Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Featurette-Behind The Scenes-BioWare Studio Tour (7.56) Featurette-Making Of-Dawn of the Seeker: Backstage Pass (20.41) Gallery-Production Art (8.57)
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	90:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,4	Directed By	Fumihiko Sori
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Jeffrey Scott Luci Christian Colleen Clinkenbeard Pam Dougherty R. Bruce Elliot Chuck Huber Mike McFarland Brina Palencia Christopher Sabat John Swasey J. Michael Tatum
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Naoyuki Horiko Reiji Kitazato Shogo Ohnishi

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     BioWare Studios are one of the most successful game design houses on the planet. Although they have dabbled in a few genres their mainstay has been in role-playing games, initially for PC and now multi-platform. Their titles read like a roll call of great RPG properties : Baldurs Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect are some of the games which have come to define quality in the serious end of the RPG market. Their focus has always been on story and complex character development over mere hack and slash.

     Add to that exalted list the Dragon Age series consisting of two very highly regarded role-playing games with a third on the distant horizon. Once again, the basic elements of Dragon Age are nothing new. Mages, religious orders, brave fighters and a world in turmoil. What is special about the Dragon Age series is the political complexity of the story telling and the difficult moral choices that have to be made.

     First, an admission. Although a Mass Effect and Knights of the Old Republic tragic I have toyed with but not delved deeply into the Dragon Age world. The reason is not to do with the milieu or the quality of the experience. It is just that BioWare titles are not so much games as lifestyle choices. It is possible to bury enormous amounts of highly addictive hours in the games. Perhaps the experience of watching this film will draw me into it…

    Recently I reviewed a release from Funimation Studios entitled TO. It consisted of two 45 minute films set in space. The animation style was unusual, combining very detailed CGI backgrounds with more traditional 2-D cell shaded looking anime characters. Fumihiko Sori who directed TO and Vexille also directed Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker and has used the same animation style for this film. It is unusual but it doesn't take long to adapt to the style and appreciate it for the beauty of the backgrounds and the fluidity of the foreground and the characters.

     The first question many will ask is whether the film is watchable without being fully versed in the Dragon Age world. The answer is "yes" though it no doubt adds some extra depth to the film if you have already spent untold hours in the company of, if not these characters, then at least the world from which they emerge.

     The story is in the nature of political intrigue with some magic and old-fashioned swordplay to spice things up. Cassandra Pentaghast is a Seeker, an elite soldier from a dragon slayer clan whose job it is to serve the Chantry, the religious order which has evolved to counter the threat of the blood mages, users of dark magic who want to take over the world. Under the tutelage of her mentor Byron she has developed to be a peerless sword fighter. Her weakness is her anger. Her brother was killed by the blood mage and she has sworn vengeance and has an uncontrollable rage.

     When the Seekers rescue a young girl from a blood mage ceremony it seems like a very successful operation. However Cassandra comes to learn that there is treachery and conspiracy within the echelons of the Chantry. It is difficult to know who to trust. When Byron is killed trying to spirit the girl out of the city, Cassandra is blamed and becomes a fugitive. Her only ally is a circle mage (good mages) named Galyan. Despite his best efforts, he has trouble convincing the magic prejudiced Cassandra that he is to be trusted.

     The identity of the actual traitors is revealed fairly early and the drama lies in the telling. Will Cassandra be able to fight her way out of numerous life-threatening scrapes in time to prevent the conspiracy overturning the divine leader and bringing into being a new era of dark magic under the power of the evil Frenic?

     The story of Dawn of the Seeker is not fully compelling and perhaps should have been expanded to a series rather than a one-off film. The ending suggests, however, that given enough fan enthusiasm and investor interest it may not be the last of the series. There is certainly enough politics to satisfy those who want a bit of depth with their sword and sorcery and the action scenes are well directed with gouts of blood to satisfy those with a taste for violence.

     All in all not a defining experience but nevertheless an entertaining romp which hopefully will be only the first in a series of tales.

Video

     Dragon Age Dawn of the Seeker comes to Blu-ray in a fine 1.78:1 transfer.

     It is bright and vivid throughout. The colours, particularly the blood, are well rendered. Both the CGI and the 2-D animation are crisp and clear.

     The animated faces are not excessively detailed however the lines are clear and stable.

     The film has subtitles in English on the Japanese language version.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     When inserting the Blu-ray for Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker a trailer comes up for Tales of Vesperia, another videogame movie. After that the screen allows the viewer to choose either the English language version or the Japanese language version. They are both in Dolby True HD 5.1.

     Fans will no doubt argue which represents the more accurate version. This is anime with CGI which looks very much like a Japanese product but at the same time it had its origins in an English language game. As it happens, both are good listening experiences.

     In the Japanese language version Cassandra is played by Chiaki Kuriyama, who many will know from her performance as Go-Go Yubari in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. The English language version is by Colleen Clinkenbeard who is an experienced voice actor who has played a host of characters in English anime dubs (including Vexille) and also did the role of Lilith and Patricia Tannis in Borderlands. Both do a good job with their characters. I did prefer the Japanese voice for Regalyan but otherwise the two versions were fairly similar in quality. There is some difference in the text although this might be due to the subtitling of the Japanese version.

     The dialogue on the English-language version is clear and easy to understand.

     The surround sound effects are used fairly subtly throughout the film. The sub woofer has a role to play in the fight scenes particularly the ogres and dragons where it has a wall shaking presence

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     The Blu-ray of Dragon Age contains a few interesting extras.

BioWare studio Tour

     Creative director of BioWare studio Mike Laidlaw takes us on a walking tour of the different sections of the company including the breakout area where the staff discuss ideas in an informal setting, the writing team, the concept artwork area, the modelling and the level design. It is not specific to the Dragon Age game series.

Dawn of the Seeker Backstage Pass

     This is effectively the Making of featurette, although the Japanese team don't get a look in. The creative crew from BioWare talk about the process involved in translating the game to an animated movie. An important aspect of the decision was to ensure that the film was consistent with the existing lore yet expanded on the story. Not only is there interview footage but lots of early animatics and concept art.

Dragon Age Production Art

     A selection of images depicting the characters from the film.

   This Blu-ray is for Region A and B and is therefore identical to the product that can be obtained in the English-speaking world. Buy local.

     The fact that this movie went direct to video is perhaps a reflection of the niche market for game adaptations. It is not a reflection of the quality as this is a fairly decent animated movie which ticks most of the boxes without being spectacular.

     It looks good on Blu-ray and sounds good too whether you are listening to the English-language version or the Japanese language version.

     There are a couple of interesting extras although it would have been nice to hear from the English and Japanese voice cast as well as the director.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall