The Last Dragonslayer
Director: Jamie Magnus Stone
Writer: Tom Edge
Based on: Jasper Fforde’s novel
Cast: Ellise Chappell, Noah Jupe, John Bradley, Anna Chancellor, George Webster, Adeel Akhtar, Matt Berry, Andrew Buchan, Pauline Collins, John Dagleish, Ricky Tomlinson, Richard E. Grant
Seen on: 25.1.2024

Plot:
Jennifer Strange (Ellise Chappell) is an orphan in charge of Kazam, a temp agency for wizards who get hired to clean drains or rewire houses. Things are looking dire for them since the magic is slowly disappearing from the world. But then one of them has a premonition – the last dragon on earth, Maltcassian (Richard E. Grant), will soon die. Which immediately leads to people camping outside his territory, waiting for his death so they can claim his country for themselves. And Jennifer is deeper involved than she would have ever thought – she is predestined to become the last Dragonslayer.

I didn’t expect much of this adaptation of Fforde’s novel of the same name, fearing that the film could never live up to the book’s eccentricities. And it doesn’t. Instead, everything is simplified until it is barely recognizable anymore.

The Last Dragonslayer novels are aimed at younger young adults primarily, I’d say. But there is sufficient material for older/adult readers as well to keep everybody entertained, so that most of the age-related criteria boils down to book length (short) and reading speed possible (fast). For the movie, that is definitely not the case. This is a children’s movie, and children’s movie only. And I do mean that in the derogatory sense: a movie that thinks being for children means that it doesn’t need to think about anything too much.

Where some things were clearly budget limitations (the Quarkbeast just being a dog, for example), or simple time limitations (the small number of wizards in Kazam) other things changed from the book (and for the worse) are less easy to explain. The wizard agency being rather incompetent, for example, making one question why one should root for the return of magic in the first place.

That being said, the movie does get some things right. Chappell does a fine job as Jennifer Strange, and there are some very nice casting choices in the supporting cast as well, above all Matt Berry as King Snodd (perfect) and Anna Chancellor as StuffCo’s president (amazing). I also liked that the film definitely keeps the anti-capitalist slant of the book. If anything, they make it stronger.

But the movie does end with several plot developments aiming for a sequel that never came and probably won’t come anymore, making it a bit of an unsatisfying watch. Especially when you think of the many things that didn’t make it from the book to the movie in the first place, leaving you always hoping for a little more as a reader of the books. I can imagine that things are different if you don’t know the novels, but having read them, I was a little let down overall.

Summarizing: I hope for more.