''Dragon Rider'' (german: Drachenreiter), also known as ''Firedrake the Silver Dragon'' by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

, is a 2020 3D

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

; while officially based on the 1997 novel of the same name by

Cornelia Funke Cornelia Maria Funke () (born 10 December 1958) is a German author of children's fiction. Born in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, she began her career as a social worker before becoming a book illustrator. She began writing novels in the late 19 ...

, the film takes influence from the ''How to Train Your Dragon'' series by

Cressida Cowell Cressida Cowell FRSL (born 15 April 1966) is a British children's author, popularly known for the book series, ''How to Train Your Dragon (novel series), How to Train Your Dragon'', which has subsequently become an How to Train Your Dragon (fr ...

, with its visuals and marketing based on that of the

DreamWorks DreamWorks may refer to: * DreamWorks Pictures, an American film production company of Amblin ** DreamWorks Television, an American television production company and division of the film studio ** DreamWorks Records, an American record label and f ...

franchise Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

. The film was due to be released in theatres on 6 August 2020, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the film release was postponed until 1 October 2020. Netflix acquired global distribution rights to the film, and it was released on the streaming platform on 10 September 2021.

Premise

Firedrake is a young silver

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

, who has had enough of constantly having to hide in a wooded valley. He wants to show the older generations of dragons that he is a real dragon. When humans are about to destroy his family's very last refuge, Firedrake secretly sets off on an adventurous journey with Sorrel a bad-tempered cat-like forest brownie. He wants to find the "Rim of Heaven", the dragons' mysterious haven. On their quest, Firedrake and Sorrel encounter Ben, an orphan and stray, who claims to be a dragon rider. While Ben and Firedrake make friends quickly, Sorrel becomes increasingly distrustful and tries her best to get rid of the orphan at every opportunity. But the unlikely trio have to learn to pull together, because they are being hunted by Nettlebrand, an evil dragon-eating monster which was created by an alchemist with the aim of tracking down and destroying every dragon on Earth.

Voice cast

Thomas Brodie-Sangster Thomas Brodie-Sangster (born 16 May 1990), also credited as Thomas Sangster, is an English actor. He is known for playing Sam in ''Love Actually'' (2003), Simon in '' Nanny McPhee'' (2005), Ferb in '' Phineas and Ferb'' (2007–2015), Jojen Reed ...

as Firedrake *

Felicity Jones Felicity Rose Hadley Jones (born 17 October 1983) is a British actress. She started her professional acting career as a child, appearing in '' The Treasure Seekers'' (1996) at age 12. She went on to play Ethel Hallow for one series of the tel ...

as Sorrell *

Freddie Highmore Alfred Thomas Highmore (born 14 February 1992) is an English actor. He is known for his starring roles beginning as a child, in the films '' Finding Neverland'' (2004), '' Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'' (2005), '' August Rush'' (2007), and ...

as Ben Greenbloom *

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actor ...

as Nettlebrand *

Jimmy Hibbert James Christian Hibbert is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his voice work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films. Early life James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibbe ...

as Twigleg *

Alex Norton Alexander Hugh Norton (born 27 January 1950) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as DCI Matt Burke in the STV detective drama series '' Taggart'', Eric Baird in BBC Two sitcom '' Two Doors Down'', DCS Wallace in '' Extremely Dangerou ...

as Gravelbeard *

Nonso Anozie Nonso Anozie (; born 17 November 1978) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Tank in ''RocknRolla'', Sergeant Dap in ''Ender's Game'', Abraham Kenyatta in ''Zoo'', Captain of the Guards in ''Cinderella'', Xaro Xhoan Daxos in th ...

as The Djinn *

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...

as Subisha Gulab *

Sanjeev Bhaskar Sanjeev Bhaskar (born 31 October 1963) is a British actor, comedian and television presenter. He is best known for his work in the BBC Two sketch comedy series '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and as the star of the sitcom ''The Kumars at No. 42''. H ...

as Mad Doc

Production

It was announced in June 2017 that production had begun on an animated adaptation of

's novel. The film is a German-Belgian co-production. The animation was handled by

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

's Able & Baker and Cyborn Studios, while additional parts of the lighting and compositing took place at

Rise FX Rise FX is a German visual effects company with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, and London. Rise FX has worked on several films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe like '' Avengers: Endgame'', '' Captain Marvel'', ''Ant-Man and the W ...

and Big Hug FX. The production work took place in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. In May 2018, the castings of Felicity Jones, Patrick Stewart, Freddie Highmore, Thomas Brodie-Sangster,

and

were announced.

Reception

Box office

''Dragon Rider'' has earned $6,385,553 at the global box office.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of based on reviews with an average rating of .

Robbie Collin Robbie Collin is a British film critic. Collin studied aesthetics and the philosophy of film at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He edited the university's student newspaper, '' The Saint''. Collin has been the chief film critic at ''The D ...

of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' gave it 3 out of 5. Collin said the film borrows heavily from other recent films and wrote: "''Dragon Rider'' is unlikely to spawn many imitators of its own—even if it did, how could anyone tell?—but as a half-term diversion, it ticks every box." Cath Clarke of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' gave it 3 out of 5 and called it a "bland but entertaining family film".

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2020 films 2020 3D films 2020 fantasy films 2020 computer-animated films 2020s German animated films 2020s children's adventure films 2020s children's fantasy films 2020s children's animated films 2020s fantasy adventure films 2020s buddy films 2020s English-language films 2020s German-language films Belgian animated films Belgian children's films Belgian adventure films Belgian animated fantasy films German 3D films German computer-animated films German children's adventure films German animated fantasy films German fantasy adventure films Animated adventure films Animated buddy films Anime-influenced Western animation 3D animated films English-language Belgian films English-language German films English-language Netflix original films Animated films based on novels Films based on German novels Animated films based on children's books Animated films about dragons Animated films about orphans Animated films about friendship Fictional trios Films set in Germany Films set in forests Films set in 2020 Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic