That’s right. For those of you who do not know, Dragonlance is in the process of making an animated movie from the first book in the Chronicles, Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight. I’ve been excited about this movie from the moment I heard of it. This was my first Dragonlance book and my first exposure to the amazing style of writing by my all time favorite author, Margaret Weis.

I think I read Dragons of Autumn Twilight when I was fifteen. Ah, the pre-car years! I’ve tried on several occasions to get my ten-year-old son to read it, but he can’t get past that first chapter. I know if he did, he’d be hooked. Maybe ten is too young and at twelve he’d dive in headfirst. I think, after seeing the movie, that he will read it without prompting.

I’ve seen conflicting reports as to whether this movie will be released on the big screen or go straight to DVD. This worries me. I’m concerned about the marketing effort. I’ve seen great, brilliant actually, films ruined by lack of marketing. The biggest one that comes to mind is Serenity. It has become one of my favorite movies of all time, and I’m shocked that I never heard of Serenity, or the Firefly television series it was spawned from, until LONG AFTER the movie was out of theaters. With all of the lousy movies I hear about, over and over and over, how in the world did I miss Serenity? Seriously? And will this same phenomenon happen to Dragonlance? I don’t know.

Will it make any difference because it’s animated? I don’t know. I absolutely loved Watership Down, and the animated movie, while technically following the plot, somehow ripped out the heart of what I loved in that book. How many times have we thought, "That book will make a great movie!" and then were disappointed? Probably more often than the times we’ve been happily satisfied. I may have worries, but nothing, I mean NOTHING, will stop me from having high hopes for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

Delilah Rehm

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