Cons:

  • Lizardo’s Mordor-like fortress. Complete with camera pulling back to reveal the thousands of spears and pikes ala TTT.
  • Lizardo’s trickster god portrayal.
  • The plot skipping. Why is Maria important? How did Maria escape her prison guards? Why did the duo with the speech-impediments abandon the village they were guarding in the end?
  • The way they squeezed the teen love team in the story. Where did THEY come from? Of course, 20 minutes in, I was telling Chompy that all the film needed was a teen love team. And there they were.
  • I miss the original Panday’s conflicted backstory that shows him to be the very man who brands the villagers with the mark of Lizardo, hence he was an accomplice to the evils of his generation.  Now, he’s just a reluctant hero.

Pros:

  • I liked that they created a fantasy village from scratch.
  • Rhiann Ramos’s adventuress chic. Very stylish and practical.
  • The speed in which they killed off the teen love team. Yey!
  • The way they explained the disappearance of Flavio’s pet dragon for most of the story. What’s LotR’s excuse for not using the eagles?