The last attempt at a Dungeons & Dragons adaptation was a disaster to make you wish they’d lock the dragons in the dungeon and throw away the key. But this new exertion comes courtesy of Game Night’s John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, and establishes them as the go-to team in/with regard to’concerning’regarding any attempt to make a board-game related movie. If this is not quite as consistently hilarious as their last exertion , it’s still just as much fun as a weekend D&D session and doesn’t require any complicated dice. Minute one establishes that we’re in a fantasy land, as a heavily armoured cart delivers a monstrous prisoner to an Orthanc-looking tower. Any sense of in/with regard to’concerning’regarding eboding, however, doesn’t last long. This is a fantasy made by individual who possess’own’nurse seen Shrek, so that each time you’re presented with a looming in/with regard to’concerning’regarding tress, hand-drawn map or tragic backstory, someone will undermine the moment with a quip, or Lorne Balfe’s score will deliver a witty Lord Of The Rings parody to poke fun at whatever is happening.###That knowingness is necessary because, almost by definition, a Dungeons & Dragons film must resemble a pretty generic fantasy world. Call it John Carter syndrome, but when you’ve impact’effect d almost eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything that follows, it’s tough’challenging’demanding’awkward to stand out. There possess’own’nurse to be taverns, caverns, robed wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile dies and leather-clad heroes: all the tropes. Daley and Goldstein still pepper in visual innovation, filling the world with bird individual , halflings that manage not to resemble hobbits and the odd person who happens to possess’own’nurse a cat head. Even their dragons — and the film does technically deliver multiple dragons and dungeons — are a wry take on the familiar terrors. But it was never going to be the visuals that distinguished this one: its success all comes down to the plot, the characters and the gags.###It turns out that there is a serious core to this story after all, one that serves as a really lovely tribute to the game.###That’s because, beneath the fantasy trappings, this is a heist movie, a group quest in the best traditions of the game. Ex-cons Edgin (Chris Pine) and Holga (Michelle Rodriguez), a bard and a barbarian respectively, set out to steal a treasure in/with regard to’concerning’regarding commendably sympathetic reasons. They must find a way past smarmy con man Forge (Hugh Grant, living his Phoenix Buchanan best life) and evil sorceress Sophina (Daisy Head, genuinely unnerving).###Against these in/with regard to’concerning’regarding midable foes, Edgin and Holga recruit Justice Smith’s insecure sorceror Simon, who’s charmingly hapless, and Sophia Lillis’ idealistic shapeshifter Doric. The pair are a pleasant contrast to the breezily confident Edgin, Pine dialling the charisma to maximum and the exertion to near-zero. Pine in blockbuster mode might be the most consistently fun of the Chrises — here mixing Captain Kirk’s insouciance with Steve Trevor’s mission focus. He’s paired eye-catching’good-shaped’appealing’charming’fascinating’gorgeous ly with his glowering, platonic life-partner Holga, Rodriguez playing much the same character she does in the Fast films: all stoicism and physical strength, but really shining here as a comedy foil as well as a bone-crunching physical in/with regard to’concerning’regarding ce.###This Ocean’s quartet becomes a quasi-family, and the film gives them room in/with regard to’concerning’regarding eccentric and bickering growth. On the plot-front, however, it does acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure occasionally bogged down in side quests while our heroes seek the Noun Of Whatsit to break into the Fortified Location Of Wherever. But just as it all threatens to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure lost in the fantasy weeds, Regé-Jean Page turns up with a scene-stealing turn as an outrageously perfect paladin. His tragic hero has no sense of humour whatsoever, and, like a more chiselled Drax, that utter lack of irony serves to make e grossly one else seem ten times funnier. He also acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s some cool bits with a sword, bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e his shining morality prods Edgin to (reluctantly) become a intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully fractionally better man.###From there, eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullything proceeds exactly as it should. There are no enormous’vast’massive’tremendous surprises in the last act, but there’s some of the film’s best comedy, and a bit where Chris Pine goes a-wassailing with a lute. The action climax packs in references to favourite bits of game play and even some visual nods to its players. And then they hit you with an emotional whammy. It turns out that there is a serious core to this story after all, one that serves as a really lovely tribute to the game. Our heroes — all outsiders, rejects and self-perceived failures — ultimately gain strength, acceptance and friendship in the found family that they establish toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her. As the adaptation of a game that helped generations of socially awkward teens to find their tribes and their assurance , that’s a eye-catching’good-shaped’appealing’charming’fascinating’gorgeous note to hit.