Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Blu-ray Movie Review

Another video game becomes an anime.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 4, 2012

It’s never been especially unusual to go to a movie and see something like “based on the novel by. . .” or “as presented on the stage by. . .” in the credits roll, indications that any given film has been adapted from a previously existing source. But over the past couple of decades or so, a whole new feeding frenzy of cross-platform multimedia assaults has risen up, so that, for example, video games beget television and film outings, and film and television series inspire video game adaptations. The world of anime is especially prone to this trend, to the point that it’s often like undertaking an archeological dig to figure out which came first, the manga, the light novel, the video game or the actual animated feature, whether that be destined for the small or large screen. There’s no big mystery as to why this trend has become so ubiquitous—it’s that little line item on a budget called “ancillary profits”. Once an idea has been hatched, no matter how it might make it to the public first—via book, film, television, video game, or some other method —there’s money to be made by branching out and developing a multimedia franchise that will hopefully continue to sate fans’ appetities while developing new audiences that might not otherwise check out a project. Bioware, the software house responsible for the video game Dragon Age, makes no bones about wanting to conquer the world with as many tie-ins as possible to their best selling initial product, and so far consumers have been offered two video games (with tons of additional downloadable content available and a third game on the way), a series of webisodes, action figures, a board game, online comic books, novels and a Facebook game iteration. Strangely the idea for an anime adaptation seems to have come from FUNimation, not from Bioware, at least according to the supplementary featurettes included on this Blu-ray release. But now we have Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, a middling entry that will no doubt appeal to the game’s legion of hardcore fans but may well leave others scratching their collective heads and wondering what all the fuss has been about.

Dragon Age is a typically labyrinthine fantasy laden story that takes place in a quasi-Medieval Age filled with dragons and various groups with competing agendas and ideologies. (I would just like to state for the record I have never played Dragon Age, nor have either of my video game addicted sons.) The Backstage Pass featurette included as a supplement on this Blu-ray gives some good background on the various groups that populate the Dragon Age universe, and should help to orient those who, like I am, are not overly familiar with the characters or storyline. The ruling coalition in this story is known as The Chantry, and The Chantry’s main fighting wing is an assemblage of Templar Knights. The Knights police a group of sometimes out of control wizards known as Mages, tormented souls who have given into a demonic delivered force known as Blood Magic, which slowly but surely twists the Mages’ psyches and makes them instruments of evil. However, the Templars themselves are not above reproach, and are similarly addicted to a crystalline drug known as Lyrium, which helps them resist the Mages’ spells, but which also wreaks havoc on the Templars should they cease taking it. There’s a super elite squad within the Templars, which in fact is set up to police the Templars themselves, known as the Seekers.

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker elevates a relatively minor character from Dragon Age II, a seeker named Cassandra, to leading lady, following her exploits as she attempts to uncover a vast conspiracy which stretches from a nefarious Blood Mage named Frenic all the way to the highest reaches of the Chantry. The conspiracy seems to involve a young girl named Avexis, who has the power to control animals with her mind, but why the Mages want the girl or what they’re planning to do with her remains a mystery—at least for a little while. Cassandra ultimately joins forces with a Circle Mage named Galyan to uncover the conspiracy and delve into what may be a major assassination plot.

The characters here are relatively well defined, at least for this kind of often stereotypical fare. Cassandra is an appealing combination of no nonsense, kick-ass in your face action heroine with just a hint of vulnerability, which plays into her burgeoning relationship with the kind of bumbling, but ultimately worthy, Galyan. Frenic is the sort of gruesome villain who is all manic laughter and hyperbolic emotion. In other words, there isn’t a great deal of subtlety in any of the characterizations, but what’s here suffices quite well to propel the story along and to deliver adequate interest (again, probably more so for longtime Dragon Age fans than for outsiders).

While people new to this franchise are probably going to wonder why this anime looks so much like a video game (see the video section below for more on this trend), there is some very nice CGI here, especially in the film’s climactic final half hour, when a number of dragons enter the fray and are used as attack animals. While the humans never quite get beyond looking frankly two dimensional and often fairly featureless, the dragons and some accompanying “magical” special effects tip the scales in favor of some spectacular looking imagery as Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker reaches its conclusion. This first anime outing may in fact not attract that many new fans to this franchise, but it will most likely whet the appetites of frenzied game aficionados for more releases further exploring the vast Dragon Age universe.

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dragon Age is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This feature was obviously crafted entirely in the digital realm, and so the transfer here is sparklingly crisp and an absolutely accurate rendering of its source elements, hence the superior score above. But how does Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker actually look? Well, there's the rub: it's often like a video game come to "life", which will either appeal to you or make you laugh out loud, depending on your background and how much you're into the Dragon Age universe. Care has obviously been taken to make the characters resemble the basic feel of their video game versions, but this isn't a video game. The surface rendering here is often completely devoid of texture (a notable exception is the really well done dragon elements), with everything from skins to costumes seemingly surface deep and shiny smooth. In perfect video game fashion, mouth movements don't exactly synch up with the dialogue being spoken, and backgrounds often seem to exist purely to have something for the characters to move through. All of this said, if you're a fan of the video game version of Dragon Age, chances are you'll find a lot to like here, and as mentioned above in the main body of the review, even newcomers will appreciate some of the spectacular looking animation in the film's final half hour. Others new to this franchise may well be thinking of the famous Marshall McLuhan dictum that "the medium is the message", meaning in this case that the medium of anime is distinctly not that of a video game, and perhaps more innovation with regard to making that transition would have benefited this enterprise.

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker contains two lossless audio options, both Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes, one in Japanese and one in English. These are both identical in terms of everything other than the actual voice work. Fidelity is top notch on both of these tracks, and there's some very fine attention paid to great surround activity. The clank of swords are regularly situated in the side channels and several whooshing noises, whether that be from dragons' wings or various magical phenomena, regularly pan quite effectively through the sound field. LFE is quite impressive, especially in the film's final extended battle sequence, where it, too, rolls out in waves over the heads (and under the feet) of listeners. Dialogue, effects and score are very well prioritized and this soundtrack is an artful blend of all three elements, creating a very full and enjoyable aural experience.

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bioware Studio Tour (HD; 7:56) features Mike Laidlaw, Creative Director for Dragon Age, taking viewers on a quick tour of the Bioware Studios offices in Edmonton.


• Dawn of the Seeker Backstage Pass (HD; 20:41) is an interesting making of featurette which goes into how the game franchise matriculated into the anime genre. This gives some backstory on mages, templars and seekers (the three major groups of the Dragon Age universe, which may help to orient some viewers not already familiar with the franchise.


• Dragon Age Production Art (1080i; 8:57)

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

While the animation style of Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker originally proved at least partially problematic for me, I kind of relaxed as the film went along and by the final third or so of the feature, I was actually enjoying its video game ambience. The story here is okay, and will no doubt appeal mightily to fans who have long been ensconced in the Dragon Age universe. Others will probably find this a pretty pat exercise in swords and sorcery fantasy laden storytelling, without a lot of innovation or nuance, despite a "cast of thousands" and a well articulated sociopolitical atmosphere. While supplements here are a bit on the light side, this release boasts great video and audio, and though it may not appeal to vast segments of the public at large, for fans of this franchise, it comes Recommended.