a mess ™

Still in awe of how well the D&D movie mimicked the feeling of D&D without doing anything as tediously literal as a "sitting around the table" framing device. The way some characters have names that sound like names a DM improvised on the spot, the sudden appearance and disappearance of a overpowered DM NPC for a single dungeon, the way they used the fact that characters can plausibly just mess up for no clear reason to escalate action scenes...that was cinema

Also the tragic backstories that clash noticeably with the goofy tone of the actual movie and are related in full at inopportune moments. And the fact that the DMPC is the only one with a backstory even SLIGHTLY connected to the main plot. Plus the fact that every character is a subtle representation of a DND player trope - Edgin is an extensive roleplayer who barely even uses his bard abilities and just talks his way out of every situation he finds, Holga is a wargamer who's just here to kick monster ass and barely talks about her character (to the point that her tragic backstory comes completely out of nowhere as though the DM shoved it in), Simon is a newbie who doesn't really know how the game works and has picked the most complicated class there is to start off with, and Doric is a rule-of-cool action hero who thinks the limitations on wild shape are Dumb and Stupid and the DM begrudgingly indulges her because what she does is in fairness much cooler.