Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The actors are unknown but could become more familiar as this entertainment company flourishes. Either it's not a B-Movie or B-Movies are pretty good in the 21st century. The plot is more Romancing The Stone than Messiah complex, which is refreshing for fantasy. There is some brutal violence and the threat of sexual violence, but the rough stuff gets broken up quickly. All of the acting was really solid. There are some rough edges that would never be in a Hollywood Royalty studio flick but the decent pacing helps the viewer skip past such scenes. This film makes Utah look very appealing, assuming it was filmed there. Metaphorically speaking on one hand the story is about an adolescent girl becoming a woman, but on the other hand the protagonist doesn't seem like an adolescent girl -- the characters around her may underestimate her awareness of the world.

Alright, this is my first review so bare with me. I picked up this movie at a Redbox machine having never heard of it and the summary kind of confusing, I obviously had to get it. This is what I personally thought of it.The graphics sucked, they did do their job though. When a dragon was needed, they had a dragon. So, for the low budget I'd say they were pretty decent graphics. Some actors were better than others. The two main leads did pretty well. So, the minor roles having some issues was okay. (They casted Kristen Stewart for the lead in Twilight, so, I will excuse minor characters.) The story had many plot holes. It left the viewer wanting more in both bad and good ways. But, through it all I kinda loved it. I don't know why. I don't really care all I know is that I would watch it again. Much like Rocky Horror Picture Show, somehow bad makes it good.

To say this movie was a disappointment would be an understatement. I feel BETRAYED. The trailer and lack of an all-star cast warned me that "The Crown and the Dragon" was probably going to be a low-budget film, so I was not surprised or disappointed by the poor quality of the acting or the mediocre cinematic aspects of the film. The effects actually somewhat exceeded my expectations, which are pretty relaxed and forgiving for low budget movies. However, a small budget is no excuse for terrible writing. The story made little sense and the dialogues and narration were heavy handed. The directing was also mediocre. The Crown and the Dragon's greatest fail, however, was the quality of its characters. This movie touts a female director/co-writer and a plot synopsis that gives the impression of a progressive storyline with a strong, inspiring female protagonist (rare in the fantasy genre):official synopsis: " In a country cursed with a dragon, Elenn, an arrogant young noblewoman, accompanies her aunt on a mission to bring an ancient relic to the secret coronation of the rightful king of their people. When her aunt is murdered on the road by occupying enemy soldiers, Elenn hires a smuggler and criminal, Aedin, to escort her across the dangerous country so she can take her aunt's place at the coronation. But when Corvus, a rogue magister of the empire, employs a dark magic to retrieve the ancient relic for his own evil designs, Elenn must find the humility and strength within herself to fulfill her aunt's calling to free her people, and become a Paladin - the long foretold dragonslayer"Elenn sounds like a hero, right? Wrong.Without revealing too much, I will say that the "heroine" Elenn is far from an inspiring female figure. She's a damsel in distress trope who, despite supposedly being the protagonist of the film with purported powers, is reduced to a love interest/the object of men's affection... men who are the ones that ultimately drive the plot. The other few women of the film don't escape the filmmaker's internalized sexism, either. In short, this film is a B movie that promises a breath of fresh air to the fantasy genre, but delivers little more than stale, hot wind. Thanks, Anne K. Black, for throwing women under the bus.

Add Dungeon & Dragons with Harlan Romance seasoning and stir in a bit of Game of Thrones, the end result is The Crown and the Dragon. Yes, the CGI-effects could been better and derivative factor is high but the Irish-Scots cast never treated the material with contempt - displaying admirable professionalism with director Anne Black keeping things tight as humanely as possible in this tightly-budgeted concoction.Young and naive Ellen Barethon (Amy De Bhrún) accompanies her aunt to a secret enthronement of the rightful king in a land taken over by foreign empire to deliver an ancient artifact to the royal majesty. Ellen soon become the sole guardian of the relic after tragic circumstances and had to rely on one Aedin (David Haydn). Aedin saves her from certain death and later cuts a deal to be her 'protector' as Ellen vows to finish what her aunt started. The artifact is merely a MacGuffin. The heart of the story lies in the burgeoning relationship between Ellen and Aedin from guarded suspicion into the inevitable you-know-what. Kudos to both Amy and Haydn for making the romantic entanglement authentic and grounded in reality with immeasurable help from no-frills script. The 'string' dance by the pair is beautifully choreographed and for me - one of the few highlights in the flick.It's eye-catching performance of Amy De Bhrún that keeps the proceedings lively. Her spunky character is someone you can hold on to during dreary parts and the anchor holding together the movie as it head towards obligatorily revelations and proper intro of traitorous Corvus (Tim Treloar) coveting both the relic and bewitching Amy.If you are looking for guts-ripping sword fights and battling mystical creatures, this is not the movie for you. The elements are there but purely on perfunctory level.