''Dragonworld'' is a 1994 American

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy wa ...

family fantasy film directed by Ted Nicolaou. It is the third film to be released by Moonbeam Entertainment, the family video division of Full Moon Entertainment.

Plot

Set in modern times, a young five-year-old boy named Johnny McGowan travels to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

to live at his grandfather's castle after he loses both his parents in a traffic collision. At the magical wish tree on his grandfather's estate, he conjures up a friend, which is an infant dragon whom he nicknames "Yowler". They grow up together as 15 years go by. In that time, his grandfather passes away and Yowler has grown to full size. One day after the years go by, documentary filmmaker Bob Armstrong, his daughter Beth, and his pilot Brownie McGee stumble upon Yowler. Eager for fame and money, Bob convinces John to "rent" Yowler to local corrupt businessperson, Lester McIntyre. John, who is coerced in part by the offer to have the mounting taxes on the castle paid off, allows Lester to take Yowler in. He does so also partly because of his growing interest in Beth. Yowler is miserable and harassed in the new amusement park built for him, and when it becomes clear that McIntyre has duped them in order to exploit the dragon, John and his new friends take action.

Cast

* Sam Mackenzie as Johnny McGowan **

Courtland Mead Courtland Robert Mead (born April 19, 1987) is an American actor, noted for his performances on-screen during the 1990s. Early life Mead was born in Mission Viejo, California, the son of Denise and Robert Mead. He has two sisters, Lauren and ...

as Young Johnny McGowan *

Richard Trask Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

as Yowler the Dragon * Janet Henfrey as Miss Twittingham *

Brittney Powell Brittney Powell (born March 4, 1972) is a German-American actress. She has starred in '' Safety Geeks: SVI'' and has represented the show at Comic-Con in San Diego, California during 2009 and modeled for the Safety Geeks' 2010, 2011, and 2012 Sa ...

as Beth Armstrong *

John Calvin John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...

as Bob Armstrong * John Woodvine as Lester MacIntyre *

Jim Dunk Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

as Brownie McGee * Lila Kaye as Mrs. Cosgrove *

Andrew Keir Andrew Keir (né Buggy, 3 April 19265 October 1997) was a Scottish actor who appeared in a number of films made by Hammer Film Productions in the 1960s. He was also active in television, and especially in the theatre, in a professional career t ...

as Angus McGowan

Soundtrack

Filming locations

Haddon Hall Haddon Hall is an English country house on the River Wye near Bakewell, Derbyshire, a former seat of the Dukes of Rutland. It is the home of Lord Edward Manners (brother of the incumbent Duke) and his family. In form a medieval manor house, ...

and Manorbier Castle were used as locations during filming.

Llangollen Llangollen () is a town and community, situated on the River Dee, in Denbighshire, Wales. Its riverside location forms the edge of the Berwyn range, and the Dee Valley section of the Clwydian Range and Dee Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Bea ...

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

was used as the

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

station where the youngster first meets his grandfather.

Home media

The film was released directly to

videocassette Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog or digital signal. Videotape is used in both video tape recorders (VTRs) and, more commonly, videocassett ...

and LaserDisc in 1994 by

Paramount Home Video Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

. It was re-issued on VHS in 1996, under the Paramount Family Favorites label. The film has been seen on DVD releases in Australia and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. A North American Blu-ray release from

Full Moon Features Full Moon Features is an American motion picture production and distribution company headed by B-movie veteran Charles Band. It is known for the direct-to-video series '' Puppet Master'', ''Trancers'', and ''Subspecies'', as well as the film ''C ...

is scheduled for February 8, 2022.

Sequel

A sequel to the film, '' Dragonworld: The Legend Continues'', was released directly to video in 1999, although filmed in 1996. The film bears little relation to the first film and has received mainly negative reviews from critics.

References

External links

* * *
Detailed info on Dragonworld
(including plot detail)

{{Full Moon Features 1994 films Films about dragons Films using stop-motion animation American fantasy films English-language Scottish films English-language Romanian films Scottish films British fantasy films Romanian fantasy films Films directed by Ted Nicolaou Films scored by Richard Band Films shot in Scotland Films set in Scotland Films about orphans Paramount Pictures direct-to-video films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films 1990s British films