To be honest, I'm glad they didn't include Drizzt as a side character or reference. Our favorite Drow is famous enough that he deserves his own movie to be in for his first time on the big screen.
Weirdly enough that took me out briefly. I was thinking "kill that thing" the whole time it was on screen. Hope they weren't talking about anything important...
I love the theory that Xenk is a DMPC. His intro is him saving babies, donating to the poor, he's 100% better than everyone at everything, gets a 5v1 solo fight scene, helps the heroes when they're stuck on their main quest, then just leaves never to be seen again.
I was gonna say the same thing. He 100% is a DMPC. I was laughing so hard at how everything he did was perfect and he spoke unlike how the characters did. Hugh Grant inversely felt exactly like using a former PC as an NPC. Maybe his character was a player last campaign, but it was his turn to GM this time so he brought him back.
I loved the moment of the DMPC paladin explaining on how to cross the bridge, while not even a moment later 1 party member fucks it up and the DM is like oh right remember that walking staff you found earlier? Ye its a magical portal device to get across. Or the paladin radiating NPC energy walking in a straight line over rocks.
Huh, in my eyes Xenk was a PC of a player of an old campaign who’s an old friend of the DM, but couldn’t come play anymore recently, dropping by for a game and the DM allowed them to play there old character for the occasion. Zofina in my book was a DMPC turned villain from the last campaign, with Forge having been a PC turned NPC because the player couldn’t come anymore, which was the reason for a new campaign starting, but because most of the players returned the DM just allowed them to keep playing their old characters after a small time skip
@@alexfirefly1956 Exactly. There was this hot boy who was the DM's friend, & came in & played a paladin for like 2 weeks, & then we never saw him again. LOL. I was like, aaaaaaw that's Xenk.
That would be really cool, and I totally think it would do great. I definitely would love watching some of the fight scenes with Drizzt and also would really like to see Jarlaxle onscreen
Szass Tam can't even handle the bordering countries around Thay. I wanna know why they think he'd be dumb enough to devote resources to attacking a city that's, like, 7000+ miles away! 😝
The characters from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon actually do appear in the Forgotten Realms in the 1996 comic book Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour. They're even aged up a bit, similar to how they appear in the film.
I absolutely loved the movie! I also kinda felt like you could tell, when the characters got a bad or good "roll". For instance, when she threw that potato at Forge near the end, and basically saved the whole thing with that, it really felt like one of those things a player might try to do, and a big nat20 moment lol
I heard they actually released the character sheets for the film. And of course, that lute is indeed enchanted. With lightning damage if I recall right, and also somehow worth a little more damage than the similarly enchanted sword his character sheet also had. *Of course the bard would use a lite that's enchanted to deal more damage than a sword.*
I could see it, every single scene of him as a Harper was just him doing something sneaky and usually incognito, so reinforcing his lute to be a solid weapon works pretty well for a disguise lol
My fav easter egg is that they executed the plan to escape the prison using the Aaracocra, when all they had to do was to speak with the NPC. Something my players would do. :)
there is another cool easter egg when edgin and simon are talking about a mission in loudwater, they mention a item called staff of aoth fezim. he is the leader of the brotherhood of the griffon which is a group of mercenaries from thay and they became a separate group after the war of the zulkirs.
Something that many miss. We see the sorcerer Simon carrying a bag of holding but the movie never tells us specifically. Instead, every time the bard has to carry something he gives it to Simon and sais: "Hold this". I believe it happens twice. So there we go... bag of holding.
I honestly think that’s just a joke that the main character is given something extremely important but instead of holding on to it themselves they just give it to one or their companions to carry to not take up inventory space
In that role he wouldn't, but Xenk just knowing the Underdark without explanation makes it feel like they just cut out Drizzt and dropped in Xenk, then went "not funny enough now, make him similar to Drax" which was a funny and great choice for a Paladin.
I think it's a neat deep lore easter egg that Simon's bag is an exact duplicate of the Bag of Holding illustration in the DMG. Presumably it is a Bag of Holding which explains why Edgin keeps handing him important items (helmet, book, etc) that he's supposed to be holding onto himself.
I absolutely loved the portal plan they made to get into the vault it's such a stupid-smart out of the box plan that is peak dnd party bullshit also the fact that the portal portrait fell over. I like to imagine that was the dm panicking because they didnt expect the group to work around the original challange like that and it wouldve been way too easy that way
So I know even WotC says Pine is a Bard, but he feels more like a Rogue with high Charisma and the performance skill. Not only did he not even do basic Bard stuff like casting spells, etc., he also doesn't really know anything about the world either, something Bard are often great at, although I know that's often used as a screen writing technique to fill in the audience. A fun movie though, if you like D&D you should watch it.
@@weswtf in the movie though he's more of just "generic, quippy action hero" though. Hugh Grant's character is listed as a Rogue in his stat-block but we really don't see him do anything at all Rogue-like either. Grant's character is as "bard" like as Pine given he clearly is very charismatic.
@@andrewshandle I agree he was generic but at least he wasn’t a lustful bard meme and the way I see it both the bard and rouge can be played similarly with their expertise pine could easily have been a valor or swords bard and Hugh grant could be a swashbuckler
The dude is chucking Inspiration left and right. Though the fact he doesn't know asses from elbows about the world is weird both for a bard AND for a Harper. But oh well. Maybe Int is his dump stat.
I rarely go to the movies nowadays, but this film was a must watch since I'm so into D&D and roleplaying. I didn't have high expectations, but I hoped that they make it an at least okay movie. However, I came out of the theatre thinking that it wasn't just an okay movie, it was a great, well done movie. I don't mean it, as it was some cinematic breakthrough masterpiece, but it was a decent movie. It felt like when you are cooking a recipe with many different ingredients but you manage to get the perfect amount of everything just right. It had so many point where it could have been f-ed up but they dodged all of those obstacles. It really was a good experience, and I think that's what's most important.
The kids from the D&D cartoon showed up in a Forgotten Realms comic book ages ago. They were all grown up - spoke to Elminster about adventuring. Pretty cool to see them yet again.
been dying to put this to rest...when we first see Sofina turn into a red wizard..i could swear the book in front of her is like the 3.5 books with the embedded jewels.
0:58 The 80's D&D cartoon show took place in a D&D world called The Realm, which is not the Forgotten Realms, as you pointed out. Why they are in the Forgotten Realms, I can only assume is because of Ed Greenwood's premise of the setting when it became a D&D world a year after the 80's cartoon show was cancelled. Toril used to be the only D&D world closely connected to OUR world, Earth, hence the name "Forgotten Realms", people in our world used to know about Toril, but they "forgotten" about it once the portals to and from Toril were sealed away. I assume that after redeeming Venger in the unaired final episode of the show titled "Requiem", Dungeon Master opened a portal to the Forgotten Realms and told them that somewhere in Toril there is a portal that can take them directly back to Earth, which is why they are in Faerun of the Forgotten Realms.
As an amateur DM and avid fan of the books ((I own 200 Forgotten Realms novels and a scattering of 37 other DnD tomes(Very proud of my collection!)), I loved this movie! Could have been better could have been WAY worse.. Didn't contradict any lore that I could see. Had so many references and easter eggs without taking away from the actual plot. Many, only a true fan would know of. Was clearly made by at least one such true fan. My favorite parts had to be the DORB (Themberchaud) and Mimic in the cart!
Aside from the druid being able to owlbear but...common. That was rule of cool, the fandom loves owlbears, and that's in the category of "minor DM homebrew rule" XD
I am sure that I saw a Tom Morello as a spectator in the Arena, that was awesome! Will have to watch it again to see if I can spot any other "special guests"
I had a lot of fun noticing the Easter eggs and pointing them out to my friend. I may or may not have been overly excited when I saw Volo, but he didn't seem bothered 😊
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Honor Among Thieves. I caught a few of those references but did not know we almost got Drizzt. Glad they practiced restraint
Funny thing about the title of this movie, on page 24 of the 1st edition Dungeon Master Guide (with the red Efreeti cover) there is a drawing of 2 persons next to a treasure chest, 1 person is lying on the floor dead and below the drawing is the phrase “There is no honour among thieves…” lol
as a bard player, wile i dont apreciate the lack of bard spells i do realy like how subtle yet notisable the bardic inspiration uses were, after every peptalk things just worked out or didnt fail as bad, also the way they did divine sense was preaty great, just a sbtle coment that flies over the heads of most unless you know paladins can literaly smell evil.
Super fun, very enjoyable. Totally agree, we need Drizzt. But they can't #%$@ it up... Cartoon would be great but live action would be great too. The story is so massive and so good, we just need it.
This movie could have been a game DM'd by Chris Perkins, it was Acq. Inc'd (as in rules are more suggestions) but got the feel of a game at the table. Very much enjoyed the movie and happy that a D&D movie finally got it right.
My favourite bit of unnecessary but nicely done detail is when our two heroes are being taken to have their heads cut off, and we see two small rust monsters fighting over a padlock I took my parents to a matinee yesterday, and they had great fun. My stepmother asked before the movie started to clue her in on a few things, but mostly she didn't need it. (I don't know if it was needed, but for clarification I explained: 1) reverse gravity spell in the magic show theatre, 2) Black dragon= acid breath weapon 3) displacer beasts are were you aren't looking, and 4) mimics are lure predators that shapeshift.) My father enjoyed it and it reminded him of a book series he enjoyed growing up and he thinks he still has the first book to lend to me to read. My stepmother found it all very fun and exciting. I don't know if my parents noticed, but there were a few times when the pacing didn't work; mostly involving backstory introduction, or too much exposition, but that was mostly when the characters were telling people for decent in-story reasons, so I think they got away with it.
Ha I'm glad you caught the Screenwriter joke. Was a very fun dnd/script joke. Like how could you not have that in there. Anyways love your vids! Keep doin what you do!
The D&D series characters are, in fact, canon to the Forgotten Realms. Presto and his friends arrive in Shadowdale, where htey meet Elminster; who then takes Presto on a tour of Faerun. Apparently hte kid apprentices for a while with Elminster. Also given that Elminster Aumar, The Sage of Shadowdale is literally incapable of dying, I think we have to write Simon's whole thing up to either "It's Wizard Shit™" or going "Wait no, the OTHER Elminster Aumar" - 'cause "Elminster" is a fairly common name, and I imagine there are Aumars floating around as well...
