This film is the best D&D adaptation thus far. Granted, that's not a very high bar, but still.
The film manages to cling tightly to a specific "D&D" character and tone; as mentioned often on the related pages, what it feels like to play a game of D&D. Some of the ways it does so are obvious.
For instance, the film leans heavily into aspects that are, if not unique to D&D, divergently evolved enough to be specific. An Aarakocra is a specific type of Bird People, a Tabaxi is a highly distinctive flavor of Cat Folk, a Tiefling is a very different spin on a human with demonic ancestry. The more common fantasy races that general audiences would be familiar with are rare: Elves are barely mentioned, Dwarves are practically non-existent, Halflings are little more than a cameo. This extends to the monsters as well. Typical fantasy fare, like orcs, goblins, trolls, and ogres, while all present in D&D, don't appear here. Instead, we get the more unique and interesting entries from the Monster Manuals, like Displacer Beasts and Gelatinous Cubes. And while arguably the most famous fantasy monster of all, the dragon, appears — they're in the title, it'd be weird if they didn't — they too showcase the game's unique character. The first dragon we see is a black dragon breathing acid, while even dragon media which establishes color differentiation usually keeps them all fire breathers. Themberchaud is a red dragon, breathing fire. . . well, sort of, he's got problems doing so, and is still given a unique character through being overweight.
The party is likewise unusual and showcases the variety of what D&D has to offer. Instead of a Fighter, Mage, Thief plus Cleric group, we have a Bard, Barbarian, Sorcerer, Druid, and (briefly) Paladin. While these do map in broad strokes to Fighter, Mage, Thief, a Bard is very different from a Rogue, a Barbarian and Paladin are very different from a Fighter, a Sorcerer, and Druid are very different from a Wizard. And we get to see how their abilities as these classes affect the story: Edgin keeping everyone going with a Rousing Speech or fun song is Bardic Inspiration. Holga very obviously uses Barbarian Rage in both her main fights (and absolutely has the Tavern Brawler feat). Simon's magic is not always reliable because of Wild Magic. Doric, perhaps sadly, doesn't get to show off the true utility of a Druid's spell list, but she certainly made a lot of people take Wild Shape more seriously. The mechanics by which these characters function shape the story they inhabit, exactly as if they were characters in a D&D game being controlled by players.
Which brings us to the main reason the film feels so much like playing a game of D&D. There's a strong focus on character development and interaction, and the best part of any tabletop role-playing game is relaxing with friends and having a good time. Every group who's gamed together for long enough has a whole secret language of in-jokes, Noodle Incidents, references, and Call Backs, and that bond shines through the characters of this film and thus can be extrapolated to their hypothetical players. Even the plot feels like the meandering weirdness that comes from DM and players engaging in Xanatos Speed Chess to collaboratively tell a story and have a good time. It's been pointed out that the Hither-Thither Staff is exactly the kind of Ass Pull a DM comes up with to try and remedy a party's Epic Fail, the use it sees through the rest of the film is clever players using it to snap the DM's adventure in half. But most interestingly, the final battle against Sofina. The party was on a boat with an unbelievable amount of treasure, they had accomplished every personal goal they'd had at the start. Edgin and Holga have rescued Kira, Edgin has regained her trust, they've put Forge in his place and paid him back for his betrayal, Simon has leveled up, Doric has stuck it to the city-dwellers threatening her wilderness, and they've all become stonking rich. And they see the great dark ritual starting, the spell that will turn Neverwinter into the foothold of Thay in the rest of the Forgotten Realms. Sofina is clearly way out of the party's league, a character the hypothetical DM never intended for them to fight, and on that boat, setting sail away from the destruction, they have absolutely no reason to. . . other than the players deciding they have to try and stop a whole city from being wiped out. One can imagine the hypothetical DM going "Wait, What?" when the party turned about to try and derail Sofina's plan. A whole campaign, with the fall of Neverwinter as its horrific start, going down the tubes, and the DM rolls with it, rewarding the players' ingenuity, tenacity, and desire to do the right thing by slightly softballing the fight with Sofina (as noted elsewhere, she opens with meteor swarm, a level 9 spellnote , as nothing more than an intimidation tactic) to give them a fighting chance. Or a chance to run away if it comes to it.
To anyone who's played a TTRPG, this undoubtedly feels like many sessions you can recall, where unexpected setbacks and impossible triumphs told a fantastic story. To those who've never played a TTRPG, this is what the rest of us find so compelling about them.
