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The Movieforums 2010's ballots have ended, and in the time of prep before being tempted to watch and review Malcolm X after having seen the trailer from sheer curiosity, I went through quite a few movies. There was the slow cinema arthouse film The Turin Horse, the gruesome and almost un-rewatchable historical epic 12 Years a Slave, and there was Jordan Peele's two mysterious horror movies Get Out and Us. But the one I had the highest expectations for, being a huge Shrek fan, was the Dreamworks movie Imdb considers better than Shrek: How to Train Your Dragon.
A community of vikings trains their young to become dragon killers, but the son of the leader, Hiccup, struggles with it. When he shoots down a rare breed of dragon by chance, he goes to kill it. But as soon as he does, he sees fear in the dragon's eyes and realizes it's just like him. In secret, he begins training the dragon with a makeshift tailfin to replace the one he shot. His training makes him a legend in dragon class, which impresses others but makes some suspicious.
So this is apparently a legendary movie by director pair Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, spawning two sequels and several TV shows. And did the first movie deserve this legendary status? Yes and no. It's definitely a good movie, but it's not perfect.
There's a lot of heart that goes into the relationship between Hiccup and his dragon Toothless. Toothless acts a lot like an animal, which makes his relationship authentic. As the scenario switches from Toothless to Hiccup succeeding in his classes, we're incredibly impressed with our wimpy-ass lead character. However, Toothless's snarky behavior only occasionally shows, and he's at his most dynamic in these few moments. Otherwise, he's just an animal.
On the subject of character development, Hiccup's various classmates make entertaining characters on their own. However, they're also quite one-sided for the sake of filling up the class. We have the independent woman who's desperate to prove herself, the bickering twins, the total jock who's not really all that great, and (this is my favorite) the nerd who memorized the entire book on dragons in a D&D statsheet manner. They entertain, but they aren't complete.
As for the story and the direction, its simple themes of trust and change are told with a lot of heart and great acting. We actually feel for the lead characters in ways that we don't often feel in other kids movies because family and tradition aren't told in this style very often in children's cinema. And the action-adventure bits we get are perfectly directed. The cinematography and animation are at some of Dreamworks' best.
Still, when I watch this movie, I can't help but compare every aspect to Sanders and DeBlois' other legendary franchise kickstarter: Lilo and Stitch. Almost every aspect of this movie, including family commentary, are more unique and effective. On that subject, one can see artistic similarities between both Toothless and Stitch's eyes. (What? I can also tell which early Disney scenes were animated by Don Bluth. Sue me.)
Well, How to Train Your Dragon in a great kids movie with a lot to like and some stuff to love, but it needed a little work. It deserved to get a couple of sequels, but let's be honest. Expanding the dragon world is just another franchise deal, just like trying to create 625 more experiments for Lilo and Stitch: the Series. The glory of the franchise belongs to cinema.
How to Train Your Dragon
(2010) - Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
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High Fantasy / Family
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“You have the heart of a chief… and the soul of a dragon.”
(2010) - Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
--------------------------------------------
High Fantasy / Family
-------------------------------------------------
“You have the heart of a chief… and the soul of a dragon.”
The Movieforums 2010's ballots have ended, and in the time of prep before being tempted to watch and review Malcolm X after having seen the trailer from sheer curiosity, I went through quite a few movies. There was the slow cinema arthouse film The Turin Horse, the gruesome and almost un-rewatchable historical epic 12 Years a Slave, and there was Jordan Peele's two mysterious horror movies Get Out and Us. But the one I had the highest expectations for, being a huge Shrek fan, was the Dreamworks movie Imdb considers better than Shrek: How to Train Your Dragon.
A community of vikings trains their young to become dragon killers, but the son of the leader, Hiccup, struggles with it. When he shoots down a rare breed of dragon by chance, he goes to kill it. But as soon as he does, he sees fear in the dragon's eyes and realizes it's just like him. In secret, he begins training the dragon with a makeshift tailfin to replace the one he shot. His training makes him a legend in dragon class, which impresses others but makes some suspicious.
So this is apparently a legendary movie by director pair Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, spawning two sequels and several TV shows. And did the first movie deserve this legendary status? Yes and no. It's definitely a good movie, but it's not perfect.
There's a lot of heart that goes into the relationship between Hiccup and his dragon Toothless. Toothless acts a lot like an animal, which makes his relationship authentic. As the scenario switches from Toothless to Hiccup succeeding in his classes, we're incredibly impressed with our wimpy-ass lead character. However, Toothless's snarky behavior only occasionally shows, and he's at his most dynamic in these few moments. Otherwise, he's just an animal.
On the subject of character development, Hiccup's various classmates make entertaining characters on their own. However, they're also quite one-sided for the sake of filling up the class. We have the independent woman who's desperate to prove herself, the bickering twins, the total jock who's not really all that great, and (this is my favorite) the nerd who memorized the entire book on dragons in a D&D statsheet manner. They entertain, but they aren't complete.
As for the story and the direction, its simple themes of trust and change are told with a lot of heart and great acting. We actually feel for the lead characters in ways that we don't often feel in other kids movies because family and tradition aren't told in this style very often in children's cinema. And the action-adventure bits we get are perfectly directed. The cinematography and animation are at some of Dreamworks' best.
Still, when I watch this movie, I can't help but compare every aspect to Sanders and DeBlois' other legendary franchise kickstarter: Lilo and Stitch. Almost every aspect of this movie, including family commentary, are more unique and effective. On that subject, one can see artistic similarities between both Toothless and Stitch's eyes. (What? I can also tell which early Disney scenes were animated by Don Bluth. Sue me.)
Well, How to Train Your Dragon in a great kids movie with a lot to like and some stuff to love, but it needed a little work. It deserved to get a couple of sequels, but let's be honest. Expanding the dragon world is just another franchise deal, just like trying to create 625 more experiments for Lilo and Stitch: the Series. The glory of the franchise belongs to cinema.