Movie Review: Dragon Age Dawn of the Seeker

Dragon Age Dawn of the Seeker
Voice actors: Colleen Clinkenbeard, J. Michael Tatum, Chuck Huber, R. Bruce Elliot, Christopher Sabat, John Swasey, Monica Rial, Brina Palencia, Pam Dougherty
Director: Fumihiko Sori
Bioware, Electronic Arts, FUNimation, T.O. Entertainment, USA, Japan, 2012.

In the land of Orlais the Templars and Seekers of the Chantry are fighting evil Blood Mages. Chantry is an religious order led by the Divine. They maintain peace and order, and also control the use of magic. Seekers of Truth are keeping teie eyes on Templars, since some Templars are corrupted. Seeker Cassandra and his mentor Byron save a girl Avexis from being converted by Blood Mages. Cassandra hates Mages because Blood Mages killed her family. Cassandra is a hothead and harsh on judgement so Byron instructs her to look with the eyes of her heart.

High Seeker Aldren with Cassandra

Blood Mage Fenric uses transformation spells

Army of Golems and Ogres

Byron suspects a conspiracy inside the Chantry but is killed by Blood Mages. Blood Mages capture Avexis again and Cassandra must go to rescue the girl. Cassandra almost kills Circle Mage Galyan (Circle Mages are loyal to the Chantry). Cassandra and Galyan are framed for killing Byron so they escape. They are being chased by Knight Commander. Meanwhile Frenic is using Avexis to control dragons. With the help of corrupted Templars he plans to attack the capitol of Orlais and kill the Divine. 

Cassandra and Galyan in trouble

Capitol of Orlais, Val Royeaux

The dragons get bigger and bigger in the last part of the movie

Action is quick and bloody, with Cassandra using sword and Galyan casting fireballs. Dragons and monsters get bigger in the end and there is some decent monster vs monster action. Cassandra can kill dragons and other giant monsters almost too easily (I would suppose they are much harder to kill in Dragon Age video games, but maybe Cassandra has very high experience level and an efficient special attack). Galyan brings some humour to otherwise serious story. 

Knight Commander is not a fan of Cassandra

Avexis is used by Blood Mages to control dragons

Personally I have played only a bit of Dragon Age Origins (there was once an major hardware failure and I had to acquire a new computer, so I lost game progress. Maybe I try Dragon Age again later). I believe the movie to be quite faithful to the game. Overall the movie is a decent video game tie-in, with somewhat standard fantasy story. The animation is cell-shaded CGI, which works nice for characters and creatures. Cassandra also appears in game Dragon Age II.

Rating: Good