With the emperor ailing in his capital, he sends out messengers to secure the one thing that can save him from certain death: the blood of a live dragon. Luckily for the few remaining dragons, though, there's a young girl "Ping" and her pet rat "Hua" who are determined to preserve their last egg and ensure that "Kai" is born in the sacred birthing pool safe and sound. It's quite good fun, this, and I always liked the Chinese depictions of dragons as rather more lithe and nimble then the grumpy, scarred and scaly Western interpretations, but otherwise this is a rather thinly padded out story that might better have tried to incorporate more from this six book series it's based on into it's plot to better build up the characters and fill out the plot. That said, it doesn't hang around and there's plenty of action as the youngster and the ancient dragon "Long Danzi" take on the whole Imperial army - and it's dastardly and scheming agent - whilst trying to preserve this fragile blue egg until it's ready to hatch. There's a gentle moral to the story about self reliance and the odd humorous moment too, and though it's probably not a film that the very young will really get much from, the animation is lively and colourful with some menacing bugs and fiery blue fisticuffs and it's worth a watch on the telly if you like the family fantasy genre.

"The Last Dragon":

Well, the Chinese! They really screwed it up!

I'll tell you a mini-story about how I got to see this cartoon at the cinema:

Actually, my mom and I weren't planning on going to the cinema yesterday, but we went there spontaneously. I was just looking at the showtime schedule at one of the cinemas in our city and reading it to my mom, and my mom was interested in the film "Montesorri: Education by Love". This film tells the story of a female teacher who worked with special children, helping them in their development. My mom studied her correction methods at the pedagogical institute, and that's why she wanted to see this film. But, alas, they didn't let me into "Montesorri" even with my mom, because the film has an age restriction of 18+, although as my mom said, the film is harmless, there were no erotic scenes or any other scenes because of which it was possible to give this film an 18+ rating.

Well, while my mom was buying one ticket for "Montesorri", I went to the ticket machines and there I bought a ticket for "The Last Dragon". It's funny that when I bought a ticket for "The Dragon", I had an almost empty IMAX cinema hall, i.e. I bought the first and only cartoon at that time, there were about 20 minutes left before the show! But, alas, I was not alone, someone still bought a ticket for it 5 minutes before the start and there were those who came to the hall already with trailers, well, and now about the cartoon:

"The Last Dragon" is a normal Chinese cartoon for family viewing!

The film tells the story of an ordinary girl named Pin, who actually turns out to be the chosen one! She meets dragons (or honored guests) and must help deliver their baby to the lake of birth. Pin and the dragon Danzi go on this adventure to help the baby, but first they need to save the egg with him from the villain. The plot of the cartoon is simple and slightly cliched and a bit complicated, but the 90-minute runtime passes easily, but there are a couple of drawn-out moments in the cartoon.

I want to talk about the villain with spoilers, so if you haven't watched the cartoon and suddenly want to watch it, you can scroll through them: .

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Surprisingly, the villain's motivation, although cliched, I liked it!

The villain needed dragons to cure himself and his mother from a bad illness due to which the whole body was covered in purple spots. He needed a live dragon for the ritual, but his subordinates brought only their blue blood. He did not have time to save his mother, and after that he decided to try to save at least himself! Looking ahead to the end of the cartoon, I will say that in the scene when the villain's ritual failed and he gradually turns into a dragon himself due to the damage from Pin and Danzi, for some reason it slightly reminded me of "Aladdin", namely when Jafar turned into a red genie in color, and in the color of the dragon itself, that's where all the "similarities" with him ended.

And I will add that I wonder where he got such purple nails? Honestly, with these nails the villain is a slay ? and I had such vibes every time he was shown!

Also from the spoilers I can note the ending, the cartoon ended at the most interesting place, and not only at the most interesting, but also at the sad place! The ending leaves questions, is the dragon Danzi alive and Pin together with Kai (Danzi's son) saw him at the end, or did he still die? But, I will still believe in a happy ending, where Danzi is alive!

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The graphics and animation of the cartoon were generally good, but alas, it does not reach the level of some cartoon by Pixar, Disney or some other animation studio! Well, at least it was not an eyesore, at least thanks for that! I liked the design of the dragon Danzi and the main character.

I will say briefly about the original soundtrack, it was not bad and I liked it.

In the end, "The Last Dragon" is a normal Chinese cartoon for family viewing. I think you can go to the cartoon to have a great time! But, I will warn you that the cartoon will really appeal to children, but I think teenagers and adults will also be able to have a great time!

I give the cartoon 7 out of 10 and recommend watching it!

Adventures, humor, fantasy and action in this 3D cartoon film, this is an attractive movie that younger people will love. Well directed by Salvador Simó, the film adapts the first book of the Dragonkeeper literary saga by Carole Wilkinson, set in an Imperial China where magic still exists. And it's full of imagination, humor and marvellous dragons. The film begins with a prologue that gives a historical chronology: ¨No one remembers the dark times, when the threat of necromancers loomed over the world and humanity was on the verge of perishing. The emperor then turned to the only force capable of saving us. A sacred bond was formed between the dragons and a select few of pure heart who learned the secrets of their wisdom. Together, men and dragons defeated the hosts of Wucheng. But in the ashes of victory germinated the seeds of distrust and fear. The emperor, jealous of his power, hunted down the dragons and pursued their guardians. Dragons had been banished from the kingdom. Ping, an orphan, finds one of the last remaining dragon eggs. Palace guards force Ping to run away in order to return the dragon egg to the ocean and save all dragons from extinction. The fate of ancient China rests on the shoulders of one young girl, who must find the last remaining dragon egg and fulfill her destiny¨. So the mistreated servant Join Ping must find the last remaining dragon egg as she becomes who she was always meant to be... the DragonKeeper. Ping seems to be the last hope.

Fantasy, magic and adventure for the whole family come together in this Spanish-Chinese animated film about a a very special girl, a dragon (the last of them) and the power to change fate. So the plot follows the adventures of enslaved girl 'Ping' with her dragon companion 'Long Danzi' during an ancient imperial age. The story begins years after the union of dragons and humans managed to finish off the necromancers. Now there are hardly any dragons left, and the last ones are locked up by order of the emperor, jealous of his power and that of the guardians. There is continuous non-stop entertainment with frenetic action, good staging and adventures of all kinds in which our starring will face a thousand and one dangers in order to achieve peace and save dragons. The film is technically acceptable with a colorful pop approach accentuated by contrasts of time and space. The story, with basic positive messages, action enough and continous amusement, but it does not stand out for its inventiveness in humor, originality or the keys it handles. As the director. ¨Dragonkeeper¨ takes us on an adventure where fantasy prevails over everything else, although everything else is equally exciting. Here we have the rebellion of an orphan girl who wants to make her decisions, the overcoming of traumas of the apparently brave and determined heroine who has suffered past slavery and loneliness.

There's a good and lively musical score by composer Arturo Cardelús. The film was well directed by Jianping Li and Salvador Simó . It was nominated in Málaga Spanish Film Festival 2024: Golden Biznaga Nominee Best Spanish Film Salvador Simó and Jianping Li. Salvador Simó formerly worked in animation department of various films, such as : Midsummer Dream , Goofy and son , Howl , Las tres mellizas , El Cid : the legend , It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown , among others. Being his big hit : ¨Buñuel en el laberinto de las tortugas (Buñuel in the labyrinth of the turtles 2018) that was winner of the award for best animated film at the Goya and at the European Film Awards. Dragonkeeper(2024) rating: 6.5/10. Decent computer generator animation particularly advisable for the youngest members of the family.