Dungeons & Dragons was originally a role playing game. Not the video game kind, although there certainly have been many D&D video games, but a RPG
where people sit around a table listening to a Dungeon Master describing adventures and rolling dice, determining their character's fate. It was also a cartoon in the
1980's. It was also much more popular back then than it is now.
Jeremy Irons is an evil mage who wants to get a red scepter to gain power of all the red dragons so he can boss around the Empress as much as he wants to.
Marlon Wayans, a thief, goes with his thief friend to steal some stuff from a mage's tower. After being caught in the act, they join a female mage, a dwarf, and an elf on
a quest to find the red scepter before Jeremy Irons does.
The acting in this movie is generally over-acted beyond belief. The only three actors that come off with OK performances are Marlon Wayans as an amusing comic
relief character, the guy who played the dwarf, and the guy who was Riff Raff in the Rocky Horror Picture Show as the head of the Thief Guild.
Jeremy Irons is usually a good actor, but in an interview about Dungeons & Dragons, he said he did this movie for the money. He makes very strange facial
expressions, screaming lines in a manner so overdone, they should have hired a C-grade actor to replace his part. Jeremy Irons' sidekick doesn't fare well either.
Shaved bald and dressed in black while looking like the Mummy's human form from that Mummy remake a year or so ago, he whispers his lines in a monotone voice
that's supposed to sound threatening. While his voice was appropriate, his blue lipstick wasn't. The lipstick is a turquoise color so distracting that it makes him look
ridiculous. Early in the movie, this evil sidekick gets Jeremy Irons pissed off and has a snake thing go inside him, causing his ears to turn bright red and giving him a mild
burning sensation.
Dungeons & Dragons isn't a totally terrible movie, however. Some of the action scenes are enjoyable, including the big dragon fight at the end and a gauntlet
full of traps that the main hero has to overcome. The pace at the beginning and the end of the movie is fine, but during the middle the movie oddly cuts from the heroes'
quest to the Empress bickering with Jeremy Irons. The scenes remind me of the parts where Queen Amidala talks to the Senate in The Phantom Menace-sort of
important to the plot, but way too long. The ending of this movie is very weak, makes little sense, and makes you wish for a sequel if only to figure what the hell was
going on.
I give Dungeons & Dragons ** out of ****.

I found this movie to be surprisingly entertaining, despite being a bad movie. The acting completely sucked, (except for the dwarf and Marlon Wayans.) It was amazing to see how no one in the movie could act. Most of the special effects were pretty crappy, except for the part that rips of Indiana Jones. That was pretty cool.

**1/2 out of ****