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YMMV / The Flight of Dragons

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  • Awesome Music: Pretty much the whole soundtrack by Maury Laws, but particularly:
    • The title track, sung by Don McLean. Yes, THAT Don McLean.
    • Ommadon's leitmotif perfectly conveys his evilness.
    • The triumphant music of Sir Orrin's first encounter with Bryagh is a great fit for his heroism.
  • Complete Monster:
    • Ommadon the Red Wizard, furious with his three brothers' decision to create the Last Realm of Magic, decides to see them die as his dark magic reigns. Ommadon eloquently describes his plan to destroy humanity, to infest them with greed and spite and make them turn against each other, driving humanity lower into their worst excesses until they all perish in nuclear war. Ommadon sends monsters and spells to destroy Carolinus's chosen heroes through madness, despair, and even the slaughter of the innocent, eventually opting to simply have his devil dragon Bryagh massacre them all with no relent. Ommadon gleefully makes himself the host to the entirety of the world's evil to finally cow and destroy the scientist Peter Dickinson after all else who can stand against him have been slaughtered, believing that he himself is nothing less than the world.
    • Bryagh is Ommadon's crimson steed and a bloodthirsty sadist in the skin of a dragon with a mind for violence. Bryagh cultivated a rivalry with Sir Orrin that lasts into the present day when Orrin came afoul of Bryagh devouring a nest full of the eggs of his own kind, resurfacing years later to aid Ommadon in destroying humanity itself and even trying to spitefully drop Peter Dickinson to his death against Ommadon's orders. Bryagh relishes the prospect of having his legions "attack, demolish, devour, burn, and grind" his enemies, slaughtering the heroes one after another in the final battle and even pausing his assault solely to sadistically laugh in Orrin's face as he mourns his fallen love Danielle, dying soon after in a Mutual Kill with the knight.
  • Cult Classic: This film has gathered a dedicated following thanks to its surprisingly compelling story and excellent voice cast.
  • Genius Bonus: If one listens closely, one can hear that the words of the song with which Sir Orrin is attempting to drown out the Sandmurks are those of "Sumer is icumen in" — the oldest secular song preserved in English. (If you listen closely, you also notice that instead of using the Middle Ages melody, he matches his singing with Peter's to add to the effect against the Sandmurks. Sadly, it doesn't work.)
  • Moral Event Horizon:
    • Bryagh had crossed this before the plot even started, as Orrin ran afoul of him while he was quite literally eating babies (more specifically, dragon eggs).
    • Ommadon crosses this when he orders Bryagh to slaughter all of the main protagonists, who succeeds with brutal efficiency.
  • Narm:
    • Sir Orrin's Heroic Sacrifice would have had more pathos if he hadn't effectively narrated that it cost him his life at the time.
    • Melisande's continual screaming is more annoying than either terrifying or piteous.
  • Spiritual Licensee: Arguably, it's a better Dungeons & Dragons movie than the actual Dungeons & Dragons (2000) movie.
  • Strangled by the Red String: Sir Orrin and Danielle.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The film is quite violent, with characters dying left and right. The vocabulary is also pretty advanced, with words like "antiquity" and "inevitable" thrown around, as well as various scientific concepts and studies name-dropped.

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