I have always believed in the power of books to inspire and to stimulate imagination. I especially love fantasy novels for their ability to reflect universal themes of human existence in made-up worlds populated by reluctant heroes and fantastical creatures; worlds struggling between the forces of light and dark with lots of magic thrown in for good measure. My library is full of many of these novels, but few have inspired me more than the Dragonlance novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I could say my writing "career" (I use the term very lightly) sprang from my love of the world of Dragonlance.

Back in the days of dial-up and Prodigy, when user names were a series of letters and numbers and I was a computer novice, I stumbled upon a website that was an online, interactive D&D adventure based in the world of Krynn. This site was for adventurers who were not interested in hit points and intelligence scores, but for amateur fantasy writers with vocabularies that included words like kender, hoopak, Reorx, and Lunitari; and who could effectively translate shirak, dumak, and Est Sularus oth Mithas. Some of my readers may blanch at my nerdiness, but there are many of us loyal inhabitants of Krynn out here – you know who you are!

There was always hope among the fans of Dragonlance that a movie would be forthcoming. Our hope only increased with the coming of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and with the successful realization of The Chronicles of Narnia on film. For fans, Dragonlance certainly deserves something along lines of these epic proportions.

I was disappointed when I learned that the first Dragonlance movie would be animated. However, my spirits were buoyed by the list of vocal talents that would be bringing my favorite characters to life: Michael Rosenbaum as Tanis, Lucy Lawless as Goldmoon, Michelle Trachtenberg as Tika, and best of all, Kiefer Sutherland as the sly anti-hero, Raistlin Majere. I thought that the Kiefer would be brilliant as Raistlin. His rasping voice is perfect for the sarcastic, sneering, cynical mage.

I watched the DVD with great anticipation as well as a wistful feeling of nostalgia. I assembled a crew of fellow fantasy fans: my niece and nephew, Darwin and Zak, and my son Joe. Darwin and Zak had already read most of the Dragonlance books that I own. Joe was new to the world of the lance, but is enough of a fantasy fan to appreciate this exciting world of heroes, knights and dragons. Our reaction to the film was mixed, but the overall feeling that this was a good effort on the part of the filmmakers prevailed.

There was a lot of ground to cover in this first installment of the Dragonlance saga. The heroes reunite at the Inn of the Last Home after five years searching for signs of the true gods. The companions consist of Tanis, a half-elf; Flint Fireforge, a gruff dwarf; Tasslehoff Burrfoot, a curious and delightfully optimistic kender; Sturm Brightblade, a solemn knight of Solamnia; and the twins Caramon and Raistlin Majere, a warrior and a mage, as different in temperament and appearance as night and day. Conspicuously missing from the group is Kitiara, the twins’ half-sister, who sends a note telling them that her new lord and duties have detained her.