How to Train Your Dragon

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

I'm not easily impressed by animated films for children, but this is one of the best I've seen yet.  It takes place in the world of Vikings whose primary occupation is, naturally, to slay dragons.  This could have been a typical hokey cartoon type of a film, but it's actually rather captivating.  It focuses on the son of what seems to be the leader of the village.  His name is Hiccup and since his father is the leader, he is expected to follow in his footsteps and possess the same natural dragon-slaying abilities.  Fitting to his name, Hiccup is rather weak and quite a letdown to the community.  Yet he's determined to slay a dragon and impress his father.  Soon enough, that opportunity comes and Hiccup finds himself incapable of harming the beast, even though the dragon could easily harm him.  This is where the movie really takes off.
Even without the dragon being able to speak (an option that some animated films would have used), the boy and the dragon begin to form a tight bond and understanding of each other.  Once Hiccup realizes that the dragons are only killing in self-defense, he must convince the others that peace can be made among the two species.  Hiccup is voiced by Jay Baruchel who brings his own natural charm to the role.  He's a young actor that usually plays the role of a geek but always comes across cooler than he should since he's very charismatic.  Late night tv host Craig Ferguson is also a perfect fit for Hiccup's trainer and Gerard Butler brings his 300 machismo to the role of the father appropriately named Stoick.
The film has a lot of action to keep both children and adults thoroughly entertained.  There are some soft spot moments as well between Hiccup and the girl he admires along with his quest to gain the respect of his own dad.  This movie was better than I thought it would be and I recommend it for anyone who wants a nice family film mixed with some cool dragons.

Recommendations: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en , 25th Hour

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-philadelphia/danny-porcaro

A Heart-warming Tale of Dragons & Vikings

At long last! I managed to catch this one this afternoon at 3.55pm with my brother & his girfriend and the verdict? It's GOOD! It's definitely one of the better movies I've watched in awhile. After 2 duds in "The Wolfman" and "Clash of the Titans", I'm glad I that I made time for this one.

It's got great characters, great 3D animation and the story-telling's way better in this DreamWorks flick compared to the above-mentioned movies. I really liked Hiccup who is the protagonist in this heart-warming tale of a boy who befriends a dragon and in the process discovers more about them. Gerard Butler does a great job too as Stoick, Hiccup's dad.

Dragons in general aren't adorable but the animators did a bang-up job making "Toothless" the dragon a very likeable creature. He may look mean and serpent-like but you've gotta watch it for yourself to understand what I mean.

My only regret is that we couldn't get tickets for the 3D version of the movie. It definitely looks like it'd be a great watch in 3D.

I give this one a solid 5 out of 5.

Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)

For other reviews and more visit my blog at http://wengyuen.wordpress.com

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How To Train Your Dragon

Every time a new animated movie comes out you can count on two things.  A media blitz and cross promotion.  Ok so those are basically the same, but that’s all I can think about when the industry churns these cash cows out.  How to Train Your Dragon doesn’t change any of that.
How to Train Your Dragon takes place in a fairy tale land where a big green giant is an outcast…wait that’s Shrek.  This film starring the voice of Bill Hader follows a young boy who’s an outcast on his island because he’s different…no.  That was Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.  Just let me get the right notes out.
Ok, got it.  How to Train Your Dragon stars the voice of Jay Baruchel as the lackluster Viking Hiccup.  Everyone on his island is training to help quell the Dragon pest problem that plagues their town.  I guess you could say he’s been cast out of his society…
His father, Stoick (Gerard Butler), would like nothing else than for him to just stay out of the way.  However, Hiccups mentor and babysitter Gobber (Craig Ferguson), suggests that he be thrown into Dragon killing training to shape him up.  The only problem is that Hiccup has befriended the enemy.  Not just any enemy either.  It’s the most dangerous Dragon known only as the Night Fury.
The best part is that these writers get paid a boatload of money to do what most of us are trained to do in high school.  Look at other people’s papers.  I’m pretty sure they lifted a few lines from Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs when Flint’s dad said he was proud of him.  I was half expecting a giant pancake to fall from the sky during the scene.
Sure it looks pretty good.  How many animated movies don’t look impressive these days?  (Planet 51).  And sure the cast is full of knowns.  Among Baruchel (She’s Out of My league) Butler (300) and Ferguson (The Late Show) there’s Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kristen Wiig.  I also liked the setting of the Viking world.
There’s just a feeling of ho-hum throughout the movie that’s hard to shake.   Even just writing about it I feel like there’s not much to talk about.  Every big moment is ruined by the “saw that coming” moment.  I have no doubt however that kids will love this one.  When I was a kid I watched the same movie about a hundred times, knowing what would happen each time, and would still be entertained.
All of my favorite parts of How to Train Your Dragon were where the dragons acted like dogs.  I’m a sucker for things like that and I bet you will be too.  

Recommendations: Shutter Island, District 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009), Morning Glory

Review: How to Train Your Dragon

Directed by Dean DuBlois and Chris Sanders
Starring the voices of Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrara, Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Written by Adam F. Goldberg, Peter Tolan, Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders
Story by Cressida Cowell
98 Minutes
Rated PG for sequences of intense action and some scary images, and brief mild language

Unlike some of DreamWorks' previous productions (but not all), How to Train Your Dragon soars. Even with a weak story, the stellar use of 3-D, mostly beautiful animation and slight humor make for an exciting, at times gripping and ultimately just plain fun "little" movie to enjoy. How to Train Your Dragon is a nice surprise.

