The Flight of Dragons

Combine expert storytelling from Rankin/Bass (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Last Unicorn) and storybook-come-to-life animation from Japan’s Topcraft Studios — predecessor of Studio Ghibli (My Neighbour Totoro, Spirited Away) — and the result is a fantastical epic for all ages! The Flight of Dragons is set in the final days before humanity’s belief in logic and science would eradicate magical beings completely. Vile Red Wizard Ommadon (James Earl Jones, voice of Star Wars villain Darth Vader) declares he will use his remaining power to make men destroy the Earth and themselves. The good wizards summon Earth’s only hope: a man “of science and magic" from the future. Playing with lines of reality and fiction, the man who arrives is Peter Dickinson (voiced by John Ritter), real-life author of influential fantasy book The Flight of Dragons (1979), a speculative biology of dragons. Many Rankin/Bass films were shunted into obscurity after the studio’s doors closed; the rarity of Dragons led to a cult fascination in recent years, as many who grew up with the film became curious to see it again. A petition to re-release Dragons received more than 500 signatures; in 2009, Warner Brothers made it available as a made-to-order DVD (our source for the film). Colour, DVD. 96 mins.