Rating: ***
Cast: Peter MacNicol, Caitlin Clarke
An awesome fantasy piece about a wizard, his apprentice, a young peasant girl, a princess, and a dragon who demands an annual tribute from a village. The village where the dragon reigns sends an emissary to a old wizard to ask him to kill the dragon. The king of the village finds out and has the wizard killed before he can even start his journey, so the wizard's young bumbling apprentrice (Peter MacNicol) attempts to confront the dragon himself. Along the way he meets and falls in love with one of the tomboy villagers (cute and feisty Caitlin Clarke), has a superior weapon forged, and gets a shield made of dragon scales to help him with his quest. But the dragon is NOT pleased with his futile attempts and attacks the village with a vengeance. A great looking film with a dark and serious tone, and awesome dragon effects courtesy of Ken Ralston at ILM.