i'll bloody HIS fist with my FACE if he tries to take my dragon!
maybe i should rename these to "movie thoughts" rather than stay with "movie reviews", since they're not very ... review-like these days. i do lapse into detailed reviews every now and then; otherwise, i'm less critical and more brief in my opinions most of the time. i've learnt how to shut off after at least three years of having to be (over-)analytical and thorough, i suppose.
anyway, i watched how to train your dragon 2 on sunday with sis #2.
rating: 4/5
anyway, i watched how to train your dragon 2 on sunday with sis #2.
- i loved that this started and ended with narration similar to the opening and closing lines in its predecessor. it encapsulated the developments in the first film, and it was also a great throwback.
- drago bludvist's motivations were kind of flimsy? he didn't seem very threatening or convincing as a villain either. as much as he was a foil to the people of berk and the kind of relationship they had with their dragons and had a hand in hiccup's character development, his brand of evil seemed heavy-handed and clichéd. i found him more annoying, really, and that he detracted from the more poignant thread of hiccup being reunited with his mother.
- also, he had a hand in hiccup's murder of stoick. that shit's not cool.
- it felt like they were going to end with bludvist claiming control of all the dragons (in the same way that it felt like toy story 3 was going to end with the toys dying in the incinerator), and i was prepared to get so angry about that. kudos to the writers for making it seem as if all hope had genuinely vanished, i guess?
- it's difficult to focus on the conversations sometimes because toothless is always up to something in the background, lol.
- i was choking up the entire time stoick and valka were singing with each other.
- ruffnut is basically tumblr personified.
- valka's sanctuary is beautiful. i loved that it was this bright, colourful place, contrasting with the grey iciness that dominated the colour palette when bludvist became a more prominent character.
- i loved her dragon, cloudjumper. there's something about its design ...
- this probably wasn't the best of films to be released in the same week as father's day. on the other hand, it could also work in the sense that hiccup loved his father deeply, and stoick his son, in spite of their differences; their relationship is very, very different from what it was when we saw them the first time.
- i was hoping that astrid would become the new chief. alas.
- i was adamant at there being no sequel for how to train your dragon because how could you improve on perfection? however, how to train your dragon 2 has me begging for a sequel (which is apparently in the works) because of how it hinted at a world outside of berk through hiccup's exploration as well as an expanded, more comprehensive universe through the idea of dragon masters, alpha dragons, etc. it really built upon the foundation how to train your dragon had laid out.
- dreamworks has been hitting it out of the park with their recent releases -- for me, at least. i found this (and a couple of other films before this) a lot more emotionally satisfying than the recent fare from the other animation giant, primarily because they're more willing to take risks with their narratives and yet know the right spots to aim for.
rating: 4/5