Cinema has always struggled with making realistic dragons. Personally I found the Eragon dragon to be a shock when I saw feathered instead of leather wings. It just was not... threatening. More like a giant bird.
An impressive attempt was made in the movie Dragonheart. Sean Connery voiced the dragon in an effective manner. However the movie was filled with a lot of humor as well that took some of that dragon threat away... And a later attempt to create a sequel made the dragon animation feel and look like a video game.
In the Hobbit the standard is finally raised. Smaug was crafted to perfection! This movie really was fantastic and the dragon is what made it so. Not only were the special effects believable, but the characterization of the dragon was spot-on. Smaug is the epitome of a greedy, spiteful creature whose pride (amazingly) manages to fill the screen more than his tremendous length.
Let's hope this will open the door for other fantasy films on the level of The Desolation of Smaug where the dragons are true monsters with intelligent minds!
