Film Talk: Latest Movie Releases – Rolling the dice with Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves

A celebration of creativity and imagination, Dungeons & Dragons is synonymous with the whole concept of role-play adventure, and along with literature from the likes of Tolkien, stands as one of the grand pillars of high fantasy.

Indeed, D&D has, since its creation, inspired countless other creative works of swords and sorcery, having served as a sleeping muse to almost every flick since 1974 to have featured the dastardly deeds of dwarves and dark wizards. Not only that, for years the game itself has been referenced and played heavily across the big and small screen – notably in E.T. and, of course, Stranger Things. Yet, for some reason, direct screen adaptations of Dungeons & Dragons have never really quite worked.

I remember bowling down to the flicks as a youngster, eager to catch the 2000 namesake movie starring Jeremy Irons, confident that a joyous yarn for any hobbit-footed young lad was on the cards. Yet this effort – directed by Courtney Solomon and also starring Marlon Wayans and Thora Birch – missed the mark, failing to light a fire in even my 12-year-old heart, and bombing at the box office.

Though two made-for-TV sequels followed, these were no better, and for a long time it seemed that the game was over. However, two decades later, the time has come to role the dice again.

Directed by Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is looking to crush the ghosts of goblins past, and finally serve up a movie that will do justice to the legacy of the game. With Star Trek alumnus Chris Pine and Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page along for the ride, the campaign is set up, but do the players achieve glory? Let the game begin...

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: HONOUR AMONG THIEVES (12A, 134 mins)

Released: March 31 (UK & Ireland)

Previous attempts to translate the co-operative monster-slaying and spell-casting of Dungeons & Dragons to the big screen, including a 2000 fantasy adventure starring Jeremy Irons and Marlon Wayans, failed to replicate the unabashed fun or thrill of a campaign of the roleplaying game.

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s boisterous romp is a confident step in the right direction, combining special effects-laden action and tongue-in-cheek humour under the aegis of two dungeon masters, who struck a similarly irreverent tone with their previous film, Game Night.

The duo’s breezy script, co-written by Michael Gilio, acknowledges the game’s legacy with a cheeky homage to the 1980s animated TV series and fleeting appearances by creatures from D&D lore including a Mimic, Displacer Beast and Gelatinous Cube, which absorbs and digests organic matter including unfortunate adventurers.

A reliance on practical visual effects, including animatronics, puppeteering and make-up, imbues the film with nostalgic, old-fashioned charm in keeping with the gaming origins although a mind-bending sequence with a portal inside a moving stagecoach necessitates some nifty digital trickery.

Character classes such as barbarians, bards, paladins, sorcerers and wizards and the principal setting of the Forgotten Realms on the continent of Faerun are immediately recognisable but for all the reverence and revelry, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves feels like it’s always one roll of a polyhedral die shy of glory.

Expertly choreographed fight sequences land glancing blows but never a sucker punch, jokes elicit warm smiles but rarely a full-blooded chortle and a big emotional pay-off is telegraphed far in advance.

Greatness is within Daley and Goldstein’s grasp but it slips tantalisingly through their fingers.

Following the death of his wife Zia (Georgia Landers), lute-playing bard Edgin (Chris Pine) abandons a noble pledge and turns to petty thievery with his surrogate sister, exiled barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez).

The duo recruit self-doubting sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and incorrigible rogue Forge (Hugh Grant) to their merry gang.

A plan to steal the fabled Scroll of Reawakening backfires and Edgin is incarcerated with Holga in the giant panopticon of Revel’s End on charges of grand larceny and skulduggery.

A daring prison break shepherds Edgin and Holga to the seemingly impenetrable vault of Castle Never and a hare-brained heist that harnesses the combined talents of sorcerer Simon, shape-shifting tiefling druid Doric (Sophia Lillis) and dreamy paladin Xenk (Rege-Jean Page).

In their way stands menacing Red Wizard Sofina (Daisy Head), who specialised in the school of necromancy.

