You know what. I liked it. Was it a masterpiece? Nope not at all. But not every movie needs to be. Some days you just want to be entertained and this movie does the trick. Sure it was corny and predictable, but sometimes you want that in a film.

But it also held my attention for the entire run time - which is kinda impressive considering my short attention span (normally I'd be on my phone after the first 30mins or so).

Plus the dragon was brilliant. I loved everything about it. It's design and animation was cool and Shohreh Aghdashloo's voice was perfect fit for the dragon - Gravelly, but still matronly and feminine.

If you like female heroines kicking butt, dragons, fantasy and pretty special effects and just want some mindless entertainment - give it a try.

This movie was extremely predictable. As soon as I heard the dragon was female, I already knew they would team up at the end. But it didn't start there. It was predictable from the start. It was obvious the marriage was a sham and of course the prince would betray her, he's a straight white male. I was a little surprised they killed a black knight,but he was a man so I wasn't too surprised.

They wrote the dragon trying to be exactly like smaug, except stupid since she could have killed the girl a few different times. The message of underestimating women was very clear although I'm sure the writers thought they were being clever and subtle.

The acting was terrible and over the top. The only actress that was convincing at all was the evil queen and the girls father, although there roles were so small that maybe they only seemed ok because they didn't have enough screen time to mess it up.

The only thing this movie had going for it was that the main character didn't just breeze through. She did have to struggle a couple of times and she did get hurt even though it was only slightly compared to what had actually happened to her.

Poor acting Poor writing Predictable Unoriginal.

Not sure why all the hate. Is it for everybody. No. But. For what it is and intends to be. It is quite good. Elodie is not a Mary Sue. She is not perfect. Not all knowing. And. She has an arc and growing pains in her story. I will be the first to admonish companies like Disney and the Ilk for interpreting beloved characters for modern audiences. This movie does none of that. It has created a heroin that has to use her wits and smarts to win and conquer her setbacks. In a good way there are cringe lines and moments. But. For the most part. It's good writing and it serves the story. I know we have been fooled once too many times. But. This is not one of those. The acting is good for what the story needs. We need to be accepting of new takes on old stories. As long as they don't try to change a beloved story or character to push their message or what their beliefs are. Again. Not for everyone. It is enjoyable.