User Reviews

I will try to make a point here, I'm not an English speaker but i will do my best. As a big r.p.g. game fan, from Baldur's Gate till Dragon age Origins, I have to say that i didn't like this movie. I didn't expected much, the animation is OK, and the voices are somehow realistic. But the rest is a huge flaw, specially the characters and the story. Let me give you an example: Mages in this movie don't use magic to fight.... they fight hand to hand against knights!! Another example are the enemies, like the Ogres and Golems which are shown barely weak , slow(ogre) and fragile. I seriously doubt that the people involve in this movie knew the characters types and the context.

The best selling video game series from Bioware gets the CGI anime treatment courtesy of the creative team behind Vexille and To. A semi-prequel to Dragon age 2, "DRAGON AGE: DAWN OF THE SEEKER" Chronicles a pivotal early adventure in the life of Cassandra (a side character NPC within the Dragon Age 2 game).

It is a time of great mistrust across the lands. While the "Chantry" religious order holds power thanks to their Templar forces, there is suspicion of a conspiracy within the leadership. An order known as the "seekers of truth" was formed to act as a check and balance to the power of the Templars. After rescuing a elf girl from rogue blood mages, Cassandra Pentaghast and finds herself embroiled in a clandestine plot when she is framed for treason and murder. It is suspected that some among the Chantry have been secretly aiding the blood mage order. On the run, she finds an unlikely ally in a Circle Mage called Galyan. Despite her hatred of magic users, Cassandra and Galyan must band together to clear her name and weed out the true traitors.

A simple story from the get go, Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker makes its first mistake by bogging it down in a lot of backstory. After a full 3 minutes of narration explaining the world of Dragon Age, the various orders, the difference between mage clans, the Chantry etc, it is still rather difficult to follow for most people except those already familiar with the Dragon Age games. Fantasy stories like Lord of the Rings slowly reveal their fantasy world as the audience explore it with the main characters. Dragon Age just throws you right in with a brief explanation. Here is a movie that cannot decide if it wants to be Japanese anime or follow more closely to the original game fighting mechanics. We have scenes of soldiers in full armor fighting like how you would expect knights to fight. Both feet on the ground, sword to attack, shield to block. Then you have Cassandra wielding dual swords, charging, leaping and kung-fu-ing IN FULL ARMOR in your typical over-the-top Japanese anime fashion. Suspension of disbelief can only be take so far when there is no explanation at all for Cassandra's superhuman abilities.

This brings us to the aforementioned action scenes and the overall visual standard of the film. The actual designs and detailing within scenes is breathtaking considering the show's modest budget. Lighting, reflections and other effects are rather good. The only downfall is in the animation of the characters themselves. Hair flop around in clumps like thick wet noodles, creatures and animals in motion have an unnatural stiffness to them. Motion Capture seems to be used for some scenes to animated the human characters and these show very smooth and fluid motion. The faster paced and more over-the-top combat scenes however seem to be key framed and that's where the character movements are stiff, jerky and unnatural. Closeups and jittery camera effects, along with the cel shading, help to hide all those technical shortcomings. Nonetheless, the keen eye can pick those flaws out easily.

Like the animation, the characters are also hit and miss. While the show does showcase some excellent vocal performances, some of the voice actors seem to struggle with keeping their accents consistent. Colleen Clinkenbeard especially delivers a passionate rendition of Cassandra's fiery personality. Sadly she cannot decide if Cassandra is American, British or Italian. Switching to the Japanese audio does not help matters as some roles seem miscast (Cassandra sounds too young) and the seiyuu are generally over-acting their parts. Inconsistency also extends to the soundtrack which switches between Gothic inspired medieval melodies and modern electronic riffs.

Pretty much every good aspect of Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker has a counterpoint. The story is engaging, the dialogue is snappy, the acting is solid. Yet the convoluted backstory and slipping accents weight down those assets. A lot of attention was paid to crafting and designing the characters and CGI sets yet little effort was put into actually animating the characters. Visually, this movie looks exactly like 2004's "Appleseed"(a science fiction CGI movie that used similar cel shading techniques). When your movie looks only as good as something from 8 years ago, either technology has come to a standstill or CGI animators are getting lazy.

This show could have been so much more. A skilled writer could have turned this into a witty jab at the ancient Church's power during the middle ages, or even a jab at religious extremism and zealotry. Alas, those would forever remain lost opportunities. It's mediocre visuals, needlessly complex narrative and reliance on backstory might alienate all audiences. Even fans of the game might be turned off by the weak portrayal of enemies like Ogres and how different Cassandra looks here compared to her in-game appearance. What could have been an animated fantasy epic with brains ends up as a run-of-the-mill excuse to cash in on the name of a video game.

So first I'd like to start with saying that I've not played the games and I will not compare the movie to them. The movie wasn't bad but it wasn't really that good either.Graphicaly it was done very well .The animations were top notch and even though they might seem strange in the beginning (atleast the faces) you very soon fall in love with the style. the atmosphere was amazing as well but ... that's just about it. Those were the good sides of the movie. Now for the bad part. The story was nothing special in fact it was very generic and clichéd and unoriginal. The voice acting wasn't that bad , the dialogs were pretty simple and there weren't really any lines to remember from the movie.There were a lot of goofs such as different placing of the characters and different lenght of the surrounding objects or distances. As a conclusion , the movie wasn't that bad but it was also not a great movie that would be remembered very long or even at all. It's interesting to see the animation style but the rest is nothing special.Kind of disappointing actually because of the cliché plot .

This movie is for Dragon Age fans. It's for people who are tired of Kirkwall, who want to see more of the DA universe, and can't wait for Dragon Age III.

If you watch this without any previous knowledge of the games, you'll most likely get bored after a while. The story's kinda dumb and predictable, dialog and voice-acting is over-the-top at times. Graphics are decent but won't win any awards.

But if you played the games and like the DA universe, the standard reviewing pros and cons don't really matter. You'll be like 'wow, that's that kind of monster I used to kill a lot of' and 'I wonder if any of these characters will appear in DAIII'.

So it's true that this movie is pretty mediocre, but still it's nice to see new adventures from Thedas. Bioware has already announced that there won't be any more DA2 content, and DA3 is still a long ways to go, so this movie is perfect to pass the time while we wait.

Also, it's set in Orlais, where DA3 will supposedly be set, so it stands to reason that there will be some overlap, also this is just speculation on my part.

I went in to this film expecting it to be pretty bad. I love DA:O and really like DAII despite it's flaws, but an anime based on a character that I personally don't really care about, felt doomed to fail. And yes, the plot is very predictable and clichéd but at the same time entertaining. I liked getting to know more about the seekers and Cassandra was pretty badass. But! Some story elements were just so wrong.

First of all, the evil blood mage thing is kind off overused after DAII. And what's with the sudden army of ogres and golems that the blood mages just pulls out of nowhere only to never use them again. And Cassandra is kicking their asses despite them being really tough opponents in the games.

Then there's the problem with the story being set in between the events in Kirkwall and Varric's interrogation. The circle mages just felt wrong. They shouldn't be that loyal to the chantry. After all, Varric says that the circles are rising up, and yet all the circle mages in this film are good loyal mages while every apostate is an evil blood mage. And why would mages fight with scythes/swords instead of magic?

But the animation is nice and it's entertaining enough to sit through. If you like Dragon Age and want more back story, then by all means watch it. If you don't, well you're not missing anything.

Being a big fan of the first game, Dragon Age: Origins, I was intrigued by the idea of a feature-length film set in the same universe. Unfortunately, this movie was closer in quality to Dragon Age 2. Which I suppose I should have expected, given that EA isn't separating themselves from Bioware any time soon.

But I digress. Dawn of the Seeker consists of some decent action scenes interspersed with mostly predictable plot twists and one-liners. The 3D cel-shaded animation style works at times, but at others can confuse what is happening on screen, or look somewhat shoddy. The characters' mouth movements don't quite match the dialog, but that's sure to be a product of the Japanese dubbing rather than the animation itself.

There were plenty of times while watching that I thought about just stopping the movie and leaving to do something else, but the story and setting transitioned just often enough to keep me going. Now that I've seen it once, however, I can say with confidence that I don't need to see it ever again. It was passable, but there are any number of better anime series/movies out there that you can turn to for better action scenes. Same goes for the story.

My recommendation for anyone who is a big fan of the Dragon Age universe, meaning both games, is to rent it. Certainly not worth a buy. For anyone else: skip it outright.

