Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker (2012)

Directed by: Fumihiko Sori | 90 minutes | animation, fantasy | Actors: Brina Palencia, Colleen Clinkenbeard, Christopher Sabat, J. Michael Tatum, John Swasey, Luci Christian, Chuck Huber, Mike McFarland, Pam Dougherty, R. Bruce Elliot

Computer games and franchises are doing well. For years. In the late 80’s you had the ‘The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!’ which featured cartoons of Nintendo icons such as Mario and Link (from ‘Zelda’). In the 90s, SEGA mascot had its own television series and in 2012 a real animation film about ‘Dragon Age’ appears. Previously, video game cartoons such as ‘Dead Space’, ‘Dante’s Inferno’ and ‘Halo’ have also appeared. Games are hip!

In ‘Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker’ the backstory of Cassandra Pentaghast is told. This feisty aunt is a gifted swordsman. Her life changes instantly when she uncovers a conspiracy through her old master. Suddenly she is threatened from all sides.

‘Dragon Age’ is a role-playing game created by development studio Bioware. The franchise did not do badly on the game consoles and PC, so Bioware saw the potential to have a film made around their characters. For that, the studio recruited Japanese director Fumihiko Sori. This man used to watch the computer-generated animation film ‘Vexille’. Unfortunately, that production was not very spectacular. The same unfortunately also applies to ‘Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker’. This film may appeal to diehard fans of the game series, but it cannot stand on its own two feet. The story is too muddled, the action too sparse and the characters too flat for that.

Gamers know Cassandra from ‘Dragon Age II’. In addition, Bioware promises that she will also make her appearance in the announced third part. If you’re familiar with the games, you may feel more affection for – or a bond with – Cassandra than someone who never gets behind a gaming PC, PS3, or Xbox 360. In this film, Cassandra comes across as a cold – and very unsympathetic – heroine. She threatens everyone with her sword, constantly looks grumpy and listens to no one. If you’ve played Dragon Age II, you’ll know more about her and her views, but people who haven’t seen her before this movie will quickly drop out. This anti-heroine is an uncharismatic bastard without a shred of humor.

The supporting actors consist of caricatural villains, annoying sidekicks and empty soldiers. No character is sufficiently developed. The story often refers to the games. If you haven’t played it, it will all seem pretty unclear. Also in terms of action the rather static ‘Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker’ disappoints. The wooden animation and the boring character designs (besides the main characters the monsters also look rather uninspired) don’t make it any better. The animation technique used – ‘cel shading’, a technique used in computer games and animation films to make computer-generated images appear hand-drawn – is now quite outdated and looks dated. This was already the case in ‘Vexille’ (from 2007), but five years later the technology is hopelessly outdated.

The backgrounds also look empty and bare. Visually, ‘Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker’ can no longer handle it. What remains is a moderately animated film with a weak story and unsympathetic characters. Diehard fans of the games may find this film interesting, as their ‘heroine’ is explored a bit further (albeit minimally). Newcomers should look elsewhere, because this dragon of a film will not make them happy…