How To Grow Your Geek: Parenting and More!

Hey guys,

Back again for another dvd review. This one really surprised me, with a lot of well named actors, a good story and a few other surprises. What I thought was going to be a all out comedy, turned out to be something else. Just goes to show you can’t judge a dvd by the cover. So this time around I am going take you back in time. Back to the days of Knights and Ladies, Heroes and Villains, Swords and of course; Dragons!

George and the Dragon – A dvd review by Darcy Low

From the back of the case. ” A dragon, a princess and a knight to remember. George, a handsome English knight, tired from battle; desires to hang up his sword and settle down to a quiet, peaceful life. Upon returning to England, George heads north where the land is good and ruled by a kindly king Edgar. Unfortunately he finds King Edgar in a terrible state. His beautiful daughter, Luna recently disappeared. In return for a small plot of land, George agrees to search for princess Luna and immediately setting out with King Edgar’s faithful servant, Elmendorf. After finding the princess, George discovers she has found a dragon’s egg, which they both believe holds the last dragon on earth. But protecting the egg unfolds more than George ever imagined.”

Wow, this movie really surprised me. I really thought when we popped it in that it would be a comedy. The picture on the cover makes you think it will be. And there is some really funny parts to it, a lot happens in the background of shots too! You have to look closely, and the out takes are as good as a Jackie Chan film!

The movie starts off with George and his Moorish friend from the crusades arriving by boat back to England and George’s home. (His friend is played by Michael Clark Duncan, if you don’t remember him; he is the huge black man from Mission Impossible. The one with the deep voice.) They both talk about what they will do next, George say he wants to settle down now, his days as Knight are over. All he wants is a small farm, a couple of cows and peace and quite. But his friend laughs, knowing full well that’s not going to happen. He says he is off on another adventure, looking for a bandit that is rumored to be a great fighter. He is determined that he will be the one to best him.
Meanwhile in a city close by, we see a friar being run out of town. Seems he and the magistrate had a disagreement. this was pretty funny as you see him racing down the street, winding up on a small board with wheels on it. (The world’s first skateboard?) By the time he reaches the beach where George and his friend are, he has what looks like the entire city guard after him. hehe. After they all manage to escape, George and the friar head off on their own. When the arrive at George’s childhood village, he rushes to see his father and tells him of his wishes to settle down. His father thinks this is foolishness, once being a knight himself. He would still be fighting if not for the fact he had a run in with a dragon that took both his legs. But he sees that his son has decided what he wants to do, and sees him off the next day, wishing him good luck and giving him a special gift. It is a claw from the dragon he fought with, hollowed out into a small horn. When blown, only dragons can here it and will come. Yeah you guessed it, he wants George to find the dragon and seek revenge for him.

While traveling, George meets up with a group of the king’s knights, lead by……wait for it…..Patrick Swayze! Yep. He tells George that he and his men have been out searching the countryside for the king’s daughter who they believe to have been kidnapped. He asks for George’s help, but of course George says no, he just wants to settle down. The knight agrees to take him to the king and introduce him himself. Once there though, even before George can say a word, the king recognizes him to be the son of his once dear friend. George takes pity on the old king and agrees to help in the search for his daughter, asking in return his bit of land that he has always wanted. The king readily agrees and our hero sets out with king’s men.

However, things aren’t all that it seems. It’s true the Princess was kidnapped, but not by men and certainly not by the Picts as the leader of the king’s guard think. What actually happened was, the princess was out wading in a quite lake one day and got snatch up by…….Yep, a dragon. This dragon however is very hurt has been for a while now. Having been stabbed by a large lance that it was unable to remove. (Putting things together yet?) The dragon is a female that has been given birth to a large green egg. It is also the last of it’s kind and the princess takes pity on it. Staying in the cave and protecting the egg from the roaming picts. She is pretty good in a fight and does not seem to need to be needing any rescue attempts.

When George finally finds her, and tells her he is here to take her back to her father and to the captain of the king’s guard, who has told George he wishes to marry her. She would like to go home to her father, but she in no way wishes to marry the captain. In fact she refuses to go at all, because the egg is almost ready to hatch. George is quickly seeing his plans will never come to be with this head strong girl. So they agree she will go back to her father, BUT the egg has to come along as well.

Now George finds himself saddled with a headstrong, snarky, bratty princess. A Dragon egg the size of a cow that is ready to hatch and must remain hidden at all costs, a roaming band of of picts lead by a mysterious black Knight, and a jealous Captain of the guard, that will stop at nothing to gain the princesses hand in marriage. George, by now; is wishing he never left the crusades.

This is a really great movie, it was one I found in the Walmart bargain bins. It is serious, but also has a lot of humor in it as well. The sword play is very good and really looks like they know what they are doing, the characters, while seeming familiar are still well thought out and the actors are really good in this.

I think this might also have been Patrick Swayze’s last movie. If so he had a blast making this. You can tell he is really enjoying it all. Also look for other actors in cameo roles as well. And you will never guess what happened to our Moorish friend or who he the person is that he has been seeking all this time. Also, there is a three way fight scene involving George, the Captain of the guard and the leader of the picts that is just too funny! Think Princess Bride.

Over all I loved this movie and I think you will too. It is of course a telling of Sir George and the Dragon, but with a few different spins.

Look for this one guys, everyone will like it. OH! And make sure to watch the closing credits, they put in the outtakes like Jackie Chan does in his films. YOU WILL BE ROLLING!

That’s it or now, I’ll have more coming soon. Give you a hint, it will be a movie where a doctor and a bald guy share a danish. hehehe, I am so bad.

Darcy