Dragon is the story of Hiccup, a clever but rather gangly young Scandinavian, who must go through the dragon fighting program in order to become a full Viking in his town of Burk. However, Hiccup manages to track down the deadly Night Fury dragon and befriends it- naming his pet Toothless and threatening to demolish all of the traditional Viking aggression towards their winged counterparts in the process. Hiccup's story is about as cliche and predictable as they come. But, the strong central core of cookie cutter characters make up for most of the plot errors- and add a sense of depth that isn't always reached by such a simple story. The dynamics between Hiccup and his dad (also the tribe chief and the super-manly-but-disappointed-in-his-son guy), Stoick, are often funny and even reach the point of good old tuggin' at your heart. That is what makes How to Train Your Dragon such a great surprise- and really, it's a whole lotta fun (and in some scenes gripping) for the very same reason.

Even though Dreamworks could have had messy 3-D like Alice in Wonderland did, How to Train Your Dragon rivals the best of the three dimensional flicks around, and in a few cases, surpasses it. DreamWorks did not use 3-D perpetually like Avatar did, but when they did, it's the best use of the  technology that I have seen yet. During a flight sequence, a point of view shot shows trees dipping away beneath a girl's feet. It felt as if I were actually leaving the ground. The same goes for a dive that brushes  the top of the sea- I got a rush and urged Hiccup to pull up, because  that water was coming in fast. I'm not sure how DreamWorks did this, but it sure was cool. For the rest of Dragon, 3-D doesn't make much of an affect. The now standard uses of 3-D are standard for a reason. I mean, I'm not going to mention how great color is in every colored movie that I see since it's now the norm. So in some ways it is worth paying a few extra green backs for a pair of cheap glasses, but don't go too far out of your way to see this one in 3-D (because it's not necessary, although it makes dragon training just a bit more fun). But what really matters is that I won't have only one comparison for 3-D movies now. I'm been getting a little tired of having to mention James Cameron's Smurfapalooza so often.

Computer animation has come a long way since it's birth, and How to Train Your Dragon is sure evidence of this progress. The shots of northern Scandinavia are gorgeous and vivid. Grey rocks, wavy blue waters and plenty of trees dot the picturesque landscape. Even the moss is eye candy. Surprisingly, the most impressive aspect of How To Train Your Dragon's animation was the hair. It's remarkably realistic in looks and moves remarkably natural for something as mechanical as CGI. The dragons look slick too. And I just can't get over how funny the chubby winged lizards were. Overall, the art design here is clever and generated a few laughs, but in some ways a little bit shallow since its made for easy character interpretation by the little ones. However, like almost any computer animated movie, there seemed to be a slight lack of polish on some characters. Whether it was the lighting or just me being picky I'm not sure, though I can tell you that it annoyed me just a little. In it's entirety, How to Train Your Dragon's animation rivals the likes of Up and Wall-E.

Dragon is sprinkled with a sense of appropriately Scandinavian humor. Clever sarcasm and a boatload of light jokes take the cake.  Naturally, some gags are a bit too childish or lame- but those come around with a low enough frequency that they are somewhat difficult to notice. Much to my delight, a bathroom joke just had to be included. And surprisingly, a very quick male anatomy joke is "inserted" into the beginning a dragon fight (I'm surprised that it got past the typically anal MPAA). Altogether, most of the laughs come from Jay Baruchel, the voice of Hiccup, in his accordingly nasal voice. Baruchel does a good job of cracking jokes in his deadpan manner, but a few times his voice becomes an annoyance or just plain hard to take seriously.  The same can go for much of Gerard Butler's performance (as Stoick), who really can't be taken with any seriousness post-300.

All things considered, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon is a great movie for pure enjoyment. Armed with a few creative uses of 3-D, some striking visuals, funny funnies and an oddly deep story, DreamWorks has made an unexpectedly exciting adventure. Despite the childish facade, How to Train Your Dragon is a success. Start training, because you could be seeing Toothless in the sequel he's always dreamt of.

80%

*A note about seeing How to Train Your Dragon in 3-D: Since about 10% of domestic screens are able to support 3-D and way more than 10% of potential blockbusters are being released in 3-D, see this as soon as you can. Clash of the Titans (out this Friday) will likely take almost all of Alice in Wonderland's 3-D screens, and How to Train Your Dragon could very well be pushed out because of this (or vice versa, but something is going to disappear from theaters this weekend). So see it in 3-D if you can, soon, because it's worth it (for the most part).

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Last updated: 2010-04-11 11:58:01 by user01

How to Train Your Dragon (Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders, 2010)

THE SCOOP
Director: Dean DeBlois/Chris Sanders
Plot: A hapless young Viking who aspires to hunt dragons becomes the unlikely owner of a young dragon himself, and learns there may be more to the creatures than he assumed.

Genre: Animation/Family
Awards: -
Runtime: 98min
Rating: PG for sequences of intense action and some scary images, and brief mild language.

IN RETROSPECT

The perceived creative gap between America’s two animation giants – Pixar and DreamWorks – gets smaller with the release of How to Train Your Dragon. DreamWorks’ new animated film rides primarily on the wave of their previous triumph, Kung Fu Panda (2008), an engaging and hilarious tale of a fat, lazy panda destined for greatness. Here, an Oriental element is incorporated again – the dragon. The dragon is seen as an Eastern mythological symbol of power (or fear), one that is deeply rooted in (mostly) Chinese tradition more so than in Western culture.