Not sure if this is actually true but when they went to the underdark the city they passed was possiblely menzoberranzen and if you listen you could hear screaming. Maybe a night raid where one den was trying to massacre another den. Big fan of the early drizzt books and my husband was so confused about my excitement of a random city in the underdark 😂
I was so happy they went with SFX instead of VFX for the Half dragon, Aracogren & others. Not each one was flawless but that's part of the charm. I feel better go the "grogu" puppet movement rather then over the top VFX. It's a solid B+ imo, I enjoyed it
I knew Xenk was supposed to be Drizzt! I think the other reason they didn't put him in cause he would not only steal the limelight, but they would have to make extra CG stuff for Guenhwyvar. I'm just glad they added a paladin and showed him kicking ass! I'm pretty sure Xenk was a Tormite, but he could of been a Helmite as well
I went with my wife (who doesn't play), and we enjoyed it -- so much better than the cheese-tastic goodness of the 2000 movie. In fact, there was another couple in the theater with us: they had been playing and running D&D since the 70s! I thought it was a blast -- not perfect, but still so much fun.
Coming to think of it, if the battle fought over the helm against the cultists happened 100 years ago and they were in fact Black Dragon Cultists, encountered in Tyranny of Dragons, which canonically should have been around 1490 DR, the time frame of 5e, doesn’t that mean we might have gotten our first glimpse of how the Sword Coast looks during the time of One D&D?
Pretty sure the movie is supposed to be set in 5e times, late 1490s. The Cult of the Dragon has been around for hundreds of years, so the flashback could have been set in the 1390s; I don't know that we have solid pictures of what they wore back then, so using the uniforms that we do see later in 5e would be fine. Bigger thing is that back then, the Cult worshipped dracoliches specifically, but there are plenty of explanations as to why their alliance with Rakor would still make sense; my theory is that the Elk Tribe had stolen the Helm from his hoard, and the Cult made a bargain that if they helped get it back, Rakor would join the Cult as a dracolich.
@@drewforchic9083 I mean possible, but Neverwinter seemed a little to prosperous and in the process of rebuilding for 1490 times in my opinion, but it’s possible that I am reading to much into the text of SCAG and the ramifications of the eruption of Mount Hotenow
@@alexfirefly1956 Dagult Neverember is still Lord Protector in the movie, and his beard has been grey since he was ousted from Waterdeep in 1489. So give him another decade for it to go full white in his seventies in the film and late 1490s seems reasonable.
I think there was a Geralt reference in the background when Doris is escaping Neverwinter using wildshape. She comes out a house and puts on a cloak and you can quickly see a Geralt esque person holding s sword and walking by behind her.
Haha, the 'Save the Cat' book reference is amazing. Total inside baseball stuff. I had no idea. My local library has that book. I might have to check it out (pun intended).
Bro... 1:24 The Thor trailer spoils RUINED me for previews now. I run out of the theater during previews because I LOVE surprises in flicks. I managed to avoid ALL spoilers for SM, No Way Home, and was genuinely shocked at all the crazy coolness I. that movie. everyone else wasn't surprised, but I was like "AHHHHH!!!!" embarrassed my kids.
One thing about Volo that I observed in BG3 is that 50% of his stories are historically accurate while the other half are fanciful embellishments meant to make it more entertaining.
In the final battle where our heroes have just taken Forge's ship and Sofina is starting to activate the horn one of the gamblers says "What's THAT ONE on about?". The other says "Who knows? Twenty thousand on the Gray Hands!" The Gray Hands are also known as "FORCE GRAY" and they're under the DIRECT COMMAND of the city of Waterdeep!
You know, even the fact that it wasn't a FANTASTIC movie was a good thing. Imagine if they started with a movie like Star Wars IV and then went down the hill from there. Pressure and negative feedback of the follow up could be worse in this case. It would put a curse in the idea of TTRPG setting movies
Paramount + has apparently bought the rights to a dnd tv show, and it is rumored to star Drizzt. I think that's why they decided to not use him in the movie. I don't have any proof, but the interviews I read said that they really wanted to have a character for one act who helps the heroes. I think what you can infer there is that they took Drizzt out late enough in the development that they wanted to keep the Underdark but needed someone powerful enough to protect the level 5 party.
I've read that when they find Simon performing and he casts the smell of fresh cut grass that it's a reference to Sam Riegals character Fresh Cut Grass from critical role
My family and I went to see it and we had a lot of fun! The movie was pretty great and I hope WotC focuses on doing more things like this, especially of a similar quality.
And they definitely used Paul Scheer to model for Volo. So when the sequel comes out you best believe he is going to be in it, and it will be hilarious.
I enjoyed it, but yeah when they went to the underdark I was like they should have kept it for s sequel and not just have too many references with not enough time for each, was good drizzt wasn't shoved in for a seconds long reference.
Drizzt would have been a bad call to put into the story. He would have seen the mission through to the end and obliterated the wizard. Xenk was a good call. As a HUGE Drizzt fan since the late 90s, I would love to see an animated version of him...maybe done by Syama Pederson (Astartes creator) 😁😁😁
Idk if anyone else caught this but it had me HOLLOWING in the theater With the intellect devourer scene I a lot of people surmised that it passed them all up because none of them had intelligence above 12 but also NONE OF THEM ARE INT BASED SPELL CASTERS XD Sorcerer and Bard are CHA Druid is WIS The Barbarian STR The Paladin STR and CHA I just XD I thought that was the greatest and I have been telling everyone xD
For me at least, here's what needs to happen in the sequel = 1) A good I'm fashioned barbarian rage! 2) A bard's wish. 3) A cameo by either Xanathar or just a regular beholder. 4) A cameo of critical Rome's Vox~ Machina. Grog & Holga could arm wrestle.
A mature animated series telling the story of Drizzt? Especially the Dark Elf Trilogy? Done, say, in the style and tone of Invincible? I would give all of my money for this
Watched the movie today, went in with zero expectations and I enjoyed it. I could tell the people involved put a lot of care into it. I was both saddened and surprised to find out it was showing for only 21 days, at least were I live, since it is a genuinely good movie.
