First published in 1974, Dungeons & Dragons soon established itself as the most successful and influential role-playing game of all-time. Its popularity led to a variety of adaptations.

Though not especially successful adaptations. A Saturday morning cartoon of D&D ran for a couple of years, which seems okay, I guess.

Theatrical versions of the property have fared less well. 2000’s Dungeons & Dragons flopped, and its 2005 and 2012 sequels went straight to video.

2023 brought a new take on the property via Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Unlike its predecessors, this one earned fine reviews and managed decent box office, with a worldwide take of $207 million.

However, given the film’s $150 million budget, it clearly lost a bunch of money. As such, I don’t expect this to turn into a continuing franchise, though who knows?

Until the murder of his wife Zia (Georgia Landers), Edgin Darvis (Chris Pine) served as part of an honorable group of peacekeepers called “Harpers”. Now disillusioned and in need of support for his daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman), Edgin becomes a thief and teams with barbarian Holga Kilgore (Michelle Rodriguez), mage Simon Aumar (Justice Smith) and rogue Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant) to liberate the wealthy from their fortunes.

During an escapade planned by mysterious Red Wizard Sofina (Daisy Head), Edgin and Holga end up captured and imprisoned. When they escape two years later, they find Forge now the leader of a location called Neverwinter – and the guardian of Kira.

Forge lies to Kira about her father’s actions, so Edgin sets out to prove his innocence and worth. This endeavor leads him, Holga and others on adventures.

Though one shouldn’t take the first half of the movie’s title too literally. While Edgin’s tale does involve honor among thieves, the flick skimps on dungeons and only occasionally deals with dragons.

Not that this really matters in the broader scheme of things. Honor plays as a romp with general nods toward the D&D franchise.

Honor represents the third effort from co-directors Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley. They debuted with 2015’s largely lousy reboot/sequel Vacation and then returned with the mostly solid 2018 flick Game Night.

Given that track record, it comes as a relief that Honor works pretty well. That said, I consider the film to offer an effort both better than and worse than expectations.

This depends on the “stage of expectations”. Due to the franchise’s problematic history, I think a lot of us anticipated another lackluster to poor take on the property.

Admittedly, I don’t think the 2000 D&D was as horrible as many fans apparently believe. Nonetheless, I couldn’t call the movie good, and combined with two cheap direct-to-video sequels, I found little reason for optimism that a new flick based on the game would deliver a positive experience.

As such, Honor clearly exceeds those initial expectations. However, the film came with entertaining trailers and positive reviews, which meant I anticipated a really fine film when I saw it.

Which is where the “worse than expectations” comes into the equation. While the flick fares better than I initially feared, I don’t think it loves up to the praise it earned.

On the negative side, Honor delivers a mess of a story. Granted, it wants to emulate the adventures found in the game, and that means an episodic tale.

This makes sense in the context of the source, but it doesn’t necessarily work in cinematic terms. Honor flits about too much to offer a consistent, tight tale.

Honor also struggles to explore its characters’ tales in a satisfying manner. While Edgin remains our focus, the movie takes time to get into the backstories/issues related to many supporting roles as well.

These tend to make the film seem overstuffed. Honor doesn’t blend all the “origins” especially well, and it can get bogged down in those elements.

Nonetheless, Honor manages a breezy tone that allows it to pass effortlessly. The movie walks a fine line between “too comedic” and “just comedic enough”, one that leans toward the latter.

At times, Honor can come across as a little too snarky for its own good. Still, most of the humorous material satisfies and ensures that we don’t get stuck in an overly somber sword and sorcery piece.

The actors all flesh out their roles well. Pine essentially plays Edgin as a variation on his Captain Kirk from Star Trek, but this suits his talents.

Grant does the Hugh Grant Thing. He may not stretch his skills, but no one plays Hugh Grant better than Hugh Grant, so he amuses.

Rodriguez gets stuck as the straight person, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t generate laughs as well, mainly because she portrays Holga in such a blunt manner. She also brings us the movie’s most shocking scene when a Major Movie Star pops up in a small part as her former husband.

At no point does Honor turn into a great movie, but it delivers a reasonably likable and entertaining fantasy. It’s too bad its lack of box office means we probably won’t get a sequel.

