Dragonkeeper review – kids’ animation in which a girl must save China’s last fire breathers

Bill Nighy’s distinctive, rather wonderful, Bill Nighy-ness is perfect in so many roles, especially those requiring an expensive lounge suit and a roguish arch of the eyebrow. But he’s a less comfortable fit for the part of a dragon in this animation adapted from a children’s fantasy novel by Carole Wilkinson. It is the tale of a plucky young servant girl in ancient China whose destiny is to save dragonkind from extinction, in an action-packed kids’ movie with plenty of PG-rated bashing and a real spirit of adventure. The letdown is some fairly average animation, and human characters that move like cheap marionettes with jolty limbs.

Ping (voiced by Mayalinee Griffiths) is an orphan who has grown up in a house where China’s last two dragons are kept locked up in a dungeon. There’s a lovely moment when Ping meets the pair: “Have I seen you in my dreams?” she wonders. As it turns out, Ping has magical powers. But her new friends are under threat from the ailing emperor; his life is in the balance and only dragon blood can save him. So the emperor dispatches sinister dragon catcher Diao (Anthony Howell) to bring him the ageing dragons (Nighy and Beth Chalmers).

The movie zips along, with slightly convoluted plotting that involves a dragon egg (no fertility windows for these guys). It’s Ping who is tasked with getting the egg to safety, dodging imperial soldiers and dragon hunter Diao. On paper Diao looks like a cracking villain, with his killer spiders and deadly potions. But he stays firmly on paper, oddly bland and a bit dull, like most of the characters here – even Nighy, with his less than bloodcurdling roar.

• Dragonkeeper is in UK cinemas from 27 September, and Australian cinemas from 16 January