Dragonheart: A New Beginning

A straight-to-DVD sequel to Dragonheart, without Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery or, well, virtually anyone involved in the original. Stable boy Geoff (Malcolm in the Middle’s Masterson) dreams of being a knight, so when he finds the last living dragon, Drake (voiced by Benson), it looks like his dream may come true. However, there’s an evil lord who wants Drake’s magic, and only Geoff and two Chinese warriors, Kwan and Lian, can protect him.
This follow-up to the enjoyable first movie is more little-kid friendly, but anyone older will be put off by the cheap special effects (the dragon looks like a cartoon) and lack of charisma of the stars. There’s none of the banter there was between Quaid and Connery in the original, while the ‘evil’ Lord Osric (Harry Van Gorkum) is about as scary as cold custard. Only some martial-arts scenes perk the movie up at all.