Footnote: a brief tag appears about two minutes into the end credits.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. The Dolby Vision presentation worked well.

Sharpness consistently pleased. The movie always felt distinctive and tight, without any issues connected to a lack of definition.

The image lacked jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also remained absent.

Unsurprisingly, the film’s palette favored a moderate orange/amber and teal hint, though many segments favored a light “forest green” feel to suit the outdoor settings. The disc replicated the colors as intended, and the 4K’s HDR added range and impact to the tones.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, and shadows seemed smooth and clear. The HDR contributed power to whites and contrast. This became a satisfying reproduction of the image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos audio added dimensionality to the story. With many action scenes, the mix used the various channels to create a lively, vivid soundscape.

This meant various creatures zipped around the room in a smooth, convincing manner, while other aspects of battles and mayhem brought out well-placed material that blended together in a nicely integrated way. The soundfield meshed together to deliver a well-rounded impression.

Audio quality also impressed, with speech that seemed natural and concise. Music appeared vivid and full, with dynamic tones.

Effects fared best of all, as those elements seemed accurate and tight, with crisp highs and deep lows. As I expect from a movie of this sort, the soundtrack excelled.

Six featurettes appear, and From Dice to Dragons goes for 11 minutes, 15 seconds. It provides notes from directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, writer Michael Gilio, producer Jeremy Latcham, visual effects supervisor Ben Snow, and actors Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Regé-Jean Page, and Hugh Grant.

“Dice” looks at the source game and its adaptation to the movie screen, the film’s tone, effects and fantasy concepts. It comes with a mix of pretty useful details.

Rogues’ Gallery runs 11 minutes, 24 seconds. It includes comments from Goldstein, Daley, Page, Pine, Rodriguez, Smith, Latcham, Lillis, Grant, and actor Daisy Head.

Here we examine characters, actors and performances. A few insights emerge but much of this feels fluffy.

Next comes Fantastic Foes, a seven-minute, three-second piece. It features info from Pine, Daley, Goldstein, Head, Rodriguez, Grant, Page, and actor Chloe Coleman.

This one indulges in more about cast/characters/work, with an emphasis on the bad guys. It also mixes worthwhile material with happy talk.

The Bestiary fills nine minutes, 21 seconds. It involves Rodriguez, Daley, Goldstein, Latcham, Grant, Pine, Lillis, Smith, Page, Legacy Effects’ Shane Mahan and puppeteer Lon Muckey.

Unsurprisingly, “Bestiary” looks at the movie’s creatures and various effects used to bring them to life. Expect a reasonable overview.

After this we locate Forging the Forgotten Realms . It lasts eight minutes, seven seconds and delivers remarks from Goldstein, Page, Smith, Daley, Latcham, Pine, Lillis, production designer Ray Chan and location manager Naomi Liston.

“Realms” examines sets, locations and production design. Despite a lot of happy talk, “Realms” nonetheless comes with some useful thoughts about the topics.

Finally, Broadswords, Battleaxes & Badass Brawls goes for eight minutes, 40 seconds. Here we find notes from Goldstein, Daley, Rodriguez, Lillis, Pine, Smith, Page, Latcham, stunt coordinator Diyan Hristov, weapons master Tommy Dunne, and stunt choreographers Georgi Manchev and Troy Milenov.

This one views stunts and action. Expect another mix of facts and fluff.

A Gag Reel goes for six minutes, 51 seconds and mostly shows the usual goofs and giggles, with a lot of the latter based on Michelle Rodriguez’s snort. We do find a good number of alternate/improv lines – generally from Chris Pine – and those add value.

The disc concludes with one Deleted Scene (1:09) as well as five Extended Scenes (9:26). Called “Harassing Holga”, the lone deleted scene alludes to aspects of Holga’s past and adds a little depth.

As for the extended clips, we get some extra exposition and a little more comedy. Nothing here seems crucial, but the scenes offer some interesting segments. At six minutes, 15 seconds, “Corpse 6” – in which an undead character discusses books – goes on waaaay past the point of amusement, though.

Though not a great mix of adventure and comedy, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves proves reasonably entertaining. It maintains a light and frisky tone that largely overcome its messy story. The 4K UHD offers terrific picture and audio along with a fairly decent set of supplements. While the film fails to excel, it becomes likable and fun most of the time.