‘Dungeons and Dragons’ aims to recapture 80s film magic

PARIS    –    More jokes and less reliance on com­puter effects — the makers of “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” wanted their blockbuster to be a throw­back to the classic family films of the 1980s. In transferring the beloved role-playing game to the big screen, direc­tors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein said they wanted the mix of earnest fun and absurd comedy of their childhood favourites like “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, “The Goonies” and “The Prin­cess Bride”. 

They were also bored of overly seri­ous fantasy fare. “We’ve seen stoic, hu­morless portrayals of fantasy characters in almost every other film and television show, and this was our reaction against that,” Daley told reporters in Paris. The film stars Chris Pine as a reformed thief, with Hugh Grant as a slimy villain and “Bridgerton” heart-throb Rege-Jean Page in a scene-stealing turn as warrior Xenk, who is completely impervious to irony or sarcasm. Pine has experience with cherished fantasy properties, hav­ing played Captain Kirk in the recent “Star Trek” reboots, but said he was un­afraid of upsetting the “D&D” fanbase.

“One should be wary of taking any­thing on, especially with the internet now being so angry and loud and acer­bic,” he told AFP. “But we made a re­ally fun film and we’ve heard we’ve put enough in there for diehards, and even people who have never played are sur­prised how much they like it.”