DragonHeart

"You will believe."

1996 1h 43m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

🥫

47%

ROTTEN

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.4

IMDB

★6.6TMDB · 2,251🥫47%Rotten Tomatoes●49Metacritic★6.4IMDB · 105,492

FantasyActionAdventureDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In an ancient time when majestic fire-breathers soared through the skies, a knight named Bowen comes face to face and heart to heart with the last dragon on Earth, Draco. Taking up arms to suppress a tyrant king, Bowen soon realizes his task will be harder than he'd imagined: If he kills the king, Draco will die as well.

“You will believe.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Dennis Quaid
Bowen
Sean Connery
Draco (voice)
David Thewlis
King Einon
Dina Meyer
Kara
Pete Postlethwaite
Gilbert
Jason Isaacs
Lord Felton
Brian Thompson
Brok
Julie Christie
Queen Aislinn

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rob Cohen
Writers: Charles Edward Pogue, Patrick Read Johnson, Patrick Janicke
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $57M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "DragonHeart Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rob Cohen, shot by David Eggby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Randy Edelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Peter Amundson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery and David Thewlis carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "You will believe.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rob Cohen directs. David Eggby behind the camera. Randy Edelman scores. Peter Amundson cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $57M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
230 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "DragonHeart Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Rob Cohen, shot by David Eggby. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Randy Edelman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Peter Amundson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery and David Thewlis carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "You will believe.".
9IMDB entry: tt0116136 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 22 themes, including "swordplay", "magic", "kingdom", "immortality".

The technical file

Cinematography: David Eggby
Original score: Randy Edelman
Editing: Peter Amundson
Production design: Benjamín Fernández
Costume design: Thomas Casterline
Makeup / hair: Giannetto De Rossi
VFX supervisor: Scott Squires
Stunt coordinator: Paul Weston
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $57,000,000
Box office: $115,267,375
Return: 202% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: DragonHeart (1996)
Rotten Tomatoes: 47% 🥫 Rotten
Metacritic: 49/100
IMDB rating: 6.4/10 · 105,492 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 3 wins & 10 nominations total

Part of

DragonHeart Collection

Long ago, when majestic fire-breathers soared through the skies, there lived a knight who would come face-to-face and heart-to-heart with the most remarkable creature that ever existed – the dragon. Dennis Quaid stars with the voice of Academy Award winner Sean Connery in the heroic adventure that blazes with fantasy and humor. Dragonheart is an epic adventure that will thrill the entire family.

Also by

Rob Cohen

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Filipe Manuel Neto2023-01-09
★ 7/10
A good piece of family entertainment. This is one of those regular fantasy films that were a hit when they hit television during the 90s, becoming a fairly regular presence on weekend afternoons and holidays. Easily appealing to children and young people, it is a family film that entertains and moves. The film is set in an uncertain period of the Middle Ages, in a legendary European kingdom where the young and cruel Einon reigns with an iron fist and no heart. As a teenager, his life had been saved by a dragon that gave him half of its own heart. Now, he ignores his master's lessons of honor and bravery, and rules like a tyrant. However, the population is fed up with his excesses and Bowen, the king's former tutor, decides to lead the revolt against him with the help of a dragon, the last one still alive, and precisely the one that saved the king. I'm not going to waste a lot of time on this film because it's far from being a relevant work for those involved, even though its popularity at the time was remarkable. There are many nice and well done things in this film, starting with the script. Yes, it's a cheesy story, it looks a lot like Robin Hood and other like that, it's full of clichés and the humor is, to say the least, off-putting. But the truth is that it entertains and has enough fantasy and emotion to delight us. There are some good fight scenes, the castle attack sequence is exciting and intense, the special effects and the CGI (a new technology, at the time) used are quite worthy and do a very good job considering the time and resources. We also have excellent cinematography and a memorable soundtrack, truly epic, which was then used for a thousand and one uses, as we know. The actors, despite not shining, make a credible effort and are reasonably committed. There are some well-known names here, starting with the dragon's voice, lent by the unmistakable Sir Sean Connery, in one of the best voice dubbing work done by him. Dennis Quaid was capable enough in the role of a mature hero, already not very young, but it is the quality of David Thewlis that surprises us and steals all the attention. The actor brought the perfidious King Einon to life in a truly remarkable way, with commitment and emotion, giving him touches of cynicism, sadism and madness. I have a very strong feeling that Thewlis drew his inspiration from Peter Ustinov's wonderful performance in “Quo Vadis”, in the role of Nero. Finally, Pete Postlethwaite seems to really enjoy the character he was lucky enough to play, a friendly monk with the air of a great troubadour. Unfortunately, I didn't like Dina Meyer at all: she doesn't make an effort for her character and the romantic chemistry with Quaid is absolutely nil. I also missed the contextualization, in time and space: as the film is pure fantasy, we don't even have the notion of a concrete place or time, in order to be able to copy clothes, technologies, architecture. Although the movie had good sets and costumes, I can't say that I really liked them because they were too fanciful.

Production companies