Review: Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker (Anime)

When it comes to the Dragon Age Universe, I’ll admit that I never really got too into the video games. After watching Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker, an animated movie from FUNimation and BioWare releasing Tuesday, May 29th, I have a feeling that’s going to change. When I first heard about this movie, I was really interested in seeing how it turned out, in spite of my lack of experience with the rest of the game universe. As I’ve said before, movies based on video games are an area where you must tread lightly. In this case, a great job was done, and my worries seem to have been unfounded.

Here is my review of the upcoming Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker. Does it provide a grand adventure, or is it flawed like some other video game movies? That’s what you’re here to find out!

I think the story of this movie would make a great DLC adventure for Dragon Age II. The movie focuses on a Seeker named Cassandra. Cassandra discovers a conspiracy within the Chantry, and will fight blood mages and other enemies along the way. What about that wouldn’t be good DLC? Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker provides suspense, action, and blood-shed. From the moment it starts, it will pull you in, and continue to do so as the movie progresses. The story was told very well, but the way in which the plot branches out from the start is a bit confusing at first. The story would have been better served by a bit more detail in the first 5-10 minutes explaining who the characters are and why they’re going into battle. After the quick start, the movie does a good job of providing more details about what’s going on and what might or might not be happening. Is there anything particularly special to the plot? Not really. Bad things happen and a hero saves the day. What more do you expect from a fantasy RPG style story, or from any adventure or action story?

The computer generated graphics of the film were fantastic; from one on one conflicts to battles with dragons. It’s obvious that a lot of work went into the graphics and animation for this title. You do miss out on some features, however, with computer generated graphics. I would have liked to have seen more emotion on the faces of the characters, but the scenes in general were able to give you a vibe of what was about to go down, good or bad. This movie does miss out a bit on providing emotion, but that was also partially due to the acting.

The voice acting for the movie was done well, but I noticed that it came across as flat, at times. During certain key scenes, the dialog, the animation, and the soundtrack all made it perfectly clear that the speaking character was angry, but the voice itself conveyed no anger. When I think of anger, I think of a voice that’s on edge; it’s clear by the tone that this person is angry. I felt like they were just reading the line, rather than acting the line. This happened a few times throughout the movie, and wasn’t a deal breaker, but was something that stood out enough to be noticed.

One thing that particularly caught me while watching was the movie’s soundtrack. It’s not very often that a score can pull my interest, but as a former band geek, it happens on occasion. Each musical cue was spot on and tied in with the movie perfectly. Even the end credits music had me rocking out…but to be fair, who wouldn’t rock out to Seether?

Overall, FUNimation and BioWare have done a really good job with Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker. If you’re a fan of the Dragon Age series, this is definitely a great addition to the lore. Full of betrayal, blood, dragons, and more, Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker is a very well animated and scored movie that, for the most part, succeeds. The voice acting has some flat moments and the animation could do more to convey emotion at times, but these are minor, inconsistent issues. In the end, it is a successful film, with a very interesting ending.

Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker was provided by FUNimation Entertainment for review purposes. For more information on Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker or FUNimation, please visit FUNimation.