I really wanted this to be a GOOD movie. It was written and directed by a woman and stars a woman questing for adventure. What I got was MEH. I was disappointed that it didn't live up to my expectations for overall enjoyment. The thief, Dagen, tries too hard to be a Casanova, Teela, the priestess, is a bit too rote in spouting off rhetoric about her goddess, Thane, the muscle in this band of misfits, just wants to get the girl (Teela) and settle down; while Marek, the mage/conjurer, has good intentions, her results can sometimes leave a lot to be desired. She does manage to come through in a pinch, though. One obvious, to me anyway, distraction was the nose prosthetic on the dwarf behind the bar. I supposed I've watched too much Face Off because I could see the glue along the edges - on the left side when he's facing camera - and it's also lifted along curve of his nostril. Other things that got in the way were the lack of drama and suspense in the fight scenes. I never felt like any of them were in real danger of dying, no sense of urgency, all very one note. Marek is the most likable fo the bunch but seems a tad bit too excited - naive maybe - about going on dangerous adventures. I wanted to be drawn into the story and really care about the characters but it never happened. I wanted to believe that what they were doing was important and I needed to feel the urgency of it all but I didn't. It fell flat for me because they didn't really make me believe any of it. E for effort but they definitely fell short on the excellence part.

It's better than many of the dungeons and dragons movies of the 90s. A watchable enough story with pleasing if not perfect visuals and special effects. The lead actress feels forced but some of the supporting characters are better. Not one I'd strongly recommend, but I liked it enough to look at the sequels. A solid effort.

I loved this movie. Their are many big budget films that don't satisfy me. Many have lacked a real story and depend on big budget CGI. BLEH! I much prefer a story with heart. I have found that in this movie. I've been watching, reading, playing and game mastering fantasy adventure for almost 40 years and I loved this movie. Yea, it could be more polished, and yea the special effects could be more spectacular, but I loved the story and the characters and the music and the actors. I am looking forward to watching and owning the rest of these. I want to see these characters form their bonds, overcome great odds, show us the meaning of courage, perseverance and friendship. Please keep them coming!

If you are into fantasy genre or medieval backdropped goodies and baddies type films, this is quite a pleasant way to while away just under 2 hours. But otherwise, it is what it is, a lower budget film that cannot compete with Lord of the Rings, Game or Thrones or even the Narnia films. I imagine what has been achieved effect-wise is probably very well done considering whatever the budget was. But when there's such competition out there, I can't help feeling less CGI and more human characters could have been used more effectively. And the film just does not stand up well to scrutiny if you think about it too much as there are a few bits that just plainly make no sense. Spoilers below.GOOD POINTSBelievable acting (considering the lines!)Absolutely beautiful backdrops and locationsGood costumesCollection of like-able characters that comfortably cover different personalities with a few clichés thrown in; 1. cheeky thief, love rat chappy, 2. brave and determined female lead, 3. strong and thick set man and 4. beautiful supporting female who cannot fall in love with anyone as she belongs to a religious order clearing the path for our lead to have romantic entanglementsIntriguing supporting charactersBAD POINTSStory just not told very well, e.g. the lead is being attacked by an ogre so scoops up spider venom on an arrow. I think we can all guess what she plans to do but there's a shot of the arrow dripping in venom just to ram it home. And yet another section where our plucky lead inexplicably looks at one character as her eyes turn black, his go the same way, magic solves their problem, everyone coughs a bit and then moves on to the next stage of escape with no explanation about what she could suddenly achieve through magic she has never been taught and failed dismally at about a day before. I'm all for intrigue but it just feels they hadn't decided what the reason is behind her powers and couldn't tell us rather than it being by design. Script weak and made me cringe a couple of times when someone said something cliché. A lot is said that doesn't need saying and then at other times, things aren't explained very well and would have come across better if there was better quality dialogue.The lead's magic talents seem to include a bizarre range of skills that only work sometimes and are deployed suddenly without her knowing she could ever do them before.The characters feel shallow and not well thought out. Maybe its because this genre usually springs from novels where characters have back stories. I might be wrong but I believe this is written as a film, not an adaptation. There are long montages of the characters walking across beautiful landscape and yet no overnight camps around the fire when their conversations could have told us so much about their characters and developed their relationships a bit more or small obstacles to their quest which would have drawn them closer together. There are lots of small bits which make no sense, e.g. a character who was kidnapped then rescued, opts to continue her journey alone. I assume saving her again may be the premise of the second film? A opportunistic character who leaves everyone and runs away leaving our heroine under a bush while there are baddies about, then suddenly decides he loves her later on and therefore he will risk his life for the other people he pretty much hated when he last saw them? Odd slow motion effect for some of the fights or running away sequences. I remember this effect being used when we are meant to be looking through the eyes of something un-human but it just kicked into this film and then stopped again. I found it a bit strange rather than having a positive impact.