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I really wanted to like this movie.

Years and years ago I played (most of) Dragon Quest V. It was a game I had become incredibly invested in and when they announced this movie, I felt super excited. However, as time went on and I saw the low Japanese reviews, I worried that this movie wouldn't be all that I hoped for.

In the end, I was disappointed.

The animation and music were the only good parts of this film. Some individual scenes made me chuckle here and there, but that was it.

The rest was horribly paced. It skimmed over several events in the game that ... would have taken hours to play through. As a result, emotional scenes weren't very emotional at all due to lack of buildup and investment in the characters. In other words, if you've never played DQV it probably won't make sense and if you have, you'll just be frustrated at all the content they've skipped.

Originally, I gave this movie a 4 until I saw the twist ending, then I dropped a point. I won't spoil it here, but it more or less invalidates the film. (That said, the message of the film was about how the twist does not invalidate it, but I have to disagree.)

Ultimately, this film was just a waste of time. If you want to know the story, play DQV. If you want to know the twist ending, google it or skip to the last ~10 minutes of the film.

Half of this show feels like (and probably is) filler. A few filler characters are important to the plot in the end, but many aren't. While some of the it is fun and interesting (episode 11), the rest is tedious (anything with the guys who wear pots on their heads).

Filler aside, the show isn't really anything special. Aside from some of the colorful characters, it's just another fantasy-adventure anime where our band of heroes must go somewhere to find something. The show is often goofy, so if you're looking for a serious fantasy series, I'd look elsewhere.

Other thoughts:
-The animation often looks stiff and only a ... handful of character designs actually stick out.
-Jeda the priest needed more screentime.
-I did get some laughs out of the frequent slapstick.
-There was a chibi folk tale episode that was really cute and I actually really liked it.
-Baron's got nice eyes under his headband (I like his design in general).
-Overall, the show's fun if you're looking for something simple and colorful.
-Seriously, don't think too deeply about this show.