Dragon Quest V is one of my favorite games and one of the best JRPGs ever made. Dragon Quest as a series is deeply beloved by fans around the world and holds so much value to many many people. Dragon Quest V in particular has had a deep emotional impact on myself and countless other fans and will hold a special place in our hearts for the rest of time. When I first saw the trailers for this movie I was completely overjoyed at the possibility of an adaptation like this with gorgeous visuals and a way to capture the deeply moving story of DQV. For a long time I waited and waited for the release but I was less than satisfied with the finished product that I eventually viewed. This movie is an absolute disgrace to the source material and is a complete waste of the time and budget spent on it. They cut out some of the most important and engaging content from the source material which I can forgive as it is an adaptation and not everything gets to make the cut. What I cannot forgive is when the entire third of the opening for the original game is completely reduced to text at the beginning of the movie. Entire major plot points and story beats are completely altered if not dropped to what becomes a substantially less fulfilling experience. WIth the gripes Ive listed so far Id honestly see myself giving it maybe a 4 or 5 out of 10. What then reduces my score all the way to a lowly 2 out of 10 is the absolutely batshit insane joke they call the end of the movie. It is almost completely incomprehensible how a short 10 minute twist at the end of a movie can completely remove any value the movie itself had. Even trying to put the anger and frustration I have towards the ending of the movie in to words is infuriating. This is bar none not just one of the worst adaptations of a video game into a movie but one of the worst video game movies I have ever seen in my life. These criticisms and complaints may sound like the whining of an ungrateful fanboy which I will admit is not entirely untrue. I will not try to pretend I do not have a bias against this movie on principle of what it is adapting. That being said I can assure you that if you yourself watch this movie and do not find yourself completely appalled at the ending of this movie I will personally congratulate you and apologize for my insensate whining at something a normal person would probably consider a fine movie. I cannot stress this enough please if you are unfamiliar with the source material just play the game instead and if you are a fan of the source material and insist you want to watch this movie despite the alterations turn it off before the last 20 minutes your life will be better that way. I absolutely do not recommend this to anyone who is able to process story telling in visual mediums. If you cant and you just like looking at pretty images moving on the screen then hey maybe this is the movie for you.
20 /100
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