Reign of Fire (2002)

  I love this movie.  Not a lot of people did (except for Christy...and Rob, but that's why I keep them around).  I have no idea why not.  The special effects are good, the dragons look great, the idea is no more stupid than any other movie, and the actors are top-notch.  I guess not a lot of people grew up dreaming of dragons like I did.

As a young boy, Quinn (Christian Bale) visits his mother's work site on a London Underground expansion when the workers accidentally awaken a leftover from a bygone age:  a dragon.  Soon the world is plunged into fire.  Humanity retreats to castles.  Now an adult, Quinn is the leader of one of these bastions of safety, struggling to keep his people's hopes up.  Then a team of American dragon-hunters shows up, led by the not-quite-above-board Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey).  They're looking for the Bull, the only male dragon, which they have tracked to London.

It wasn't Oscar bait, that's for damn sure, but it's a solidly fun movie and one that I personally can watch over and over.

Plus, it makes me excited because every time I see it I'm reminded that there's a Dragonriders of Pern movie in development (2013!) and that makes me super-happy.  (Update on 3/20/13:  Dragonriders is still in development with no forward motion at this time.)