Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry (Review)

Written by Melissa  Farinelli

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry
Synopsis: The wizards of Fairy Tail are rumbling back to the big screen in their second full-length feature film! Natsu is known as the one and only fire-breathing Dragon Slayer, but this next adventure will take him to the next level. Luckily, he still has his trusty team by his side: Happy, a flying cat; Gray, an ice mage; Erza, a knight who switches armor and abilities mid-battle; and Lucy, a wizard who fights with a set of celestial spirits. When these Fairy Tail members first joined forces, they formed a team no one could topple. But this next mission could be their last. Enter the Dragon Cry, a magic staff rumored to possess the power to destroy the world. For years it's been safely guarded in the Kingdom of Fiore until Zash, a traitor of Fiore, steals it and delivers it to Animus in the Kingdom of Stella. Now it's up to the gang to infiltrate the Stella Kingdom and retrieve the staff. It seems like it should be an easy job, but what they uncover isn't what they expected. 

Fairy Tail: Dragon Cry is the latest film in the popular fantasy anime series based on the manga created by Hiro Mashima.  Set in between the final two story arcs in the series, it follows Natsu Dragneel and the other members of the Fairy Tail Guild as they try to recover the Dragon Cry, the titular mystical staff with “mysterious powers”.  While the animation is serviceable and the voice over quality is what you’d expect from a Funimation production, the plot seems to slip between an overlong episode and an entire season squeezed down into a 90-minute adventure.  The pace is frantic to say the least, with some tragic under use characters, and relying heavily on the viewers to already have a basic understanding of prior plot and characters relationships to move the action forward (if you haven’t caught up beware of potential spoilers). Where the movie excels is in its action, and oh man there is plenty of it.  There’s barely time to breathe before the next conflict takes shape. Overall, this colorful and lighthearted romp is filled with humor, sassy fan service, and plenty of action to make longtime fans of the show happy, but will ultimately lack the pull to capture new comers to the series.  Note: there is some neat post credit action, so be sure to stick around after they roll.

Final Rating