John Powell’s original music (one of his best scores in his career) also has an Oriental feel that adds to the mysticism associated with such creatures. Interestingly, the idea that How to Train Your Dragon is set centuries ago during the era of the Vikings gives it a cross-cultural relevance. Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, 2002), this film is a showpiece event, a statement of intent by DreamWorks to prove to Pixar that they do not have a monopoly on making high-quality animated films with a heart.

An early contender for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, How to Train Your Dragon revamps formulaic material and tells its story with incredible energy. Hiccup is a timid but resourceful son of a Viking chief. Their village is always attacked by dragons that steal their food and damage their property. Hiccup’s father has sought to look for the dragons’ nest for years to wipe them out once and for all but is unsuccessful. In the tradition of the often told story of a weak, ostracized character rising to fulfill his destiny as the hero, How to Train Your Dragon offers some surprises as the film gives the average viewer more than what he would expect.

The heart of the story belongs to the well-developed relationship between Hiccup and his new friend Toothless (also known as Night Fury which is the most feared dragon in existence). This secret relationship also addresses pertinently an overarching moral theme – don’t fight fire with fire because you will inevitably get a bigger fire. Instead, communicating love and understanding will reap far more promising rewards. The need to “look at the bigger picture” is also highlighted in the final act where an intense sequence involving a massive battle between the Vikings and a gigantic dragon not only reveals the severity of the situation that the former find themselves in, but also provides a thrilling and climatic end to a very satisfying film.

SCORE: 8.5/10
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Recommendations: Toy Story 3 (Lee Unkrich, 2010), To Kill a Mockingbird (Robert Mulligan, 1962), The Visitor

Singapore's Most Prolific Film Blogger @ www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com

Last updated: 2010-04-09 07:56:38 by eternality_tan

How To Train Your Dragon

If you look at every ancient civilization, you'll find that they all have one thing in common. No, not slavery. Well, they do have that in common too, but all of them have dragons in their folklore. Large, reptilian beasts that breathe fire and generally cause trouble for everyone that isn't flame retardant. Dreamworks How To Train Your Dragon is a nice spin on the old tale.

Cut to quaint norse village, filled with houses made of wood and hay and generally looking very vikingish. This village juts out into the water on a peninsula and as the narrator explains, it snows most of the year, but generally is a nice place to live...if you exclude the dragons of course. Every so often the village is attacked by various species of nasty, toothy dragons looking to steal sheep and burn houses. Which is kind of ironic because thats always what I picture vikings doing when they go off to pillage and rape (the viking national pasttime). All the vikings in the village look like the characters from Ax-men, which I suppose fighting off dragons all the time might do to you.

They all look like big, burly loggers except for one: Hiccup (Jay Baruchel). He is scrawny as you can get with a viking diet (most likely modeled after the actor himself), and being the runt of the litter, he doesn't have the muscle strength to kill dragons. This is very disappointing for him because his dad, Stoic (Gerard Butler) kills dragons as easily as you or I eat a bag of chips. Hiccup, not being blessed with Schrawzenegger muscles, was blessed with brain power. To make up for his inability to swing an ax, Hiccup uses a catapult he invented to shoot down the most dangerous dragon of all: a night fury. When he finds the downed night fury, Hiccup finds he can't kill it and instead lets it go and nurses it back to health.

Dreamworks is no Pixar but every once in a while they get it right and How To Train Your Dragon is the right way to do things. I was absolutley captivated by Hiccups' dragon. Any recent comparison would be the bird from Up. He just charms your socks off. Throughout the whole movie, as Hiccup learns to ride the dragon (whose name is toothless), I kept thinking to myself, "I want one, I want one, pleeeeease dear God hook me up with a dragon." Toothless, although never speaking a word is the most important character in the movie by far, and provides the most fun.

How To Train Your Dragon can get pretty cheesy at points, but you can easily let it slide. I did, because in the end I truly felt for each of the characters. It is not an oscar winning movie, but it is a good, solid film, with endearing characters, fantastic animation, and a nice twist ending that keeps it out of sappy Disney territory.

Gosh, I want a secret dragon that lives in my woods that I can train and ride all day, it is like the ultimate kiddy dream.

3 out of 4 stars

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How to Train Your Dragon

Slim picking at the theater this  weekend.  I almost didn't go to see anything, but then I started to read  things about DreamWorks'  new offering.  Things like, it's darker than you'd think and you  shouldn't take small children.  With nothing else playing locally and  boredom setting in, that was enough to get me into a theater, and it was  an enjoyable enough afternoon.  
 
     Based on  children's books by Cressida  Cowell, "How to Train  Your Dragon" is about Hiccup, (yes, Hiccup, it is a kids story,) a  young Viking who isn't  exactly like his Viking brethren.  He's not strong, he's smart, and he lacks a lust for battle  and death, though he does try to fit in.  He also lives on an island  frequented by swarms of dragons.  Our young hero, through brains and  determination, manages to down and cripple a dragon, but he does not  have the heart to kill the beast.  Rather, he builds a prosthetic tail  fin for the dragon, which allows the dragon to fly again, so long as  Hiccup is riding and working the tail fin.  In the end, the village is  saved, the dragons become welcome, and everyone learns a lesson about not killing  stuff.  Oh, and there is some rather dark symmetry between Hiccup  and his dragon. 
 
     Yes, this is, at heart, a kids  movie, but it is not one that panders to children and throws in the  occasional double  entendre to keep parents awake.  The dragons aren't anthropomorphic  and they don't talk.  They are animals.  Some are more intelligent than  others, but they act like animals should.  The same goes for the  people.  Adults act as adults should and so do the younger characters.   The story is, generally, predictable, but there are some surprising, and  sometimes shocking, moments you won't see coming.  There are a few,  intense battle sequences, but despite talk of people and dragons dying,  you don't actual see any dead dragons or people, though some older Vikings do bear  the marks of past battles, including missing limbs.  That is where the  movie might not really be appropriate for younger children.  (That, and  the ending!)  The 3-D isn't bad or distracting, but it is also useless.   It's noticeable in some of the flying scenes, but that's about it. 
 
      I don't normally go for this type of movie, children's films or  anything about dragons, but "How to Train Your Dragon"  has a real human side to it.  The story was predictable, but it wasn't  boring and was just different enough to keep me interested through to  the final, climactic, battle scene and it's dark, yet feel good  epilogue.  There's no reason to rush out and see it in theaters, but,  with what's in theaters now, you could do worse. 
 
 

Brian
Ciné Critique Américain

Last updated: 2010-04-05 08:33:12 by BrianSmith

How to Train Your Dragon - ****

Review:  Wow.  This movie was awesome, I was totally blown away.  Now that I am done with my one-liner movie review superlative, I will tell you why I thought the movie was so good.

First of all, the quality of the animation and the 3-D is about some of the best I have ever seen.  The character designs and the animation were just awesome.  Not only has Pixar had a monopoly on quality animated movies/storylines but they have monopolized the most quality animation around as well.  This movie may have tipped the scales a little bit away from Pixar now, which I did not think would ever happen.

The movie centers around Hiccup who is a Viking in the village Burke.  Hiccup is an apprentice at the blacksmith's shop where he helps forge weapons the other vikings use to kill dragons.  Hiccup is much too weak and clumsy to kill dragons like vikings are supposed to do.  This disappoints Hiccup's father greatly (who is the village chieftain and supreme dragon killer).  It is Hiccup's mission to win the respect of his father and become a village celebrity by bringing down the biggest, baddest, scariest dragon nobody has ever even seen, the Night Fury.

One night, while under attack from the dragons, Hiccup sneaks away and shoots down a Night Fury with a net.  He emplores to his father and the village he shot down this dragon but nobody believes him. The next day he sneaks off to where he saw the dragon land and finds it captured and wounded.  This is Hiccup's chance, the Night Fury that nobody has seen is sitting there ready to be killed by Hiccup.  Only Hiccup can't do it so he cuts the Night Fury free.

Hiccup later returns to find the dragon still there as it is injured and can't fly away.  Hiccup decides to feed the dragon and eventually becomes friends with it.  Hiccup devises a way to repair the dragons injured tail and learns how to fly. 

This is where the movie really starts to take off.  Through his learning how to fly Hiccup and the dragon (who Hiccup named Toothless) become great friends.  The flying scenes during these sequences are nothing short of amazing, especially in 3-D.  You have seen on the commercials some critic praising these scenes as "giving Avatar a run for it's money."  I dismissed this as just usual critical prose, but after seeing these scenes I realized it wasn't.  These scenes are better than the flying scenes from Avatar. 

The joy that you get from watching these scenes goes hand in hand with the joy the characters are experiencing.  This is what the movie does best, it is able to capture the joy the characters are feeling and display it perfectly to the audience. 

The heart and soul of this movie lies in the character Hiccup.  Desperately seeking the approval of his father and wanting to fit in in his village, Hiccup will do whatever it takes.  However, he meets a creature that changes his life and changes everything he thought he knew about dragons.  He uses this to attempt to change his villages thoughts on dragons so that he can keep his pet and his new best friend.  This is of course a very difficult task as vikings no nothing more of dragons than that they take their food.

Through his ability to become friends with and understand Toothless and the dragons, Hiccup is able to change his village's understanding as well and in effect "change the world."  In the process he is able to win the love of Astrid (which is actually and effectively done love story in the context of the movie), and become somewhat of a celebrity along with winning the respect of his father.  The supporting characters all get pretty well developed as characters and are not just cardboard pieces used to propel the story.  Hiccup's dad constantly struggles with how to deal with his son who is different, Astrid struggles with losing to Hiccup even though she is seemingly more talented in every way (and her developing feelings for Hiccup), and Grogger is the wise sage around to provide advice and help the main characters, but which is done in a relevant way. 

All in all, this was an extremely enjoyable movie and I would say it's definitely worth your time.

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Last updated: 2010-04-05 08:10:11 by ReeltimeReport

”How To Train Your Dragon”-3D and Endless Merchandising

It’s not that I have any problem with merchandising a movie.  I’ve long ago become accustomed to such as little toys associated with a movie being included as part of McDonald’s Happy Meals.  In fact, I offer it as a point of excitement as I always take granddaughter to a nearby play McDonalds after we go to the movies and before I place the order I drum up Kaitlyn’s excitement by the promise of a toy in her meal that applies to the movie we’d just seen.
 
Indeed it was the same this past weekend when we’d both seen the movie “How To Train Your Dragon” and indeed included in Kaitlyn’s Happy Meal was a little figurine of lead character Hiccup’s obligatory love interest, Astrid, riding one of the movie’s many…well dragons.
 
It’s just that this movie is merchandised bejeesus to the point of complete distraction.  Vikings and dragons can be purchased in abundance at Walmart or other retailers near you.  There’s the McDonalds connection, ever present.  We’ve got Vikings and dragons everywhere and Lord knows when it will all fade away.  When Pixar has another movie to merchandise or when dragon rides are finally installed in Disney World no doubt.
 
<a href="http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/">Movie Web Site here</a>
 
“How To Train Your Dragon” is the stuff of movie formulas for kids ranging from age 5 thru early teens.  First you must have a lovable but pathetic sort of main character that early on must prove something to himself if not the entire world.  Second this character must have some sort of love interest, but keep it clean, just a crush sort of thing, perhaps a chaste kiss at the end.  Third, there must be some adventure that kids will like with their budding imaginations and what better to meet this criteria than dragons?  Every little kid imagines dragons all about, under the bed, perhaps right outside the window.
 
If I sound jaded please indulge.  This was a very enjoyable movie, it had a splendid, if somewhat convoluted story, you had the Vikings all involved and these fellows made great 3D images alongside the fire-breathing dragons.
 
It’s just that with granddaughter I’ve been to many of these sorts of movies and so far the winner is “UP” but that’s just me.
 
I’d give this movie an A- if not a solid A for the storyline, adventure, graphics and the 3D is always a great way to watch a movie.  Granddaughter adores 3D movies.
 
But let’s not kid ourselves that this movie is cinema of a mighty intellectual caliber.  Still, movie genres, even the formulaic, can be done badly but “How To Train Your Dragon” was done wonderfully.
 
A few nitpicks:  The main dragon character, intriguingly named “Toothless”, really didn’t look all that scary.  In fact, he looked like a pet dog.  This sort of dragon was characterized in the movie as the most vicious kind of all but those big puppy-dragon eyes and humorous name was a bit incongruous with this depiction.
 
In addition, the plot line about the dragons’ lair and why they had to raid the Vikings’ livestock was very unclear to me.  There was a big bogeyman dragon but the relationship of that dragon to the other dragons was a bit fuzzy.  Was it the Queen of all dragons or was it the slaveholder of all the dragons?
 
Not that 6-year-old granddaughter questioned any of this and she fell in love with Toothless, something I suspect the animators intended.
 
Thus to those readers with kids do not fear that the vague storylines will distract from the young human’s enjoyment of the film one bit.

How to Train Your Dragon

   Even though Dreamworks could have had messy 3-D like Alice in Wonderland did, How to Train Your Dragon rivals the best of the three dimensional flicks around, and in a few cases, surpasses it. DreamWorks did not use 3-D perpetually like Avatar did, but when they did, it's the best use of the technology that I have seen yet. During a flight sequence, a point of view shot shows trees dipping away beneath a girl's feet. It felt as if I were actually leaving the ground. The same goes for a dive that brushes the top of the sea- I got a rush and urged Hiccup to pull up, because that water was coming in fast. I'm not sure how DreamWorks did this, but it sure was cool. For the rest of Dragon, 3-D doesn't make much of an affect. The now standard uses of 3-D are standard for a reason. I mean, I'm not going to mention how great color is in every colored movie that I see since it's now the norm. So in some ways it is worth paying a few extra green backs for a pair of cheap glasses, but don't go too far out of your way to see this one in 3-D (because it's not necessary, although it makes dragon training just a bit more fun). But what really matters is that I won't have only one comparison for 3-D movies now. I'm been getting a little tired of having to mention James Cameron's Smurfapalooza so often.

/</gidiv style="clear: both; text-align: center;"/>/gi   Computer animation has come a long way since it's birth, and How to Train Your Dragon is sure evidence of this progress. The shots of northern Scandinavia are gorgeous and vivid. Grey rocks, wavy blue waters and plenty of trees dot the picturesque landscape. Even the moss is eye candy. Surprisingly, the most impressive aspect of How To Train Your Dragon's animation was the hair. It's remarkably realistic in looks and moves remarkably natural for something as mechanical as CGI. The dragons look slick too. And I just can't get over how funny the chubby winged lizards were. Overall, the art design here is clever and generated a few laughs, but in some ways a little bit shallow since its made for easy character interpretation by the little ones. However, like almost any computer animated movie, there seemed to be a slight lack of polish on some characters. Whether it was the lighting or just me being picky I'm not sure, though I can tell you that it annoyed me just a little. In it's entirety, How to Train Your Dragon's animation rivals the likes of Up and Wall-E.

Dragon is sprinkled with a sense of appropriately Scandinavian humor. Clever sarcasm and a boatload of light jokes take the cake. Naturally, some gags are a bit too childish or lame- but those come around with a low enough frequency that they are somewhat difficult to notice. Much to my delight, a bathroom joke just had to be included. And surprisingly, a very quick male anatomy joke is "inserted" into the beginning a dragon fight (I'm surprised that it got past the typically anal MPAA). Altogether, most of the laughs come from Jay Baruchel, the voice of Hiccup, in his accordingly nasal voice. Baruchel does a good job of cracking jokes in his deadpan manner, but a few times his voice becomes an annoyance or just plain hard to take seriously. The same can go for much of Gerard Butler's performance (as Stoick), who really can't be taken with any seriousness post-300.

All things considered, DreamWorks' How to Train Your Dragon is a great movie for pure enjoyment. Armed with a few creative uses of 3-D, some striking visuals, funny funnies and an oddly deep story, DreamWorks has made an unexpectedly exciting adventure. Despite the childish facade, How to Train Your Dragon is a success. Start training, because you could be seeing Toothless in the sequel he's always dreamt of.


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How To Train Your Dragon: Fun for the Whole Family

I just want to say quickly, that the updated dreamworks opening title cards with the kid fishing by the moon were pretty cool. Now onto the movie.....
Now, compare to CLASH OF THE TITANS which sucked ass, this was amazing! The movie was so much fun, and the voice talent: from Gerard Butler, to America Ferrera, to Jay Baruchel, were pitch perfect.

In short, Hiccup, the son of the chief of the vikings village were he lives, yearns to become a true viking and fight dragons, which we are told, are the village pests.  Fighting dragons is all these vikings do, but Hiccup is to frail, not big enough, not, well, viking enough to join the fight. He's a nerd basically.  And as such, he creates a device that helps him take a dragon down, the only kind of dragon that has never been seen by any human and therefore nothing about it is known.
As per the trailer, you know that Hiccup ends up befriending the dragon and well, you have to watch the movie to find out the rest. Why the dragons attack the village, and what Hiccup ends up discovering about them and about himself, etc.
The 3D wasn't as eye-popping as say, Disney's BOLT, but it was pretty cool in several scenes. And like all great animated films primarily aimed at kids, there was plenty of stuff for adults to enjoy as well, and that's the best compliment a movie can get. Fun all around. and more importantly: the dragons were amazing! Grade: A

How to Train Your Dragon

Everything we know about dragons is wrong, and you thought you knew it all, you big, bearded Viking warrior!

One Word Movie Review: GOOD

How to Train Your Dragon is a tale of dragons vs. Vikings, a battle which has been raging for 300 years. In the first of many predictable reversals of character, the dragons are really misunderstood cuddly beasts and the violent Nordic people are well, violent Nordic people.  The main character, Hiccup is an outlier in his village with his slight frame and inventive mind. He tames the most mysterious of all the dragons, becoming a "dragon-whisperer" and ultimately the hero of his village and the pride of his burly, bearded father.

He also gets a girlfriend and an artificial limb, the mark of a great warrior and the happy ending resolves the various sub-plots and character foibles in standard fashion as one would expect in this family flame-spewing movie. Toss in the new fascination with 3D effects and we have another box office winner for DreamWorks, the studio which brought us the Shrek and Kung Fu Panda movies.

For kids, there is much to like here, from the exciting battle scenes to the less-than-heroic Hiccup saving the day by daring to be different. The theme of "let's not kill each other, but try and get along" is one of the universal messages of all family movies and works yet again to teach our budding Viking warriors the ways of the world.

The Story

The story is your standard "boy out of water" story, odd and smart, not like the rest of the Viking tribe in the old island village of Berk (old but all the houses are new because of pestilence problems - i.e. the dragons). Our hero is the son of Stoick the Vast, a great beast of a dad with enormous arms and bushy beard. He certainly can't measure up physically to his father so he's become a bit of an inventor which leads to his incredible capture and taming of the most deadly and mysterious of all dragons, the "Night Fury" which no Viking has ever seen and lived to tell about.

The Night Fury is all black and spits explosive fireballs from his toothless mouth, thus the name "Toothless" although he has teeth after all, just not obviously evident at first meeting. Rather than pass into manhood by killing a dragon, like all the other kids from the village, our Hiccup soon becomes a dragon tamer, much to the amazement of the blockheads in the village.

Suffice to say, the reason behind the dragons raiding of Berk for food is not for their own stomachs but to satisfy the great dragon who must be obeyed. This artifice allows the good vs. bad dragon dilemma to unfold in a certain logic acceptable to kids so that the bad guys can become good guys because there is an even badder guy who must be brought down.

In the ensuing conflicts, and I hope I'm not giving away the store here, but Hiccup wins over his dad, gets the girl, saves the tribe, resolves the 300 year old pestilence problem and all without killing even a little dragon. His dad realized how "special" his son really is and Hiccup is now "all Viking" and, no doubt, now free to apply his inventive skills to a line of easily-assembled Scandinavian furniture.

The Genre

It bodes well for the family animated genre that the 3D technology fits so well with computer generated images. This marriage of story and special effects has pushed a string of family CGI movies to the top of the box office since last summer, including Up, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Monsters vs. Aliens and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

The introduction of 3D televisions this year will also spark a new round of DVD/Blu-Ray sales which have been floundering of late. This new audience for 3D has already inspired theater owners to jack up prices for Dragon by a few more bucks (on top of the already typical $3 cover vs. 2D movies). As more theaters convert to 3D, expect to see this experience move beyond the family CGI and horror genres to most mainstream movies within a few years (and higher admission prices across the board). All designed to put more money in Hollywood's pockets, which is the nature of the movie business, after all.

Although derivative in story, the Train Your Dragon film is a cut above most family films and provides ample evidence that DreamWorks can compete with Disney/Pixar in this space, beyond the Shrek movies.