I just got back from watching this with my wife. She hates the fantasy genre and won't even watch LOTR with me (which I know is absolutely crazy). She loved this movie and thought it was a lot of fun. I was genuinely uncomfortable at first because I didn't know how she would react, but it didn't take her long until she was laughing. This film was flawed but it was a lot of fun. I genuinely found it refreshing. Also, some scenes were downright GORGEOUS.
Thought it was great! Not sure if anyone else noticed/mentioned the smell of fresh cut grass reference. That is the name of Sam Reigel's character in Critical Role Campaign 3.
Keeping out Drizzt was, I think, a good choice. Drizzt should be done on his own with his first book. Drizzt also is way too dark for Honor Among Thieves.
I thought the axe beaks were smaller than they should be. According to their stat block they are supposed to be Large animals and the ones in the movie were Medium.
You are totally correct about movie trailers revealing too much! I stopped watching trailers and commercials about 10 years ago, and because of that I DIDN'T know about the 1980s cartoon cameo, and I DIDN'T know Hulk was in Thor Ragnarok until I was actually in the theater. My experience was much richer because of that. My advice to everyone is to STOP WATCHING TRAILERS!!!
I watched every Honor Among Thieves trailer I was aware of, and I still didn’t notice the D&D cartoon characters. I don’t regret watching any of the trailers.
So, maybe I'm being forgetful, but I don't think I saw the D&D cartoon characters in any trailers, instead I heard about them from someone who saw the movie early as part of the early access thing that some people got.
@@Jorphdan ah, okay. For movies I know I want to see I don't watch things like that online because they tend to spoil too much. Trailers are about all I'll watch, and even with some movies from certain studios I don't even bother with the later trailers closer to release (Sony movies in particular).
@@Jorphdan I lucked out in that I hadn't seen any trailers with them in it, either (I did see the Speak with the Dead scene, but there was so much more of it in the movie that it was still good fun) And I was all "Ahhh! Holy crap! It's the kids from the TV Series!!!", so it was great.
Check out startplaying.games/ today!
To be honest, I'm glad they didn't include Drizzt as a side character or reference. Our favorite Drow is famous enough that he deserves his own movie to be in for his first time on the big screen.
Where do I find the Carpet of Custard?
Google searches turn up nothing.
I loved the little baby rust monsters fighting over a scrap of metal.
Literally I saw your video on them and was like they’re kinda creepy cute but boy was I wrong
@@channelx8254 They are fighting over an padlock
Right?! That little bit made me smile 😄
Weirdly enough that took me out briefly. I was thinking "kill that thing" the whole time it was on screen. Hope they weren't talking about anything important...
I missed them! Now, I've got to find your video!
I love the theory that Xenk is a DMPC. His intro is him saving babies, donating to the poor, he's 100% better than everyone at everything, gets a 5v1 solo fight scene, helps the heroes when they're stuck on their main quest, then just leaves never to be seen again.
for sure me is
Most sincere voice imaginable: "Jangly to you as well, good sir"
I was gonna say the same thing. He 100% is a DMPC. I was laughing so hard at how everything he did was perfect and he spoke unlike how the characters did. Hugh Grant inversely felt exactly like using a former PC as an NPC. Maybe his character was a player last campaign, but it was his turn to GM this time so he brought him back.
Except, spoilers, at the very end to clean up the loose ends the players forgot
I can forgive him with the he just walking over the rock scene.
I loved the moment of the DMPC paladin explaining on how to cross the bridge, while not even a moment later 1 party member fucks it up and the DM is like oh right remember that walking staff you found earlier? Ye its a magical portal device to get across. Or the paladin radiating NPC energy walking in a straight line over rocks.
Huh, in my eyes Xenk was a PC of a player of an old campaign who’s an old friend of the DM, but couldn’t come play anymore recently, dropping by for a game and the DM allowed them to play there old character for the occasion.
Zofina in my book was a DMPC turned villain from the last campaign, with Forge having been a PC turned NPC because the player couldn’t come anymore, which was the reason for a new campaign starting, but because most of the players returned the DM just allowed them to keep playing their old characters after a small time skip
I definitely thought he was a DMPC too. As soon as I walked out of the theater I was thinking about that
apparently the straight line walk was all improved because of Pine making his silly comments, lmao
@@alexfirefly1956 Exactly. There was this hot boy who was the DM's friend, & came in & played a paladin for like 2 weeks, & then we never saw him again. LOL. I was like, aaaaaaw that's Xenk.
I feel like the Drizzt series animated by the people who did the Castlevania series would be really good.
I much prefer the computer animation style used in “Ice Age”, “Clone Wars” or “Star Wars Rebels”.
I was thinking the same thing
That would be really cool, and I totally think it would do great. I definitely would love watching some of the fight scenes with Drizzt and also would really like to see Jarlaxle onscreen
I'm so excited that they teased that Szass Tam was going to be a problem later. I am here for the DNDCU.
Szass Tam can't even handle the bordering countries around Thay. I wanna know why they think he'd be dumb enough to devote resources to attacking a city that's, like, 7000+ miles away! 😝
I was so pleasently surprised they did such a good job with the movie. Absolutely had a blast.
The characters from the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon actually do appear in the Forgotten Realms in the 1996 comic book Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour. They're even aged up a bit, similar to how they appear in the film.
