one narrative for a meta-fictional twist. It may make or break the film for some, but I thought it was OK. The surprise villain was a delightfully smug jerk.

What it gets right is the technicals. The character designs aren't exactly lifted from Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama's designs from the games. But they're recognizable. What this means is that the monsters are still goofy and the humans are equally cartoony. Ladja's design is perfectly creepy. The 3D environments they inhabit and their magical spells are visually stunning. Again, see it on the biggest TV you can find. Koichi Sugiyama's iconic soundtrack from the game scores the film. It only adds to the majesty of the visuals.

Its plot may go at lightspeed, but Dragon Quest: Your Story is anything but unintelligible. Its dramatic qualities are mostly inert but its plot points are understandable. You need not be familiar with the games to understand it all. It also has a good sense of humor and a mostly good pace. Its technicals are on par with any Pixar release. I'd like to find some other CGI anime now. This one is worth at least a watch. It's still on Netflix if you want to.