"Dragonheart"

Opens: May 31, 1996 | Rated: PG

The question here is: Is Sean Connery's voice alone worth $7.

Yes, the visual effects are extraordinary too (although a little sloppy in spots), but take away the contribution from Industrial Light and Magic and you're left with a Medieval knight yawner with so many '90s sensibilities ("The Girl" is a sword-fighting, women's rights kinda gal, unmarried in her mid-twenties) that it hardly qualifies as a period story.

Dennis Quaid is Bolin, a dragon slayer and mentor to the young prince of England who is mortally injured in a fight against revolting peasants. Bolin always taught him the "old code" of honor, so when he turns into a tyrant after being brought back to life by a dragon, Quaid assumes it's some kind of dragon plot and sets out to kill them all.

Years later when the prince has become a high-taxing, steel-fisted ruler and Bolin is almost out of dragons to kill he comes across Draco (voiced by Connery), the last dragon, and they team up to defeat the evil prince.

Connery is, um, cute really, as Draco but it isn't enough to float the film. No one else has much to work with as the script is a design-by-committee, kids' movie mess.

Quaid seems to know he's in a silly movie, so plays it up. The Girl, who's name I didn't catch, plays a strong-willed female foil from a B-movie action flick, her character seemingly oblivious to her 962 A.D. surroundings.

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