the Last Dragons LaYer
Fforde Focus
released 3 april 2016 | pG | dVd
Director Jamie Magnus stone Cast ellise Chappell, andrew Buchan, Matt Berry, pauline Collins
A female teen learns it’s her calling to bump off a race of fantastical creatures? The Last Dragonslayer won’t win any prizes for the groundbreaking nature of its premise. In fact, from its Harry Potter-ish magical world to its Discworldy quirkiness, there’s a lot that feels a tad over-familiar about this Sky 1 Christmas Day offering, adapted from the first of Jasper Fforde’s Chronicles Of Kazam novels.
What it lacks in originality, however, The Last Dragonslayer just about makes up for in charm, as young orphan (that’s another cliché ticked off ) Jennifer Strange is reluctantly pushed towards fulfilling her destiny. In Fforde’s alternative Britain, aka the unUnited Kingdoms, magic is on the wane, technology is on the rise, and market forces – led by the sinister StuffCo – want to expand their interests beyond the magical barrier that keeps the human and dragon worlds separate.
This world-building is arguably what The Last Dragonslayer does best, with the unconventional mix of medieval knights and royalty, and 20th century tech like cars and gramophones giving the drama a freshness it lacks elsewhere. It’s also got a decent cast, from newcomer Ellise Chappell as Jennifer, through Game Of Thrones’ John Bradley as an unlikely assistant slayer, and Pauline Collins as a snarky-butwarm elder witch.
But mostly this skews a little too close to average: visually it’s quite impressive, it’s quite funny, and the plot is quite engaging. And because it isn’t really a standalone (its conclusion the beginning rather than the end of the story) there is a slight whiff of anticlimax come the closing credits.
Extras None. Richard Edwards
A final book in the series is in the works. It’s had two working titles: Strange And The Wizard and Humans V Trolls.