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Cast: Julian Sands, Robin Dunne, Erica Durance, Katharine Isabelle, David Richmond Peck
The classic Robin Hood myth gets a supernatural twist when the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham terrorizes Robin (Robin Dunne) and his band of men with a powerful winged beast, which transforms nightly into the beautiful Alina. It's up to Robin and company to cure Alina of the dangerous curse while protecting his beloved Maid Marian.
Beyond Sherwood Forest is set during the year 1174 in England as King Richard is away fighting the Crusade, his brother Prince John has been left in charge. In order to further international diplomatic relations with Norway the beautiful young Maid Marian is being forced to marry a Prince but not liking the idea Marian runs off into Sherwood Forest where legendary thief Robin Hood lives with his men. Prince John is not happy with what is happening and orders Malcolm the Sheriff of Nottingham to find and hang Hood in a public display of power, Malcolm uses a cursed girl who can change into a fire breathing Dragon to find Hood. Robin Hood journeys to the Dark Woods to find a cure for the girl and hopefully stop her from turning into a Dragon while trying to protect his friends and Maid Marian. As you can tell this is not your normal Robin Hood tale since there wasn't ever any supernatural things going on in any of his other films but I give them credit here for making something a bit different. Special effects are nothing new for the SyFy Channel who make many films that contain average to below average effects in them but here at least some of them are pretty good including the dragon which I thought was very cool. You certainly have to know by now what you are getting from a film that is a SyFy Channel original, some of their films are really bad while others are decent and make for some good popcorn fun. I think this one fell in the latter, I liked the action and most of the effects but I felt it was the cast that made this one better than it might of been otherwise. Robin Dunne maybe wasn't a perfect choice to play Robin Hood but over-all he did a decent enough job. The two actors that I felt made the film better were Erica Durance as Maid Marian, She might not be the most talented actress but she just seems to keep getting more beautiful each time you see her. Also Julian Sands was his terrific self as the Sheriff of Nottingham. If you are looking for a traditional tale of Robin Hood look elsewhere but if you just want to watch something light and maybe a little different or just enjoy adventure/fantasy films like this one then I think you will find this to be entertaining enough like I did.
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
*** Out Of *****