There are also pictures of Hank and Bobby hung up on the wall of the Adventurer's Mart in Baldur's Gate 2.
Aw, man. I just left this same comment. Much respect to a fellow old timer.
I absolutely loved the movie! I also kinda felt like you could tell, when the characters got a bad or good "roll". For instance, when she threw that potato at Forge near the end, and basically saved the whole thing with that, it really felt like one of those things a player might try to do, and a big nat20 moment lol
yeah
me and friends were joking about how simon roled a nat 1 stealth while trying to sneak into the fort and thats why his foot was stuck
I heard they actually released the character sheets for the film.
And of course, that lute is indeed enchanted. With lightning damage if I recall right, and also somehow worth a little more damage than the similarly enchanted sword his character sheet also had.
*Of course the bard would use a lite that's enchanted to deal more damage than a sword.*
I could see it, every single scene of him as a Harper was just him doing something sneaky and usually incognito, so reinforcing his lute to be a solid weapon works pretty well for a disguise lol
My fav easter egg is that they executed the plan to escape the prison using the Aaracocra, when all they had to do was to speak with the NPC.
Something my players would do. :)
there is another cool easter egg when edgin and simon are talking about a mission in loudwater, they mention a item called staff of aoth fezim. he is the leader of the brotherhood of the griffon which is a group of mercenaries from thay and they became a separate group after the war of the zulkirs.
One of the best characters from all the books. Right after Erevis Cale.
Something that many miss. We see the sorcerer Simon carrying a bag of holding but the movie never tells us specifically. Instead, every time the bard has to carry something he gives it to Simon and sais: "Hold this". I believe it happens twice. So there we go... bag of holding.
I saw the bag of holding, and Edgin give him stuff and never connected it.
I honestly think that’s just a joke that the main character is given something extremely important but instead of holding on to it themselves they just give it to one or their companions to carry to not take up inventory space
Agree Xenk vs. Drizzt was a good call. He wouldn't fill what Xenk did well as the straightman.
In that role he wouldn't, but Xenk just knowing the Underdark without explanation makes it feel like they just cut out Drizzt and dropped in Xenk, then went "not funny enough now, make him similar to Drax" which was a funny and great choice for a Paladin.
I think it's a neat deep lore easter egg that Simon's bag is an exact duplicate of the Bag of Holding illustration in the DMG. Presumably it is a Bag of Holding which explains why Edgin keeps handing him important items (helmet, book, etc) that he's supposed to be holding onto himself.
AAaaaaaaah I see... I just thought it was a silly joke. But yeah makes more sense (although it was still a silly joke)
I hadn't noticed that one! Good catch.
They finally did it, a D&D movie worth it's salt!
I want to say Simon's 'Fresh Cut Grass" spell, was a slight nod to the Critical Role crew (campaign 3 has Sam Riegel's character named FCG).
I absolutely loved the portal plan they made to get into the vault
it's such a stupid-smart out of the box plan that is peak dnd party bullshit
also the fact that the portal portrait fell over. I like to imagine that was the dm panicking because they didnt expect the group to work around the original challange like that and it wouldve been way too easy that way
So I know even WotC says Pine is a Bard, but he feels more like a Rogue with high Charisma and the performance skill. Not only did he not even do basic Bard stuff like casting spells, etc., he also doesn't really know anything about the world either, something Bard are often great at, although I know that's often used as a screen writing technique to fill in the audience. A fun movie though, if you like D&D you should watch it.
A rogue that gave out inspiration
his stat block has spells like charm person vicious mockery spell that only have a verbal component there for they have no visual effects,
@@weswtf in the movie though he's more of just "generic, quippy action hero" though. Hugh Grant's character is listed as a Rogue in his stat-block but we really don't see him do anything at all Rogue-like either. Grant's character is as "bard" like as Pine given he clearly is very charismatic.
@@andrewshandle I agree he was generic but at least he wasn’t a lustful bard meme and the way I see it both the bard and rouge can be played similarly with their expertise pine could easily have been a valor or swords bard and Hugh grant could be a swashbuckler
The dude is chucking Inspiration left and right. Though the fact he doesn't know asses from elbows about the world is weird both for a bard AND for a Harper. But oh well. Maybe Int is his dump stat.
I rarely go to the movies nowadays, but this film was a must watch since I'm so into D&D and roleplaying. I didn't have high expectations, but I hoped that they make it an at least okay movie. However, I came out of the theatre thinking that it wasn't just an okay movie, it was a great, well done movie. I don't mean it, as it was some cinematic breakthrough masterpiece, but it was a decent movie. It felt like when you are cooking a recipe with many different ingredients but you manage to get the perfect amount of everything just right. It had so many point where it could have been f-ed up but they dodged all of those obstacles. It really was a good experience, and I think that's what's most important.
The kids from the D&D cartoon showed up in a Forgotten Realms comic book ages ago. They were all grown up - spoke to Elminster about adventuring. Pretty cool to see them yet again.
been dying to put this to rest...when we first see Sofina turn into a red wizard..i could swear the book in front of her is like the 3.5 books with the embedded jewels.
I told my friend, "He LITERALLY saved the cat." I'm glad you called it out!
