Dragonkeeper

Dragonkeeper (2024) is a Spanish-Chinese production set during the Han Dynasty rule in China. A young orphan girl, Ping, befriends an older dragon, Danzi. With Ping belonging to the legendary lineage of "dragonkeepers," she and Danzi must save the future of dragons and humans in this children's fantasy adventure film.

Positive characters and fluid animation come at the cost of a weak storyline. While we all might adore the dragon from Shrek, Imperial China is the best setting to adapt dragon lore in animation. Take the case of Mulan or Disney's heavily overlooked Raya and the Last Dragon. In Dragonkeeper, we again go to medieval China to understand the country's rich history and reverence for the fire-breathing creatures. Unfortunately, Dragonkeeper can't fully flesh out its Han dynasty world and is too focused on these dragons' powers and the fabled dragonkeepers' supernatural lineage. The dragonkeeper orphan Ping makes for a likeable protagonist with newcomer Mayalinee Griffiths voicing her in the English dub. Bill Nighy is impeccable (as usual) while voicing the aged dragon Danzi. Ping and Danzi make for a great team as they strive to protect the last dragon egg from the capitalist, power-hungry rulers and overlords. But Dragonkeeper is so focused on Ping and Danzi's alliance that the villains get reduced to one-dimensional stereotypes that the film's snow-capped world loses any character that would make it look specific to Han-era China.

The original children's novel deserved a better adaptation. Dragonkeeper is based on the children's fantasy novel of the same name by Australian writer Carole Wilkinson. With Wilkinson also acting as one of the co-writers on this Spanish-Chinese co-production, you would expect more world-building and atmospheric tension. Sadly, Dragonkeeper ends up being a very simplistic one-time watch for the family. Wilkinson's original 339-pager paved the way for five more books. But if Dragonkeeper would spawn any animated sequels, they need to up the ante in the storytelling department. Its inspiring protagonist aside, the neat but standard 3D animation is Dragonkeeper's saving grace. One can only wish for a more fleshed-out story with richer characters.