Shot on location in the UK and Ireland, Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves is an entertaining and imaginative jape that aims bigger than Daley and Goldstein can ultimately deliver. Pine sparks a pleasingly antagonistic relationship with Page while Rodriguez performs the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to on-screen fisticuffs.

Ray Chan’s impressive production design constantly dazzles the eyes but the heart goes wanting.

MUMMIES (U, 88 mins)

Released: March 31 (UK & Ireland)

Spanish filmmaker Juan Jesus García Galocha, who previously worked as art director on Tad The Lost Explorer And The Secret Of King Midas, makes his directorial debut with a computer-animated adventure that imagines the Egyptian afterlife as a world hidden from prying eyes where bandaged citizens go about their day-to-day business, fall in love and even marry.

When greedy human interlopers gate-crash this secret realm, a trio of mummies reluctantly ventures to 21st century London for a fish-out-of-water comedy co-written by Jordi Gasull and Javier Barreira.

Emmy Award-winning screenwriter Ricky Roxburgh polishes an English language translation that relies on a single running gag – the chief villain’s subservience to his well-to-do mummy (voiced by Celia Imrie) – to carry the simplistic narrative through protracted diversions.

Chase sequences by chariot and a red London bus are well executed with bright, crisp visuals and the introduction of a pet baby crocodile that communicates in breathy squeaks like a dog toy fulfils the brief of a cute critter to charm young audiences. As solid, undemanding family entertainment, Mummies ticks every box except for originality. Pixar’s magnificent Coco bridged the divide between the living and dead with considerably more imagination, directorial verve and catchier original songs.

Beneath the shifting sands of the mighty pyramids, the Pharaoh (voiced by Sean Bean) presides over a secret afterlife for Egyptian mummies.

In this subterranean kingdom, the Pharaoh calls upon Hathor, goddess of love, to help his daughter Princess Nefer (Eleanor Tomlinson) find a worthy suitor so she may ascend the throne with the royal family’s treasured ring on her wedding finger.

Hathor’s messenger, a fiery phoenix, chooses charioteer Thut (Joe Thomas) and he is entrusted with the ring for the seven-day period leading up to the nuptials. Failure to produce the precious jewellery will result in Thut sacrificing his tongue and eyes.

Fame-seeking archaeologist Lord Sylvester Carnaby (Hugh Bonneville) and bumbling hench-twins Danny and Dennis (Dan Starkey) steal the heirloom and spirit it away to the Carnaby Museum in London.

The soon-to-be-weds give chase along with Thut’s younger brother Sekhem (Santiago Winder) and their pet crocodile.

Far from home, Egyptian interlopers are introduced to curious British customs and rely on the kindness of strangers including music producer Ed (Shakka) to reclaim their stolen property.

Galocha’s picture doesn’t completely unravel over the course of 88 minutes but there are a noticable rough edges and loose ends.

GOD’S CREATURES (15, 101 mins)

Released: March 31 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

A mother’s unconditional love knows no bounds in a tense Irish drama written by Shane Crowley and directed by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer.

Eileen (Emily Watson) is thrilled when her estranged son Brian (Paul Mescal) arrives back home from Australia to their close-knit fishing village.

For the first time in years, the hard-working clan is together, including Eileen’s husband Con (Declan Conlon), daughter Erin (Toni O’Rourke) and her baby boy.

The return of the prodigal son isn’t greeted with so much enthusiasm by Con or by Eileen’s co-worker Sarah (Aisling Franciosi) at the seafood processing plant. When shocking allegations are levelled at Brian, Eileen is asked to provide an alibi.

LITTLE EGGS: AN AFRICAN RESCUE (U, 89 mins)

Released: March 31 (UK & Ireland, selected cinemas)

Arriving in cinemas just before Easter, Little Eggs: An African Rescue is a computer-animated adventure about a rooster racing to save a precious cargo, written and directed by Gabriel Riva Palacio Alatriste and Rodolfo Riva Palacio Alatriste.

Toto and his wife Di are delighted to welcome two golden eggs into the world.

The children are snatched from the nest and spirited away to a gourmet food event in Africa. Toto, Di and pals give chase.