The Overall Quality

The staging of the climactic battle between Vikings and dragons is truly exhilarating from the majesty of the armada of ships leaving Berk to the fluttering post-battle ashes slowly descending on our victorious heroes. However, it was a unanimous decision by my sample audience that the best 3D "effect" in the movie was the Real 3D red ball logo at the start of the film. Of course, if your business is 3D exhibition, you'd better have a bang-up logo.

The voice acting is high quality, from Jay Baruchel as Hiccup and America Ferrera as his love interest, Astrid to the dual Scots, Gerard Butler as Stoick and Craig Ferguson and Gobber. They don't sound Viking, but their heavy brogue is foreign enough to pass with the target audience. I expect when the "wee laddies" who watch this film get old enough to see 300, they'll remember Butler's "Stoick" voice and have a double take - hey, that's Stoick the Vast playing King Leonidas - when Butler yells, "Tonight we will dine in Hell".

The music is also spot-on, down to the romantic pipe music when Astrid and Hiccup fly together (as an item) on Toothless's back. Although not a true comedy, there are a few laughs including a great bit about Hiccup's "breast hat", just enough humor to keep the mood light and tie in with the charm of the book by Cressida Cowell that inspired the movie in the first place.

Movie/Market Analysis

MarketBOB’s sentiment indicators, the GQS (Genre, Quality, Story) rate How to Train Your Dragon an emotional BULL. This is an enjoyable world of Vikings and dragons that kids will treasure as one of their first quality 3D experiences for years to come. Although expensive compared to regular movies, parents will leave the theater knowing this is the future of family entertainment. They will also realize that their home theater system will have to be upgraded (ouch). That will be even more expensive that the current surcharge for admission.

Craig Forgrave (MarketBOB)

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Last updated: 2010-03-30 01:50:48 by marketbob

How to Train Your Dragon- An Accomplishment in 3D Atmosphere While Still Lacking an In Depth Narrative

Dreamworks Animation has always been more than two steps behind Pixar when it comes to making quality and in depth animation. This isn’t to say that the actual visuals are lacking because most of the time they are visually superb. However, when it comes to story Dreamworks has never been able to touch the multi-dimensional characters or well developed plots of Pixar Studios, and unfortunately Dreamwork’s new film How to Train Your Dragon still falls short on plot though the visual 3D experience makes it an engaging film in the long run. The complexities of the characters are not exactly evident since they fill some typical animation roles such as the lacking hero trying to prove something or the disappointed father expecting his son to follow his own footsteps. While this can be forgivable to tell the tale it’s the story that deals with drastic conveniences to allow the film to progress without a hint of struggle as though everything just falls into place that makes the weaknesses in How to Train Your Dragon leap out. Luckily the stunning visuals and innocent looking dragon named Toothless will probably be a distraction from most of these easy outs, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. How to Train Your Dragon is not Dreamworks best story nor is it their worst but it is a successful step in the delivery of quality 3D ambience.
            We are introduced but never fully emerged into a mystical world called Berk, where Vikings are no longer raping and pillaging villages but rather focusing their energies on hunting and slaying the dragons that terrorize their land. Our protagonist is the son of the Chief Viking named Hiccup who is a weak and scrawny boy with a dry wit and quick mind more appropriate for physics than for dragon slaying. He wants to prove to his disappointed father that he can slay dragons while also trying to impress the prettiest Viking that he is a man. All of his plans go awry when he successfully catches an unknown species of dragon known as the Night Fury with his homemade catapult contraption, but ends up releasing it because it’s just so darn cute. But really, Hiccup looks in the dragon’s eyes and sees fear, and immediately connects with the dragon as he uses his abilities for building to fix the dragon’s tail. As he spends more and more time with Toothless, the name Hiccup has given his dragon, he learns secrets about how to tame the dragons and uses this inside knowledge in his dragon training making him an instant celebrity among the Viking folk. Of course nothing can ever go smoothly and the conflict comes when Hiccup’s father and the village learn of the dragon and use it to find the dragon nest in order to slay them all eventually leading to a big battle against a giant mother dragon. The story at many points of the dialogue sequences feels incredibly scripted, which can be a huge problem for animated films, but the flying sequences where there is no talking is done elegantly taking you out of the rigid story. There is an undercurrent of pacifism as well as attack the source of terror making a paradoxical message in the long run, but it is a children’s movie that many parents will enjoy for its roller coaster ride visuals and not necessarily for its uninventive narrative.
            While this is no Pixar’s Up or Ratatouille it certainly is a better family film than many in the last year, especially when compared to Alvin and the Chipmunks. There is a visual elegance here that many films have yet to accomplish and the creators spent a great deal on experiencing the 3D rather than subject it to cheap tricks. Certainly the plot has some drastic conveniences, such as Hiccup’s love interest who is devoted to the Viking cause give very little argument as to informing people of the location of the dragon nest and threat, but that is an area where Dreamworks has always needed to develop. Even with their continuous box office successes they still can’t master the art of telling a good meaningful story with complex and interesting characters. Instead they choose their characters based on roles they need in order to just complete the story rather than have those characters guide the story. This is the drastic weakness in How to Train Your Dragon because of its overly scripted and unfelt dialogue exchanges, which are only convincing due to the detail of the animation and not the actual voice delivery. However, comparing this film to its successors, such as Megamind or Despicable Me, it’s pretty safe to say that How to Train Your Dragon is by far the closest film in quality, visually and constructively, that Dreamworks is going to get to a Pixar film till they can learn to tackle narrative complexities.
            It’s strange when you hear the Vikings have Scottish dialect when all of their children seem to sound like the teenagers of the modern world. This is an odd choice though seemingly appropriate to separate the younger generation from the older one. The voice casting is slightly odd though Dreamworks is known for choosing actors to resemble their characters rather than actors who can make the characters their own. This is obvious with Hiccup, voiced by the geek of all geeks Jay Baruchel, who seems to get type casted now though his talent does range slightly further than what they give him one big example being Tropic Thunder. The two manly men of the Viking village are voiced by Gerard Butler, an obvious although slightly weak choice, and comedian Craig Fergusen who has a vast array of weird jokes that are stated at the most inappropriate of times, such as when they find Hiccup still alive and must interject at a meaningful moment between father and son. The rest of the teenagers are typical of teen comedies nowadays with Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse both from Superbad fame and America Ferrera from “Ugly Betty” notoriety. Everything about the voices works in the framework of what Dreamworks limits themselves to be, nothing but choosing semi-known actors to make the characters recognizable rather than allow truly talented actors to create their own characters. If this seems a bit much of a request then just take Ian Holm from Ratatouille as the perfect example, who doesn’t use his regular voice but rather creates what he deemed the character would eventually be like.
            Those of you who are looking for a childish imaginary escape from the real world will definitely find something to enjoy in How to Train Your Dragon. It certainly has a lot going for it visually since its 3D makes the experience an atmospheric adventure rather than occasional items popping out at you. The flying sequences are incredibly well done and provide a momentary distraction from the convenient story development and role fulfilling characters. But when you begin to enjoy the segments that have no narrative progression and just provide for pure visual enjoyment than you have lost what is truly great about movies and that is an engaging and riveting story. How to Train Your Dragon is more of a Theme Park attraction than a film, because everything is revolving around the well developed flight and action sequences that are an experience to have but not necessarily to get caught up in. Ultimately, How to Train Your Dragon works despite the typical Dreamworks weaknesses, but certainly there are writers out there who deserve to have a unique and complex story for children that can be told and perhaps now that Dreamworks has the visuals down some time should be spent on finding those new talented writers.

