Dragonheart

What did impress me was that the CGI dragon did not seem fully out of place with greater amounts of detail. Draco looks highly detailed and just as impressive as he did when I purchased the film on LaserDisc so very long ago. The film has strong black levels, good shadow delineation and good coloring; colors are vibrant and nicely contrasted. When the film is good, it is very good. When the film is average, it is still better than many other catalogue titles, but lacks the three dimensional appeal that the remainder of the film possesses.

Sound:
DTS Sound was a huge selling point for "Dragonheart" on both LaserDisc and DVD. Special releases were created to provide DTS support for the film on both formats. Sadly, only a Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 soundtrack is included on the HD-DVD release and "Dragonheart" loses its appeal as a provider of top-notch sound formats. Although the Dolby Digital Plus track sounds pretty good, it would have been nice to see Universal continue to push the envelope with this film and provide a DTS HD Lossless soundtrack or Dolby TrueHD mix. The enveloping soundtrack still provides a few very good moments of sound. The flapping of Draco´s wings moves across all speakers when the CGI dragon is in flight. The sound of his fire-breathing provides strong bass response. The metallic clanking of swords remains sharp. Vocalization is strong. "Dragonheart" still sounds above average, but only ever so slightly. The days when this was a film to look to for the latest in sound technology are apparently over.

Extras:
All of the extras from the original March 1998 "Special Collector´s Edition" DVD release of "Dragonheart" have taken flight and landed on the HD-DVD release. They are nice, but dated in their appeal and presentation and with nothing new being added to the HD-DVD release, they are a simple rehash. The Feature Commentary with Director Rob Cohen is a detailed mixture of information on the film, heavy self-praise and lots of backpatting. Cohen has nothing but good words to say about everything and tries to throw the words ´sex´ and ´Slovakia´ into the commentary as many times as possible. Although full of information and providing a wealth of knowledge on the CGI dragon and the troubles and overpraised successes associated with the (at the time) new technology, I found Cohen to be a little too high on himself to really enjoy this commentary track. Informative, but egotistical.

The documentary, The Making of Dragonheart (44:39) is presented in 4:3 standard definition and 480i resolution. Rob Cohen and others take part in the discussion about the film and Cohen is once again informative, but a little too proud for his creation and his own efforts. After getting past Cohen´s praise on everything and himself, there is a lot of information on the tennis balls used for Quaid to act against and other techniques used to make the film. If you can get past Cohen, this is a good little documentary, but doesn´t move too far beyond being another EPK-styled feature. The Teaser Trailer and Theatrical Trailer are both included. There was a time when Universal lopped the trailers from their HD-DVD releases. No longer. The Outtake #1 (1:32) is a deleted scene involving Pete Postlethwaite and Dennis Quaid. The film and the world can always use more Pete Postlethwaite. Outtake #2 (:54) features a scene between Dina Meyer and Dennis Quaid and establishes some thoughts of romance between the two actors´ characters.

Closing Comments:
"Dragonheart" could be considered a guilty pleasure. I´ve owned two versions of the film on DVD and a version of "Dragonheart" on LaserDisc. Part of my decision to purchase multiple versions was for the DTS soundtracks. This was a film I could use to show off the superiority of LaserDisc over VHS and eventually show that DVD was a worthy replacement for my beloved 12" format. The film still feels a little magical so many years after it was first released, although my added years find more holes in the plot with each viewing. The film doesn´t have the best story, but it has some very good actors and I still think the CGI dragon can look pretty spiffy. Sure, a few scenes make him look a little primitive, but Hollywood has come a long way since the days of Ray Harryhausen´s stop motion skeletons. The HD-DVD release is generally better than average, but with being a rehash of the decade old "Special Collector´s Edition" DVD, it is starting to show its age in both material and technology.

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