0:58 The 80's D&D cartoon show took place in a D&D world called The Realm, which is not the Forgotten Realms, as you pointed out. Why they are in the Forgotten Realms, I can only assume is because of Ed Greenwood's premise of the setting when it became a D&D world a year after the 80's cartoon show was cancelled. Toril used to be the only D&D world closely connected to OUR world, Earth, hence the name "Forgotten Realms", people in our world used to know about Toril, but they "forgotten" about it once the portals to and from Toril were sealed away. I assume that after redeeming Venger in the unaired final episode of the show titled "Requiem", Dungeon Master opened a portal to the Forgotten Realms and told them that somewhere in Toril there is a portal that can take them directly back to Earth, which is why they are in Faerun of the Forgotten Realms.
As an amateur DM and avid fan of the books ((I own 200 Forgotten Realms novels and a scattering of 37 other DnD tomes(Very proud of my collection!)), I loved this movie! Could have been better could have been WAY worse.. Didn't contradict any lore that I could see. Had so many references and easter eggs without taking away from the actual plot. Many, only a true fan would know of. Was clearly made by at least one such true fan. My favorite parts had to be the DORB (Themberchaud) and Mimic in the cart!
Aside from the druid being able to owlbear but...common. That was rule of cool, the fandom loves owlbears, and that's in the category of "minor DM homebrew rule" XD
another one I spotted: the Amulett they used for speak with dead, showed Kelemvor's Holy Symbol
I am sure that I saw a Tom Morello as a spectator in the Arena, that was awesome! Will have to watch it again to see if I can spot any other "special guests"
Not exactly an Easter egg, but the "He's nicking our bits a baubles!!!" guy felt like an at table, one off, goofy NPC with an over the top voice.
I had a lot of fun noticing the Easter eggs and pointing them out to my friend. I may or may not have been overly excited when I saw Volo, but he didn't seem bothered 😊
I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed Honor Among Thieves. I caught a few of those references but did not know we almost got Drizzt. Glad they practiced restraint
The cartoon characters were retconned into the forgotten realms in 1996 with the comic book "Forgotten Realms: The Grand Tour"
and in the Baldur's Gate video game, I believe, where at least some of them had been killed by Tiamat.
Funny thing about the title of this movie, on page 24 of the 1st edition Dungeon Master Guide (with the red Efreeti cover) there is a drawing of 2 persons next to a treasure chest, 1 person is lying on the floor dead and below the drawing is the phrase “There is no honour among thieves…” lol
as a bard player, wile i dont apreciate the lack of bard spells i do realy like how subtle yet notisable the bardic inspiration uses were, after every peptalk things just worked out or didnt fail as bad, also the way they did divine sense was preaty great, just a sbtle coment that flies over the heads of most unless you know paladins can literaly smell evil.
Super fun, very enjoyable. Totally agree, we need Drizzt. But they can't #%$@ it up... Cartoon would be great but live action would be great too. The story is so massive and so good, we just need it.
Yaaayyy, more Jorphdan!
I loved the movie, after expecting it to be meh. Saw it twice! It made me cry! Hope they make more!
woo!
It made me cry too (near the end).
This movie could have been a game DM'd by Chris Perkins, it was Acq. Inc'd (as in rules are more suggestions) but got the feel of a game at the table. Very much enjoyed the movie and happy that a D&D movie finally got it right.
the acq inc urge to say 'green flame' when the green flame sword was on screen was so real
@@frankie9373 I did. Quietly and to myself but I absolutely did.
My favourite bit of unnecessary but nicely done detail is when our two heroes are being taken to have their heads cut off, and we see two small rust monsters fighting over a padlock
I took my parents to a matinee yesterday, and they had great fun. My stepmother asked before the movie started to clue her in on a few things, but mostly she didn't need it. (I don't know if it was needed, but for clarification I explained: 1) reverse gravity spell in the magic show theatre, 2) Black dragon= acid breath weapon 3) displacer beasts are were you aren't looking, and 4) mimics are lure predators that shapeshift.)
My father enjoyed it and it reminded him of a book series he enjoyed growing up and he thinks he still has the first book to lend to me to read. My stepmother found it all very fun and exciting.
I don't know if my parents noticed, but there were a few times when the pacing didn't work; mostly involving backstory introduction, or too much exposition, but that was mostly when the characters were telling people for decent in-story reasons, so I think they got away with it.
The Fanged Tome of Lykanthus is also a real world book, but WOTC recalled it after too many people got injured by the fangs.
Lmao when I saw that portrait I thought, "Is that Paul Scheer??" and didn't even connect that it was a easter egg for Volo 😂
Ha I'm glad you caught the Screenwriter joke. Was a very fun dnd/script joke. Like how could you not have that in there. Anyways love your vids! Keep doin what you do!
The D&D series characters are, in fact, canon to the Forgotten Realms. Presto and his friends arrive in Shadowdale, where htey meet Elminster; who then takes Presto on a tour of Faerun. Apparently hte kid apprentices for a while with Elminster.
Also given that Elminster Aumar, The Sage of Shadowdale is literally incapable of dying, I think we have to write Simon's whole thing up to either "It's Wizard Shit™" or going "Wait no, the OTHER Elminster Aumar" - 'cause "Elminster" is a fairly common name, and I imagine there are Aumars floating around as well...
I noticed Revels End prison which is mentioned in Rime of the Frostmaiden.
Pretty sure RotF was made while the movie was in production, so that was probably on purpose.
@@BlueEyedBrunette it was placed for the movie, that is confirmed by WotC
Not sure if this is actually true but when they went to the underdark the city they passed was possiblely menzoberranzen and if you listen you could hear screaming. Maybe a night raid where one den was trying to massacre another den. Big fan of the early drizzt books and my husband was so confused about my excitement of a random city in the underdark 😂
I was so happy they went with SFX instead of VFX for the Half dragon, Aracogren & others. Not each one was flawless but that's part of the charm. I feel better go the "grogu" puppet movement rather then over the top VFX. It's a solid B+ imo, I enjoyed it
I knew Xenk was supposed to be Drizzt! I think the other reason they didn't put him in cause he would not only steal the limelight, but they would have to make extra CG stuff for Guenhwyvar. I'm just glad they added a paladin and showed him kicking ass! I'm pretty sure Xenk was a Tormite, but he could of been a Helmite as well
They were already there though, just take two legs and the tentacles off the the Displacer Beast model and you're done.
I went with my wife (who doesn't play), and we enjoyed it -- so much better than the cheese-tastic goodness of the 2000 movie. In fact, there was another couple in the theater with us: they had been playing and running D&D since the 70s!
I thought it was a blast -- not perfect, but still so much fun.
I’m pretty sure they used actor/comedian Paul Scheer as the basis for the rendition of Volo on the poster?
honestly after seeing xenk save the tabaxi child I'm just grateful it was all done with physical special effects, that to me is an instant plus
I loved that they mad Zenk into the most serious paladin ever with zero humor, because "paladins" you know.
Weirdly I enjoyed when they were all attacking Zofina (?) and I could see real time combat rounds.
Coming to think of it, if the battle fought over the helm against the cultists happened 100 years ago and they were in fact Black Dragon Cultists, encountered in Tyranny of Dragons, which canonically should have been around 1490 DR, the time frame of 5e, doesn’t that mean we might have gotten our first glimpse of how the Sword Coast looks during the time of One D&D?
Pretty sure the movie is supposed to be set in 5e times, late 1490s. The Cult of the Dragon has been around for hundreds of years, so the flashback could have been set in the 1390s; I don't know that we have solid pictures of what they wore back then, so using the uniforms that we do see later in 5e would be fine.
Bigger thing is that back then, the Cult worshipped dracoliches specifically, but there are plenty of explanations as to why their alliance with Rakor would still make sense; my theory is that the Elk Tribe had stolen the Helm from his hoard, and the Cult made a bargain that if they helped get it back, Rakor would join the Cult as a dracolich.
@@drewforchic9083 I mean possible, but Neverwinter seemed a little to prosperous and in the process of rebuilding for 1490 times in my opinion, but it’s possible that I am reading to much into the text of SCAG and the ramifications of the eruption of Mount Hotenow
@@alexfirefly1956 Dagult Neverember is still Lord Protector in the movie, and his beard has been grey since he was ousted from Waterdeep in 1489. So give him another decade for it to go full white in his seventies in the film and late 1490s seems reasonable.
The thing about cultists is that they seem to always be around. Doin' cult stuff.
The recent comic confirmed that the DnD cartoon DOES take place in the Forgotten Realms.
7:13 I'd love a DnD-based animated series in the likeness of Netflix' Castlevania.
I can’t be the only one who saw Tom Morello in the stands of the colosseum
I think there was a Geralt reference in the background when Doris is escaping Neverwinter using wildshape. She comes out a house and puts on a cloak and you can quickly see a Geralt esque person holding s sword and walking by behind her.
Haha, the 'Save the Cat' book reference is amazing. Total inside baseball stuff. I had no idea.
My local library has that book. I might have to check it out (pun intended).
Bro... 1:24 The Thor trailer spoils RUINED me for previews now.
I run out of the theater during previews because I LOVE surprises in flicks.
I managed to avoid ALL spoilers for SM, No Way Home, and was genuinely shocked at all the crazy coolness I. that movie.
everyone else wasn't surprised, but I was like "AHHHHH!!!!" embarrassed my kids.
I loved the D&D movie. I would love to seeTthe Crystal Shard trilogy in a series or 3 big movies.
Evard's Black Tentacles is the one easter egg I remember seeing and thinking to myself: "why do I know this?"
I did not realize that the portrait was Volo. That totally makes sense.
One thing about Volo that I observed in BG3 is that 50% of his stories are historically accurate while the other half are fanciful embellishments meant to make it more entertaining.
In the final battle where our heroes have just taken Forge's ship and Sofina is starting to activate the horn one of the gamblers says "What's THAT ONE on about?". The other says "Who knows? Twenty thousand on the Gray Hands!" The Gray Hands are also known as "FORCE GRAY" and they're under the DIRECT COMMAND of the city of Waterdeep!
You know, even the fact that it wasn't a FANTASTIC movie was a good thing. Imagine if they started with a movie like Star Wars IV and then went down the hill from there. Pressure and negative feedback of the follow up could be worse in this case. It would put a curse in the idea of TTRPG setting movies
In the Colosseum, the squares were 5 feat squares.
The party getting slaughter in the Arena is Iconic DnD party.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the film, it was a lot of fun!
"Never heard of Honor among Thieves?" is actually a quote from the same old DnD movie which the carpet trick came from...
Paramount + has apparently bought the rights to a dnd tv show, and it is rumored to star Drizzt. I think that's why they decided to not use him in the movie. I don't have any proof, but the interviews I read said that they really wanted to have a character for one act who helps the heroes. I think what you can infer there is that they took Drizzt out late enough in the development that they wanted to keep the Underdark but needed someone powerful enough to protect the level 5 party.
Volo’s Guide to Van Richten’s Guide to Werewhales
HaT was a Delight! Well worth the overpriced novelty cup and popcorn.
Volo is the Jorphdan of the Forgotten Realms. Or should I say Vophlo?
