The two princes are rather generic at the start, but the idea of step brothers instead of blood relatives being the family members we follow is an interesting starting point for this epic adventure. I want more of her going forward, particularly since she seems set up to be the obvious human counterpoint to the villainous Viren. The character acts out everything through sign language and I am honestly stunned by how much character they got out of her through only gestures, body language, and expressions. She’s a badass, kind, empathetic, and completely deaf and mute. The other big standout is General Amaya, the aunt of the two princes. There are a lot of fun, subtle expressions with her animation that clearly define her for the audience. Her actress gives the strongest performance and her character is the most fleshed out by the end of this run of episodes. While it is beginner stuff, the character elements do quite a bit to set up drama for the story. Whether this is because of Justin Richmond’s history with directing CG characters in Uncharted or because the combination of Avatar-like aesthetics with decent CG modeling results in something akin to a cel shading look, I was mildly impressed with Wonderstorm’s first attempt at CG television. There are some glitchy movements occasionally, and the camera doesn’t always focus on the right things for maximum effect, but it works out okay. The action, for a completely CG television series, is actually pretty well done. The story is set up well for an expanding scope that starts from a much smaller plot. The mythology is well planned if currently somewhat vague. I say this is a passion project because everything about The Dragon Prince suggests a clear vision for the world that they want to create. This is clearly a passion project for them, and whatever else I say about this series, I hope things work out for them. They cofounded a new animation studio, Wonderstorm Productions, to create this series. The Dragon Prince was created by Aaron Ehaasz, one of Avatar’s lead writers/directors, and Justin Richmond, who previously directed the video game Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, who created Avatar and its sequel series, The Legend of Korra, are not involved in this series. Netflix is selling this series with the tagline, “From the creators of Avatar the Last Airbender,” and that might be somewhat misleading. However, not everything is as it seems, and soon the young elvish assassin is traveling with the two princes to potentially avert a new war on the continent.īefore I get into any other criticism, one big clarification needs to be made. We learn quickly that a group of Moon Shadow Elves, including the young Rayla (Paula Burrows), have come to kill King Harrow and his sons as retribution for the death of the dragon king and the destruction of the egg. The younger prince Ezran is the birth son of King Harrow (Luc Roderique) and the older prince Callum is his step-brother. Somehow humans use REALLY dark magic to kill the dragon king and destroy his only son’s egg to destroy the titular dragon prince.Ĭut to some time later, where we meet Princes Callum (Jack De Sena) and Ezran (Saha Rojen). Wars break out (I think), and for a while they are quelled by the border’s ultimate guardian, the dragon king Thunder (Insert AC/DC sting here). The elves and other magical creatures live on one side of the border, and humanity lives on the other, with the border being guarded by the dragons. The other two magical races in this world, dragons and elves, are so appalled by this dark magic that they banish all of humanity to the Western side of the continent. The new magic source is extremely powerful, but it feeds on the life force of living creatures to work. At some point in history (It’s annoyingly unclear) humanity discovered a new source for magic: DARK MAGIC (dun dun DUN!). In this world, there are six sources of magic: the earth, the sky, the sea, the stars, the sun and the moon. The series starts with a somewhat overlong narration of this world’s backstory. Now it is here, and I am going to struggle to talk about it. With the pedigree of people working on it, its release on Netflix was highly anticipated. In this case, creators from the original Avatar the Last Airbender bring us a new original fantasy series: The Dragon Prince. Continuing its trend of supporting creative talents with visions that mainstream television shows no interest in, Netflix has funded the creation of another original animated series from beloved creators.
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