Recommendations: Red Riding, Fish Tank , Mystery Team

Last updated: 2010-03-28 16:10:59 by GenerationFilm

How To Train Your Dragon

(Before I begin raving about this movie, I want to note that it was literally impossible to find a poster that doesn't have "3D" on it. Add this to the fact that DreamWorks has decreed that no theaters may show the movie in 2D if they don't allow it in 3D, and you see how the 3D movement is similar to propaganda of the worst kind. Ehem.)

I don't know if DreamWorks is back on track with their animation or it's just Chris Sanders that is the master of his craft, but How To Train Your Dragon is absolutely fantastic.

It's nothing of Pixar's quality, but when it comes to animation what is? It's the perfect family film. It's better than most of the animated movies DreamWorks has done, and while its only downfall is a heavy dose of cliché in the final act, How To Train Your Dragon makes up for it with an incredibly surprising move at the end - one that brings this movie from a 4 to a 5.

The animation is awesome. The design of the main dragon is adorable beyond words. Chris Sanders seems incapable of making creatures we don't love. Be it Stitch or the original design for Bolt (before John Lasseter banged the Mighty Hammer of Disney and kicked Sanders off the project), he gives us characters we care about, and that is one of the biggest reasons this movie is fantastic.

Toothless the dragon is absolutely great. He has the combined likabilities of both cats and dogs, so he is almost certainly destined to appeal to all audiences. I personally had a smile on my face for most of Toothless' screen time. Couple that with the fact that Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is almost just as likable and you have the ingredients for a great movie. 

The final touches come with the art and the music. Each of these things are outstanding. Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois paint a beautiful picture of some pretty thick (in every sense of the word) vikings. John Powell has also written one of his best scores ever. The combined effect is something I have been missing in DreamWorks animation in the past - totally engrossing scenes. When Hiccup rides his dragon, you ride his dragon. It's absolutely great, and the scene where they take their first flight is one of the best singular movie scenes in years.

The voice acting rocks. I'm so glad Jay Baruchel has established himself as a full blown star. I've been waiting for a while for that to happen. His quirky and nerdy way of talking suits Hiccup perfectly, and makes you love him, so much even that you get less angry about the fact that his name is Hiccup. Also lending their vocals are Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, TJ Miller, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. All of them are great because they do something that you don't often see in DreamWorks animation: they play characters. When they're talking, you're not focused on the billing of the actor. You're focused on the character.

Even though compared to the grand scheme of movies in the world How To Train Your Dragon deserves a 4, I'm going to give it a 5. I can't remember the last time I saw an animated family film this good. Pixar is always great, but you can't really label them as family films the way DreamWorks does. How To Train Your Dragon deserves a 5 because, in a day and age where almost every movie seems like the same, it's refreshing to find yourself engrossed in something that makes you feel this good - as refreshing as a brisk dragon flight through the sky.

(One last thing - I didn't see this in 3D, and I loved it.  I don't know how the 3D is, so I can't bash it.  But if I liked it this much in 2D, why go pay lots of extra money to see the movie 5 shades darker and in the most distracting way possible?  Your call.)

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- The Movie Watch -

Last updated: 2010-05-13 23:17:33 by TheMovieWatch