One point for visuals and voice acting, kinda.. Everything else is pretty much crap.

Main heroine Cassandra comes out as an annoying brat, not heroic.

Mages, in this movie, are completely useless in fights and that includes blood mages as well, while in the games they were the real death dealers. I mean, if one little girl (Main heroine) can kill dozens of blood mages in a few minutes - alone -, why there is so much worry about those evil blood mages in the Dragon age universe in the first place? As an added retard bonus, mages are using staves in fights instead of magic.

Writing is just awfully dull, uninspired and predictable.

I recommend this movie to no one.

Awesome action choreographed for an anime as it's not trying too hard and doesn't have too much unnecessary dialog and cheesiness (like the wind in the background) during fights. The characters have subtle facial expressions that correlate with the scenes. The character design and costume were badass. The movie also correlates with the game franchise and gave more depth the the whole Dragon Age world. The accent and voice acting however could improve as it doesn't seem very french to me and seem somewhat half hearted. Also the plot could be better and could have had more twists because the story is very linear and has no surprises but I know this is limited by what Bio Ware dictates. lastly the movie tried to instill a little bit of romance between the main characters but it didn't have depth and it felt like it was tossed in at the last minute. Over all, the movie was a good sub-story for the dragon age franchise. I would watch it again and recommend to DA fans. I hope there could be another sequel.

This is just terrible. I like the genre and knew that this was going to be a video game movie, but even with low expectations I was still disappointed. The voice acting is uninspired, the animation like a bad video game cut scene and the plot is....pathetic. They must have spent all of 8 minutes writing this. This felt like a 8 year old wrote it. I know that people put effort into making this and I feel bad about criticizing someone else's work, but even given that, I still can't recommend you watch this movie. I can't recommend anyone watch this movie.

Don't waste your time.

Watch something else...anything else.

Not being overly familiar with the Dragon Age games, I didn't really have any prerequisites for this movie, so I just took it for what it was a sword and magic fantasy animated adventure.

That being said, then the movie was sort of cliché. Sure, in a fantasy movie you need to have the stereotypical good against evil plot, which is also present here, but it is also spiced up with a sub-plot of betrayal and deception.

The characters in the movie were mediocre at best. You didn't really get to see any interesting characteristics of anyone, as they were shallow and sort of just flashy in and out of everything. Not even the two main characters were given proper character traits or personalities. At best, then you get annoyed with the Cassandra character because she is single-minded, narrow-minded, naive and sort of a brat. For a Seeker, then she is awfully childish in her mindset and seem so far away from being properly capable of taking on such a responsibility.

As for the voice acting, well it was adequate. At times it worked out well enough, but at other times it could have used a bit more commitment and passion.

Now, what really worked for the movie was the visuals. The characters were nicely animated, even though they had a hint of bordering on being in the Anime genre. The costumes and armors were really nicely detailed and quite nice to look at. However, something I personally didn't understand, was the alternate usage of a sort of weird hybrid mixture of animation and CGI for the characters, but using full-blown, all out CGI for the dragons and scenery. It was a mixture that often didn't fully stand well together. Personally, I think they should just have picked one style of visuals and stuck with it. Now, I am not saying that it is bad to look at, far from it, because to their own, they are quite stunning. Just a weird combination of attempting to mix styles together (which also failed in that "Dead Space" animated movie).

Another thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the overpowered abilities of Cassandra. If she truly was all that powerful and capable in battle, why did they need circle mages for the fight with the dragons, or how come she wasn't at the top of the Seeker order? That leader was so easily bested and cut down, that it was just painful to behold, especially since Cassandra possess these skills and prowess in combat.

Despite a heap of things that just didn't fully add up, "Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker" was fun enough to just. Just take it for what it is, a fantasy adventure (of mixed visual styles) that doesn't require any thinking on your part. If you enjoy CGI animated movies, the "Final Fantasy" movies, "Resident Evil: Degeneration" ("Damnation" sucks horribly) or even "Tekken: Blood Vengeance" will prove more entertaining than "Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker".

And just for a final rounding up comment; what was up with the music that played when the credits started to roll? It was horrible and so misplaced. What a wrong choice of music to put into a fantasy adventure.

