Dragonslayer is a 1981 fantasy movie set in a realistically portrayed medieval Britain, and follows a young wizard-in-training as he attempts to defeat a dragon.

A co-production between The Walt Disney Company and Paramount Pictures, Dragonslayer was one of the first Disney films mature and realistic enough to entertain adults as well as children. Because of audience expectations for a more child-friendly film from Disney, the movie's violence and adult themes were somewhat controversial at the time. It was a failure at the box office, with an estimated budget of $18 million and a gross of approximately $6 million in the U.S., but it later became a minor cult classic on home video.

The film was directed by Matthew Robins from a screenplay he wrote with Hal Barwood.

The special effects were created by Industrial Light and Magic, whose technicians devised a process called go motion for the film. Go motion is a variation on stop-motion animation, and its use in Dragonslayer led to the film's nomination for the Academy Award for Visual Effects, which it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Original Music Score; Chariots of Fire took the award.

The film was also nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Again, it lost to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

In October 2003, Dragonslayer was released on DVD in the U.S. by Paramount Home Video. This release had no special features and the film's transfer was not in anamorphic widescreen, a disappointment to fans of the film.

Plot

The setting is the Middle Ages. A village is being held hostage by a dragon and sends a delegation to find a sorcerer to help them. The villagers travel a hundred miles before they find Ulrich, who may be the only remaining wizard alive. He agrees to help them, but then dies mysteriously, partly due to the actions of a brutish knight named Tyrian. His inexperienced apprentice Galen is forced to take the job on himself, and travels back with the villagers to face the dragon and his fate. He discovers that the village, desperate to assuage the dragon, has begun a lottery that all of the town's virgins are required to enter. The "winner" is sacrificed to the dragon. This is just one of the complications he faces in his quest to save the village and defeat the dragon.

Dragonslayer is set apart from other fantasy films by its historical accuracy in costume and set design, as well as by a script and performances that attempt to accurately portray Britain at the turning point between paganism and Christianity. Sir Ralph Richardson's portrayal of the wizard Ulrich has become one of his most famous roles. Also, the moral complications of the film, along with its realistic depiction of political and societal pressures, give it a greater sophistication than most movies of its genre.

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