Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
This was really just how a Dungeons & Dragons movie is supposed to be. Good campy story, plenty of action and magic, funny bits, dramatic parts and touching moments.
While the story is mostly cliché, it works and actually quite good. Better than I feared it would be at least. All the DnD elements are there. Character back stories, quest for magical items, recruiting party members, team banter and lots of clever fighting and use of magic spells. I particularly enjoyed all the creative spell casting.
The pacing mostly works. I appreciated that the various action scenes didn’t overstay their welcome and quieter segments were evenly spread out. It is still somewhat uneven with jokes that was really funny to toe curling face palms. In general, my enjoyment for the movie flip flopped a lot during its runtime. The ending was easy to see coming but nevertheless touching and fitting.
I hope we can get a sequel, because while it wasn’t perfect, I found the overall tone to pretty much nail what a DnD movie could be and it has potential to be even better.
Rating: 3.5