Kristi Tahada

If you're 12 you'll probably love it. If not, it's a movie you've seen a hundred times with all the predictable tropes and a weird accent for Angela Bassett thrown in. For me the most glaring plot hole was the map drawn in the cave. Presumably Victoria is the one who drew the map but how? Was she just out exploring and updating the map after each jaunt? Since it's on the map, every single woman throw down there is treated to the cloud of burning birds? She climbed up the crystals, left a note about safety, then came back down to update the map but didn't mention that sunlight doesn't mean escape? A few other facepalms... -The dragon can open her mouth to catch Elode if she falls from the crystals but not to breathe fire up at her? - After yelling down to people who were definitely too far to hear her, Elode doesn't call out to the people actually in the cave searching for her? - She doesn't think to try to the glow worms on her own injuries but once she figures out that they're healing, a handful of them can bring a whole dragon back from the brink of death, but she doesn't drop even one on her dying father? - If a girl was thrown in before Elode and her sister was thrown in after her, why was a fourth girl necessary? And since it didn't matter where the girls came from since they could make any of "royal" just by rubbing a cut together, why the need to import expensive girls and go through the whole marriage charade (which they skipped for her sister)? All those other girls came from equally poor countries with dads willing to sell them for dragon bacon? And you just admit that from jump to her father? "Yeah, we said it was marriage but we actually just need dragon chow. Name your price." - Oh and what's with cutting your hair? And why are you doing a model walk out of the burning castle?! Is that how empowered women stride out of battle? The premise of the movie isn't bad; girls don't need a prince charming and can rescue themselves. But the execution fell incredibly flat, all the way to the trite and predictable (one guess where that huge death blow she gives the dragon in the end actually lands) I almost gave it at least 3 stars for not being the worst thing ever but now I've talked myself into just one.