DragonHeart

Collector's Edition

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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Fantasy	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - 1.78:1 non-16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	Yes, 1 - Teaser Trailer; 1.78:1 non-16x9, Dolby Digital 2.0 Yes, 5 - TV Spots
Year Released	1996	Commentary Tracks	Yes, 1 - Rob Cohen (Director)
Running Time	98:41 minutes	Other Extras	Menu Audio Featurette-The Making Of DragonHeart (44:47) Production Notes Cast & Crew Biographies Gallery-Photos/Sketches Outtakes-2 Deleted Scenes
RSDL/Flipper	RSDL (71:57)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Movie	Cast & Crew
Region	2,4	Director	Rob Cohen
Studio Distributor	Columbia Tristar	Starring	Dennis Quaid David Thewlis Pete Postlethwaite Dina Meyer Julie Christie Sean Connery
Case	Transparent Amaray	Starring
RRP	$34.95	Music	Randy Edelman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	MPEG	None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Dolby Digital	5.1
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages Region 4	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s)
16x9 Enhancement	Yes	Soundtrack Languages Region 2	English (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) German (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) French (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1, 384Kb/s) Czech (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s) Polish (Dolby Digital 2.0 , 192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary (Dolby Digital 1.0, 96Kb/s)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Macrovision	Yes	Smoking	No
Subtitles Region 4	English	Annoying Product Placement	No
Subtitles Region 2	English French Portuguese Danish Finnish Swedish Norwegian German Dutch	Action In or After Credits	No

Plot Synopsis

IN SHORT: Shoots high. Falls short.

DragonHeart is set in the 10th Century, in a time of knights and dragons. Dennis Quaid plays Bowen, a knight. Bowen tutors and protects the king's son, Einon (David Thewlis). The king is killed and Einon is nearly killed. Einon's mother, Aislinn (Julie Christie) asks a dragon, Draco (voiced by Sean Connery), to save her son, and he does. Unfortunately, Einon is very much a bad apple - something that Bowen blames on the dragon. Bowen vows to slay all dragons.

Eventually, all dragons but one have been killed. Draco and Bowen team up and become friends, united against the evil Einon.

DragonHeart failed to capture my interest. I found it basically dull and silly, with performances by all of the principals that left me unconvinced and cold. It gave me the impression of being a movie that took itself far too seriously. All the CGI in the world cannot save this movie. Your opinion may differ.

Transfer Quality

Video

This is basically a very good transfer, with some minor problems.

The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

The transfer was generally sharp and clear with reasonable shadow detail and no low level noise. There is one problematic sequence where the focus is soft and the definition is poor, and that is the initial cave sequence with the dragon. Shadow detail in this sequence is also lacking.

The colours were beautifully rendered, with lush vivid greens and browns being particularly noticeable. Some of the interior scenes tended towards oversaturation.

There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Film to video artefacts consisted of some extremely minor and inconsequential aliasing in some of the forest scenes. Film artefacts were few and far between. There is, however, a significant video glitch at 25:12.

Subtitles can be selected via the remote control, and all subtitles are available via the remote, no matter what Region the DVD player is set to. The subtitle menu, however, is dependent on which Region the DVD player is set to.

This disc is an RSDL disc, with the layer change placed between Chapter 25 and 26, at 71:57. The layer change is well placed and minimally intrusive.

Audio

The audio tracks available on this DVD are dependent on the Region that the DVD player is set to in the same way as for subtitles. They are selectable via the audio menu, and via the remote control. All audio tracks are selectable via the remote control at all times.

There are eight audio tracks on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, Czech Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded, Polish Dolby Digital 2.0 and an English Audio Commentary track in Dolby Digital 1.0. I listened to both the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and to the Audio Commentary track.

Dialogue was usually easy to understand, however, it had a very unnatural and processed timbre to it for the first 30 minutes or so.

Audio sync was problematic with this disc. I started watching this disc on a Pioneer DV-525 DVD player, but found that the sync was unacceptably out. I then restarted watching the movie on a Toshiba 2109 DVD player which improved the situation considerably, but sync remained marginal throughout.

The score by Randy Edelman is better than the movie. It is a gorgeous soundtrack, with both sweeping, lyrical orchestrations and exciting, strident orchestrations.

The surround channels were heavily used with ambience, special effects and music placed throughout the sound field very effectively and convincingly.

The .1 channel was used very interestingly to support Sean Connery's voice as well as to support the music and the special effects.

Extras

There is a very good selection of extras on this disc.

Menu Audio

Featurette-The Making Of DragonHeart

This is an excellent featurette which clearly demonstrates the passion the production team had for this story, as well as providing an excellent insight into the special effects.

Audio Commentary - Rob Cohen (Director)

Rob speaks enthusiastically and often, providing a wealth of information related to specific scenes and to the production overall.

Production Notes

These are very extensive.

Cast & Crew Biographies

Theatrical Trailer

Teaser Trailer

The DragonHeart Archives

These are accessible via the Making Of DragonHeart chapter selection menu and comprise still photos and production sketches. Personally, I think the link to these archives should have been placed on a second Special Features menu, as they are very easy to miss.

Deleted Scenes - 2

As above.

TV Spots - 5

As above.

R4 vs R1

DragonHeart is available in two versions in Region 1; a Dolby Digital Collector's Edition and a featureless DTS version.

Our version has the same extras as the Region 1 Dolby Digital Collector's Edition.

Summary

DragonHeart was a movie that I was anticipating highly, but which disappointed me. Once again, I would state that your opinion may differ to mine.

The video quality is good.

The audio quality is very good except for the marginal audio sync.

The extras are excellent.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment

DVD	Toshiba 2109, using S-Video output
Display	Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 16:9 mode, via the S-Video input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder	Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Amplification	2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer
Speakers	Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer