George and the Dragon is a 2004 Medieval Fantasy Action-Adventure Comedy film directed by Tom Reeve which is based on the myth of Saint George. Starring James Purefoy, Piper Perabo, Patrick Swayze and Michael Clarke Duncan.
In 12th Century England, noble yet world-weary knight George (Purefoy) returns home from the crusades hoping for a quiet, peaceful life. He learns that the king’s daughter Princess Luma (Perabo) has gone missing and agrees to find her in exchange for a small plot of land. When he finds her he discovers that she was taken by a fire-breathing Dragon which has apparently died after laying an egg. When the princess refuses to abandon the egg George agrees to help her take the unhatched Dragon to safety while having to avoid the pursuing soldiers of the Princess’s power-hungry Fiancée Garth (Swayze).
Tropes
- Bait-and-Switch: There are several moments where we're led to think one thing happened, only for the truth to be revealed later, the biggest ones being El Cabillo's supposed killing of Tarik is revealed to be that the latter was victorious and claimed his identity, and the initial capture of the Princess really being about the Dragon finding someone to look after her egg.
- A smaller one occurs during the climactic final battle where the friar takes a large gushing wound to his gut, only to discover that his wine skin full of burgundy was just skewered.
- Blooper Reel: Featured during the end credits, with highlights being the cast's inability to navigate a small patch of mud without someone slipping, flubbed line reads, and issues with the horses from being uncontrollable to distracting actors by defecating in their peripheral vision.
- The Cameo: Val Kilmer has a short uncredited appearance as El Cabillo, a notorious mercenary leader who Tarik seeks to kill.
- Demythification: The movie is the “true story” behind the myth of ’George and the Dragon’.
- Dragons Prefer Princesses: The Dragon captures Princess Luma, however it isn’t to eat her but actually to have someone to help protect her egg.
- Humble Goal: George just wants to retire and live a quiet, peaceful life with his own small bit of land.
- Knight in Shining Armor: George is a knight who follows the code of chivalry, honor and justice, however the crusades have made him somewhat world-weary and he now just wants to retire his sword.
- Last of Her Kind: The Dragon is the last of her kind in the kingdom and possibly the world.
- Like Reality, Unless Noted: Except for the presence of a Dragon, the film seems to be set in the real world during the Middle Ages, even the Dragon appears to be nothing more than a normal albeit awe-inspiring animal.
- The Middle Ages: The story takes place during the 12th century.
- Nature Lover: Luma has compassion for all living creatures and will not see them harmed, including dragons. George even refers to her as having a “unique understanding of creation”.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: How Tarik defeated El Cabillo is not shown. The last we see of their fight is Cabillo delivering what looks to be a coup de grace to Tarik, and later we see a grave marked with Tarik's helmet, only to find that Tarik was victorious and became the new El Cabillo.
- Rebellious Princess: Princess Luma is argumentative, stubborn, will not be told who to marry or what to do. She also knocks George unconscious when he tries to destroy the unhatched egg.
- The Rival: George and Garth develop a Friendly Rivalry into this.
