of dragons and georges (1982)

Rankin-Bass made a ton of cartoon movies from fantasy books, starting with The Hobbit (1977) followed by The Return of the King (1980), The Last Unicorn (1982),  and this fun movie, based on the book of the same name, which took cues from Gordon Dickson's fine novel "The Dragon and The George".



it was released directly to VHS 1982, and then aired in 1986.  I remember coming home from work for an early dinner and seeing parts of it and being quite confused, since I didn't know about the book at all.  I have read Dickson's book several times, and enjoy it a lot.  there are apparently a TON of sequels, of which I have read three (the last one involves a sorcerous Kraken and lots of sea monsters).

the dragons in this movie look a lot like Smaug from The Hobbit, except a bit fatter.  the animation is quite nice, and the voice acting is very good.  lots of familiar names here for us fans, though it's funny to hear Sherman Potter as the voice of Carolinus.

there are a LOT of dragons in this movie.  it ostensibly deals with the end of magic and the start of science, which by now has become a cliche` in movies of this type.  sometimes I think I would like to see magic win, but for some reason the filmmakers always think they should be more historical and prove why we don't see dragons and such any more.  sometimes I think we'd be better served by magic, seeing what science has wrought these days.

it would be nice if this movie was available on legit DVD.  it was out on VHS, but has yet to make it to a digital release.  it did take The Last Unicorn quite some time to get released as well, so hopefully it's just a matter of time.

boy I love cartoons, I sure wish we saw more of them.