Take a look at the Axe on page 153 of the Epic Level Handbook.
I thought the Barb's axe was taken from there.
I've read that when they find Simon performing and he casts the smell of fresh cut grass that it's a reference to Sam Riegals character Fresh Cut Grass from critical role
My family and I went to see it and we had a lot of fun! The movie was pretty great and I hope WotC focuses on doing more things like this, especially of a similar quality.
And they definitely used Paul Scheer to model for Volo. So when the sequel comes out you best believe he is going to be in it, and it will be hilarious.
I enjoyed it, but yeah when they went to the underdark I was like they should have kept it for s sequel and not just have too many references with not enough time for each, was good drizzt wasn't shoved in for a seconds long reference.
Drizzt would have been a bad call to put into the story. He would have seen the mission through to the end and obliterated the wizard. Xenk was a good call.
As a HUGE Drizzt fan since the late 90s, I would love to see an animated version of him...maybe done by Syama Pederson (Astartes creator) 😁😁😁
The sorcerer has the same last name as Elminster...Aumar
He is also Simon the Sorcerer....
@@Malkuth-Gamingwho is that?
Idk if anyone else caught this but it had me HOLLOWING in the theater
With the intellect devourer scene I a lot of people surmised that it passed them all up because none of them had intelligence above 12 but also NONE OF THEM ARE INT BASED SPELL CASTERS XD
Sorcerer and Bard are CHA
Druid is WIS
The Barbarian STR
The Paladin STR and CHA
I just XD I thought that was the greatest and I have been telling everyone xD
For me at least, here's what needs to happen in the sequel = 1) A good I'm fashioned barbarian rage! 2) A bard's wish. 3) A cameo by either Xanathar or just a regular beholder. 4) A cameo of critical Rome's Vox~ Machina. Grog & Holga could arm wrestle.
Should totally do a drizzt animated series that does the homeland series. Then leads up to a live action movie of the crystal shard.
A mature animated series telling the story of Drizzt? Especially the Dark Elf Trilogy? Done, say, in the style and tone of Invincible?
I would give all of my money for this
Why animated? Live action shows usually attract a larger audience. I know I prefer live action.
Watched the movie today, went in with zero expectations and I enjoyed it. I could tell the people involved put a lot of care into it.
I was both saddened and surprised to find out it was showing for only 21 days, at least were I live, since it is a genuinely good movie.
I just got back from watching this with my wife. She hates the fantasy genre and won't even watch LOTR with me (which I know is absolutely crazy). She loved this movie and thought it was a lot of fun. I was genuinely uncomfortable at first because I didn't know how she would react, but it didn't take her long until she was laughing. This film was flawed but it was a lot of fun. I genuinely found it refreshing. Also, some scenes were downright GORGEOUS.
baby rustmonster!!
Lol. " Listen to the fans, listen to me"
I think the fact that they talked alot about the smell of Fresh Cut Grass was a little nod to Critical Role
I caught the Tears, but missed or was not aware of the others. Thank you Jorphdan!
I really enjoyed the practical effects of the movie
Thought it was great! Not sure if anyone else noticed/mentioned the smell of fresh cut grass reference. That is the name of Sam Reigel's character in Critical Role Campaign 3.
Umm actually, the kids appeared in the Forgotten Realms comic The Grand Tour before this movie.
Keeping out Drizzt was, I think, a good choice. Drizzt should be done on his own with his first book. Drizzt also is way too dark for Honor Among Thieves.
Did anyone notice that Simon the sorcerer had a bag of holding, and that’s why the bard kept giving him things to hold?
I thought the axe beaks were smaller than they should be. According to their stat block they are supposed to be Large animals and the ones in the movie were Medium.
They might have either juvenile individuals or a domesticated variant bred to be smaller
The fact simon had a bag of holding.
You are totally correct about movie trailers revealing too much! I stopped watching trailers and commercials about 10 years ago, and because of that I DIDN'T know about the 1980s cartoon cameo, and I DIDN'T know Hulk was in Thor Ragnarok until I was actually in the theater. My experience was much richer because of that. My advice to everyone is to STOP WATCHING TRAILERS!!!
Hey Bob, were you hacked? The above reply looks suspicious
I watched every Honor Among Thieves trailer I was aware of, and I still didn’t notice the D&D cartoon characters. I don’t regret watching any of the trailers.
The movie was really fun. You can feel the passion behind it. Too bad it didn't do that well. Probably the last we'll ever see something like it.
So, maybe I'm being forgetful, but I don't think I saw the D&D cartoon characters in any trailers, instead I heard about them from someone who saw the movie early as part of the early access thing that some people got.
oh it was a released scene on the web before the movie came out. Similar to the "Speak with Dead" scene.
@@Jorphdan ah, okay. For movies I know I want to see I don't watch things like that online because they tend to spoil too much. Trailers are about all I'll watch, and even with some movies from certain studios I don't even bother with the later trailers closer to release (Sony movies in particular).
@@Jorphdan I lucked out in that I hadn't seen any trailers with them in it, either (I did see the Speak with the Dead scene, but there was so much more of it in the movie that it was still good fun)
And I was all "Ahhh! Holy crap! It's the kids from the TV Series!!!", so it was great.
@@JorphdanI prefer to only watch trailers, not scenes from the movies that I’ve yet to watch.
Fully 100% agree with animated Drizzt series. I've said the same thing for decades now!
I much prefer live action.
I totally missed the portrait of Volo!!