| "Three times Randolph Carter dreamed of the marvelous city, and three times was he snatched away while still he paused on the high terrace above it."
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So begins The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, H.P. Lovecraft's landmark fantasy novella, and so begins the narration of its lovingly faithful animated adaptation – the subject of this review.
Dream-Quest, a tale of ethereal wonder rather than of the nihilistic cosmic horror for which Lovecraft is best known, relates Carter's epic journey through the Dreamlands – a fantastic quasi-medieval realm accessible through mortal dreams – in search of the forbidden city of Kadath, there to plead with the Gods of Dream for access to his own lost city. The quest takes him across the length and breadth of the Dreamlands, over land, sea, and even to the Dreamlands moon. Along the way, he makes a surreal menagerie of friends and enemies, including zoogs, cats, ghouls, gugs, ghasts, nightgaunts, dholes, and even Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos.
The story is as much required reading for Call of Cthulhu GMs running a Dreamlands campaign as is the game's eponymous story for running Lovecraftian horror. Thanks to its the faithfulness to the book – in stark contrast to pretty much every other Lovecraft film I've seen, I might add – this movie can serve the same purpose for the time-pressed GM. (The story itself seems like a solo roleplaying adventure at times, with the protagonist's path looping back on itself in a decidedly dungeon-y manner, and with the "magic items" he discovers along the way seeing use with mixed results.)
Of course, those already familiar with the story may simply let the movie's imagery inspire them. And inspirational it certainly is. Don't go into it expecting to be blown away by the animation, which consists mostly of black-and-white static figures moving across black-and-white static landscapes with psychedelic color starfields in the background. The art, however, is superb. Based upon the comic book adaptation by Jason Thompson, it captures every ounce of the Dreamlands' mind-blowing baroque wonder. Ironically, the weakest art is the image of Carter himself, who appears as a cartoonish, noseless, large-eyed figure with an eggish head and ropey limbs. (At least, he so appears in the Dreamlands. In the brief glimpses of his Waking World self, Carter is the spitting image of his creator, H.P. Lovecraft.) I can only guess that this was done to help Carter stand out against the milling crowds and detailed structures inherent in the setting.
What the voice acting lacks in polish, it makes up for with its own quirky charm. I realized about halfway through that it sounds for all the world like a gaming group that's really in the groove. (That may sound like a backhanded complement, but as with the animation, that's only as compared to larger-budget productions.) Toren Atkinson, lead singer of the Lovecraftian rock band Darkest of the Hillside Thickets and author of the roleplaying game Spaceship Zero, does the voice work for Randolph Carter. His interpretation lacks the sort of contemplative air I'd imagined, but the boyish enthusiasm he brings to the character seems almost as appropriate for a master dreamer.
And speaking of appropriate, the lush, mesmerizing soundtrack by Cyoakha Grace O’Manion of the band Land of the Blind perfectly complements Thompson's remarkable dreamscapes. Even when the primitive animation was at its most stilted, the music swept me along through the story.
(One last note: as faithful as it is, the movie still manages to work in a few Easter eggs. Watch for stealthy nods to John Carter of Mars and The Little Prince. Unless, of course, I just imagined them...)
Dream-Quest definitely isn't a movie for everyone. I doubt someone with no prior Lovecraft experience would have the patience to sit through it, for one thing. But fans willing to accept the production values for what they are will be in for a rare treat: a Lovecraft movie truly lovingly crafted by a crew who clearly respect and adore the source material.
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