At The Movies: Swords, sorcery and comedy an unlikely combo that works in Dungeons & Dragons movie

Dungeons And Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (PG13)

134 minutes, opens on Thursday

4 stars

The story: Edgin (Chris Pine) is a musician and protector of the innocent, who becomes disillusioned after wizards murder his wife. He turns to crime with the help of friends – barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), paladin Simon (Justice Smith) and con artist Forge (Hugh Grant). But an attempt at stealing a book containing a resurrection spell results in the capture of Edgin and Holga. The pair discover they have been betrayed by someone in their circle.

Oh no, do people need another movie based on a game?

If you had watched the confused jumble that was Warcraft (2016), you might be understandably wary of this, also a project based on a game that borrows heavily from the legend of King Arthur and The Lord Of The Rings fantasy books.

Where this is similar to Warcraft is that both are unironic, non-snarky adaptations. Warcraft, however, clubs viewers over the head with lore.

This story is far easier to follow even if one cannot tell a paladin from a Harper or a druid from a Red Wizard.

Most importantly, the feature’s two-hour-plus running time is not padded out with 15-minute melees involving thousands.

This film’s action sequences are short and human-scaled. Each contains emotion – a touch of zombie horror here, a smidgen of fantastical beast whimsy there. The intention is to charm rather than blow you out of your chair.

Role-playing game fan service is inevitable and, here, it is done through plot, not dialogue.

Members of Edgin’s team gather magical items, as one does in the game.

In clever, often unexpected ways, the items reappear at pivotal moments. A satisfying callback is always fun, for both game enthusiasts and those whose fingers have never touched a 20-sided die.

Director Jonathan Goldstein cut his teeth writing comedy (Horrible Bosses, 2011; Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2, 2013). He knows how to do funny, especially when it comes to playing Pine’s brave but emotionally insecure character against those of his partners, such as the taciturn woman of action Holga, who finds him a little needy.

Then there is dorky, unreliable sorcerer Simon, often paired with the hyper-confident druid Doric (Sophia Lillis).

Pine is excellent as Edgin, the unofficial head of the quest, but it is more accurate to call this an ensemble comedy, with every well-cast member pulling his or her weight. This is the breezy ensemble fantasy-action-comedy that the recent Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania wishes it had been.

Hot take: Fun and funny while embracing its board-game mechanics, the D&D movie is the antidote for those let down by the poor quality of recent Marvel and DC superhero movies.