As in the novel by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the movie's opening scenes see band of adventurers reuniting after several years spent searching for evidence that the gods of good have returned to the planet Krynn. The divine powers had abandoned the world centuries before after punishing humanity for the supreme arrogance of believing it could command the gods to do its bidding.

Led by the ranger Tanis Half-Elven (Rosenbaum), the adventurers are a familiar mix of fantasy stereotypes, with just the right amount of tweaking to make things unique. Tanis struggles with his elven and human halves. Raistlin (Sutherland) is a powerful mage physically crippled by the arcane test that gave him his powers. His brother Caramon is typical dumb warrior, but one who's selflessly devoted to his sibling. Tasslehoff is a kender who looks like a slender hobbit with a kleptomaniac streak. Sturm Brightblade is the fine upstanding warrior who seeks to join a disgraced order of knights. And then there's the headstrong dwarf, Flint Fireforge, who's old, crotchety and inexplicably allergic to horses.

The heroes meet to discuss their failed searches in the Inn of the Last Home in their hometown of Solace, and as fate would have it, that's where they find the missing proof of the gods' return. They encounter the Plains tribeswoman Goldmoon (Lawless) and her guardian Riverwind, who have discovered a mystical staff capable of healing grievous wounds. After a barroom brawl that leaves one of the town's leaders badly burned, the staff heals the man. That leads to a near-lynching from a crowd that suspects witchcraft, and draws the attention of the town guard: unsavory goblins who've recently occupied the town.

The rest of the movie sees the heroes searching for more evidence of the gods' return. They are opposed in this quest by the agents of the evil dragon goddess Takhisis and her cleric-commander Verminaard, who sends dragons and their human/dragon hybrid offspring, known as draconians, to stop them.

Not the dragons you were looking for

The Dragonlance Chronicles have always been a poor man's Lord of the Rings. The original novel trilogy, plus its myriad sequels and spinoffs, have marched to the New York Times best-seller lists many times, but they've never garnered the quite the same respect as Tolkien's work. Fans have long speculated about a possible Dragonlance film, and with the success of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies, it seemed inevitable that Dragonlance would get a turn on the silver screen.

Alas, fans will have to settle for the small screen, as Dragons of Autumn Twilight was released directly to DVD. While the stigma of releasing first-run projects on DVD has lessened over the years, as witnessed by new Futurama movies, it's obvious why this movie never saw a cinematic release: It simply can't compare to big-budget fantasy movies like Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia or The Golden Compass.

The movie has the potential star power it needs, including the strong-voiced Lawless (as Goldmoon); Sutherland as the understated, scheming Raistlin; and Rosenbaum, who puts aside Smallville's Lex Luthor's persona to play the heroic Tanis. It also has a sweeping epic story that's resonated with millions. What it doesn't have is the spectacular animation and well-written script that it needs to truly succeed.

The movie uses a strange mix of traditional animation and CGI that sees the characters created using hand-drawn techniques, while the dragons, draconians, sky backgrounds and fire effect are generated by computers. The end result is jarring as three-dimensional draconians duel their mundane counterparts, making the latter seem like half-completed stand-ins waiting for their turn to be rendered. The traditional animation is functional but hardly awe-inspiring, with plenty of awkward framing and choppy transitions in fight scenes.

Fans of the novels will find much familiar here, as the script touches on the book's iconic scenes: the flight from the Inn of the Last Home, the exploration of the lost city of Xak Tsaroth, the climatic battle to liberate slaves from the Dragon Lord stronghold of Pax Tharkas. They'll also find many of the books' adult themes: The scouring of Goldmoon and Riverwind's village, the rape of Tanis' elven mother by a human soldier—remain intact.

Unfortunately, the animation just isn't able to keep up with the demands of the story. Fans of the Dragonlance Chronicles may want to pick up the DVD to finally see their favorite series in a cinematic form, but ultimately the movie can't step out of the shadow of its novel progenitors.