Being a huge fan of the video game I was expecting to be let down. I am so glad i bought this movie, what a ride! I will not spoil it for anyone. If you loved the game, get the movie you won't be disappointed!!!!!!! Good story line that looks like it could be turned into a possible series. Personally I would be happy with a few more full length movies. The English voice acting was done very well, not a bunch of over dramatic squealing like so many other anime I have watched. This is one for the "Big" kids. Lot's of blood splatter, tongue in cheek comedy lines and a few suggestive comments. Looking forward to the next installment(Please if you're reading this, MAKE ANOTHER ONE!) One last parting comment . . . Cassandra ROCKS! Get the popcorn ready and enjoy! Aloha A Hui Hou!!!!!!!

I went in with low expectations (various bad reviews/write-ups), but was very pleasantly surprised when I found myself really enjoying the story, animation and overall tone of the film.

The spectacle is grand, the fights are meaty and there are some cool moments along the way.. I'm not sure why this is getting panned universally... sure, it's no 'Batman : Year One', but it's a good story set in the Dragon Age world... good enough for me!

If you're a fan of The Clone Wars, you'll be familiar with this style of animation - it takes a little getting used to, but is well done and visually striking in style.

I recommend this for all Dragon Age fans - it's definitively a worthwhile watch.

This movie is actually one of the best movies i have seen this year. Action is indeed the strong point of the film as is Cassandra in her role as a strong female lead. While the story itself is easy to figure out yet there are deeper meanings to many of the scenes and a few twists that will make you think twice. Many of the reviewers seem to overlook these seeing the film as simple good verses evil completely disregarding the fact that the actions of the few affect many. The character show more growth than those seen in most big budget Hollywood films. It also follows most Dragon Age Lore and at points even adds onto in some points. The style of the animation is actually very well done with a traditional Japanese anime vibe combine with a more western character design. Watching this movie with a moderate knowledge of Dragon Age Lore is advised but not necessary. Overall do not watch it with preconceptions of what it should have been just enjoy what they have done.

I wasn't aware that this movie existed until I had already played through Dragon Age: Inquisition multiple times. I have also played through each of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II multiple times, enjoying all three thoroughly.

I can tell from reading the other reviews that even the other DA fans watched this without the lore from Inquisition, which is understandable as this came out beforehand. Cassandra is a major character in Inquisition, and some of the other reviewers objections are explained in that game.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, despite some minor issues.

There were a few small errors in lore, mostly in the introductory speech. These weren't all that important and didn't really bother me, except for the inclusion of a specific enemy type that other reviewers have already pointed out.

Cassandra's abilities are exaggerated to the point of being a superheroine, but this is an anime of a video game, so I don't really see that as a problem. In any case, Cassandra is one of the greatest warriors in the Dragon Age universe, so her exploits are not completely out of the question.

Overall, the action and the story are compelling and well paced. The animation was a bit jarring at first, but I quickly got used to it and thought that the fight scenes were exceptionally well done. The final climax is pretty epic, and the resolution leads nicely into the events of Inquisition.

If you're a fan of the Dragon Age series, and Cassandra in particular, then do yourself a favor and watch this without getting caught up on one or two minor errors. If you know nothing about Dragon Age, but like a good action movie with a righteous heroine, then I imagine you'd enjoy it as well.

This movie was one hell of a fun 100% pure awesomeness ride! The combat was filmed to perfection! Every scene was exhilarating and flawless. The story had some amazing twists that shot out of nowhere and caught me completely of guard. And the characters were in true Dragon Age fashion all very memorable and alive and each one had a compelling personality that made them vibrant and interesting whilst making you yearn to learn more about them. Cassandra especially was such a badass character and instantly one of my favourite heroines of all time. I also really loved her voice, it constantly evoked pure power, rage and the perfect amount of hidden compassion to make it perfect. The other voice actors were ok and did there job fine.

Highly Recommended for all Dragon Age Orgins fans and for anyone looking for a pure badass movie.

Wow, honestly the animation looks a lot like Vexille that was made in 2007.

So the animation is pretty solid, the story is nothing new about corruption but the movie is very good.

Note i never played the Dragon Age games, so i cannot relate to the games and the movie.

But i think reviewers are pretty harsh on a movie that is not that bad.