Real Dragons, Bro. Real Dragons

If you’re a regular GIK reader you know that I’m a big fan of dragon pictures. I’ve delved into the lore of the mighty beast of yore by reviewing such films as Darkest Knight and Dragonslayer, and Reign of Fire is secretly one of my favorite movies. But my friends I do believe I may have just seen the boldest dragon film of all time. A masterpiece that leaves the others lying in a heap of tarnished gold much like the one that ancient Smaug did lord over.

Dragon’s World: A Fantasy Made Real
The lovely Sherpa surprised me with this gem, having sneaked it on to our Netflix list without me knowing, and thank Odin she did. Dragon’s World was made for animal planet and it’s set up as a documentary (actually two interconnected documentaries) that presupposes the existence of dragons. One of the documentaries is basically “Walking with Dragons.” It uses the same effects as the “Walking with Dinosaurs,” “Walking with Humans,” “Walking with Pants,” etc. This portion of the film follows the evolution of the dragon from prehistoric times to the middle ages. It starts with a scene of a dragon battling a T. Rex, which is pretty much like every dream I had when I was seven. It then explains how the dragon survived the catastrophic event that killed the dinosaurs (there was a water dragon, y’all). After that, it follows the dragon’s reemergence in Asia and its eventual noble last stand against some honorless knights in the Romanian Mountains.

Now, the Walking with Dragons-type piece is intercut with a documentary about a modern day hipster paleontologist who is the laughingstock of the scientific community because he believes in dragons. Well, wouldn’t you know that a strange carcass shows up in the mountains of Romania and he flies off to check it out. Of course, it’s the skeleton of a dragon, and he eventually finds a dragon’s nest, or lair if you will, and discovers the remains of the mighty female dragon that has become the protagonist of the other documentary (note: the “Walking with” portion of the film is narrated by Ian Holm. That’s Bilbo, bitches.)

This piece is awesome. I mean it has all of these pseudoscientific explanations as to why the dragon could fly and breathe fire, and to one who wants to believe they sound totally plausible. I imagine to an objective viewer they sound ridiculous, but screw objective viewers, I’m talking about freaking dragons. I do, however, wish one of the explanations would have been “it could fly because it was effing magick y’all,” but somehow that must have ended up on the cutting room floor. I’m still giving this movie or special or whatever it is 4-Griecos, though. Seriously, you have to see it. Oh, and they totally hint that dragons might still be out there. Chip Chip!