King Einon (David Thewlis) is a blood-thirsty tyrant with whom the knightly education just didn’t catch on. His father before him ruled in the same way and was killed by his peasants in an upheaval. In the riots the little boy Einon received fatal injuries, but his mother, who still believed that there was good in him, resorts to the only known way to save his life: she takes him to a dragon cave and asks the dragon for half his heart to save her son. Although the dragon (onmiscient as all dragons) already knows that Einon is rotten to the core he grants her wish, hoping that the dragon heart will win over Einon’s evil spirit. But he was wrong. Einon’s teacher, the gallant knight Bowen (Dennis Quaid), is convinced that the dragon heart spoiled Einon’s character and swears to make a living as a dragon slayer from now on until he found and killed the dragon with only half a heart.

Many years go by and many dragons are killed, but Bowen still hasn’t found the right one. One day he meets a very clever example of the species who asks him to consider carefully whether he really wants to kill him, since he is the last dragon. The fight ends in a tie, and since the dragon doesn’t want to die and Bowen doesn’t want to be out of a job they make a deal. The dragon ransacks the villages and Bowen offers help against pay. The dragon pretends to die and they are on their way. One day however their little scam is exposed when Draco falls into a pond that unfortunately doesn’t hold enough water.

A pretty fairy tale with only half a happy ending and rather sentimental. Probably not everybody’s cup of tea. If you liked JURASSIC PARK you will enjoy the special effects by Industrial Light and Magic, who after all created one of the main characters of the movie. The dragon is a true plus, but unfortunately the only one the movie can offer. The scenes in between his appearances are rather drab. Blood splashes and you want to give Einon a good spanking. Only Dennis Quaid and Pete Postlethwaite liven up the story a bit. Especially the latter seems to be the man for slightly bizarre parts. After the big game hunter in Steven Spielberg’s dinosaur spectacle THE LOST WORLD he now plays the rebellious monk Gilbert who aids dragon slayer Bowen and his business partner Draco and shows some pretty un-holy behavior. The star of the movie is without a doubt Draco, computer animated and perfectly integrated into the movie. He only shines on a big screen, though. Watching the movie on video robs it of most of its charm. If he can’t seem to glide over your head, making use of the dts-sound he will probably please only die hard fan’s of costume flicks. A good idea and a splendid dragon gone to waste.