Movie Review: How To Train Your Dragon
I saw this opening day expecting it to be good, because I'm optimistic about pretty much every movie I see. I was not at all disappointed. The plot wasn't all that original (that's Hollywood for you), but the characters, amazing music, and absolutely gorgeous animation more than make up for it.
My Thoughts:
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that is beyond what anyone expected. A movie that sticks with you. A movie that quickly becomes the topic of many a conversation. For me, that movie is How to Train Your Dragon. I’ve only seen three truly great films this year (including Inception and Toy Story 3), but this one is by far the best. The movie is an “in-name-only” adaptation of the children’s book by Cressida Cowell, but does ultimately retain the same message the author had hoped to convey. The story follows Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, and his journey to gain acceptance from his fellow Vikings, including his father. Cliché, right? Not really. How to Train Your Dragon manages to take this same old song and dance that we’ve seen thousands of times before and make it work. I commend the directors, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (who previously collaborated on Lilo & Stitch), for giving this movie an incredible amount of heart. I also commend Sanders and DeBlois for having the balls to permanently handicap the main character. Main characters usually come off unscathed in animated children‘s movies, so this turn of events is definitely a step in the right direction.
I could make an incredibly long laundry list as to why this movie is amazing, but that would take forever. Instead, I’ve compiled a few examples of genius. First off, the animation. The animation in this movie is absolutely breathtaking. It’s right up there with some of the best Pixar movies (i.e. The Incredibles). The crazy amount of detail put into every little thing just goes to show how meticulous and dedicated these animators are and I find it incredibly hard to believe that they made this movie in a little over a year. Quite the accomplishment when you consider how long animated movies usually take. The designs of people and dragons in particular are the most amazing part of the movie. The people have freckles, hair on their arms, overbites, scars, eye bags, glorious beards, etc. And the dragons all have a different pattern on their scales - Toothless actually has spots if your eye is good enough to catch them. I’ve always thought DreamWorks was better with animation than Pixar, but I’m so obviously in the minority.
Next thing I want to talk about is the character development. Some movies can have really beautiful and grandiose environments, but the characters tend to fall by the wayside (*cough*Avatar*cough*). How to Train Your Dragon managed to perfectly combine the two. With the exception of the very, very minor characters (and Gobber), pretty much every character has their fair share of development. I’d wager that Stoick, Hiccup’s father, has more character development than his son. That‘s not to say that Hiccup doesn‘t have development in spades, just that I felt Stoick has more substantial development. He starts off a very cynical man in regards to his son and how he's acted. He often mocked him outright in front of the other villagers but even with all that, you know that he still cares. He just doesn't know how to properly express it since he seems unable of living up to what a viking should be. By the end of the movie, however, he's grown enough to trust his son and realizes that strength doesn't always come from what you can do with an axe.
Going along with the character development, is the emotional aspect of the movie. As I said earlier, this movie was beyond pretty much everyone’s expectations, my own included. I often times compare this movie to Toy Story 3 (because both movies made me cry), but Toy Story had fifteen years to garner that response from me and upon rewatches, the emotional impact is no longer there. How to Train Your Dragon only had a little over an hour and a half to get you to care about these characters and even after many subsequent viewings, it's still able to get a reaction out of me. Just thinking about how symbolic and poignant Hiccup‘s injury is and how everything between Hiccup and Toothless comes full circle in that one moment is enough to make even grown ass women like myself shed a few (okay more than a few) tears.
Last but not least, is the music. The score (composed and conducted by John Powell) is an absolute powerhouse and does wonders for this already amazing movie. For me, there are a few specific moments in the film where the score is perfection personified. In the scene just after Hiccup and Toothless crash land, the music is somber and melancholy. When Toothless unfurls his wings to reveal that he was able to save Hiccup, the music swells and you can’t help but fight back tears (maybe that’s just me). At this point in the scene, soft piano starts playing and you think all is well. It’s sad, yet…it’s also somewhat hopeful. It assures you that, despite Hiccups injury, everything is going to be okay. Also, in the very next scene, the way the bagpipes and the drums come in as Hiccup straps into the saddle is just beautiful and triumphant. It sends chills down my spine every single time I watch the movie and John Powell was unceremoniously robbed of an Oscar.
To be quite honest, there are no visible flaws in this movie. At all. The animation, the music, the characters, and the voice acting are all solid. Sure the romance aspect between Hiccup and Astrid is a bit rushed and poor Astrid's character seems to suffer slightly because of it, but there’s really not enough focus on it for me to be really peeved about it in the movie as a whole. Never has an animated movie touched me as deeply as How to Train Your Dragon has, not even old school Disney or the early days of Pixar. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen it yet (even though I may have spoiled a few things), because it really is worth your time.
My Rating: 10/10
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Edit - 3/30/10
I saw the movie again yesterday and I noticed that Hiccup has a scar on his chin. I love little details like that!! I also noticed something a little peculiar...
Apparently, Hiccup discovered time travel roughly 1000 years before Doc Brown.
I try to not watch a movie on my computer if it's currently playing at the cinema...but I just had to point this out! Never again for this movie. I swear. I will gladly give this movie every last penny I have.
Edit - 1/23/11
I replaced my old review with one I wrote for English 1010...that I got an A on :D Yay me.
My Thoughts:
Every once in a while, a movie comes along that is beyond what anyone expected. A movie that sticks with you. A movie that quickly becomes the topic of many a conversation. For me, that movie is How to Train Your Dragon. I’ve only seen three truly great films this year (including Inception and Toy Story 3), but this one is by far the best. The movie is an “in-name-only” adaptation of the children’s book by Cressida Cowell, but does ultimately retain the same message the author had hoped to convey. The story follows Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, and his journey to gain acceptance from his fellow Vikings, including his father. Cliché, right? Not really. How to Train Your Dragon manages to take this same old song and dance that we’ve seen thousands of times before and make it work. I commend the directors, Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (who previously collaborated on Lilo & Stitch), for giving this movie an incredible amount of heart. I also commend Sanders and DeBlois for having the balls to permanently handicap the main character. Main characters usually come off unscathed in animated children‘s movies, so this turn of events is definitely a step in the right direction.
I could make an incredibly long laundry list as to why this movie is amazing, but that would take forever. Instead, I’ve compiled a few examples of genius. First off, the animation. The animation in this movie is absolutely breathtaking. It’s right up there with some of the best Pixar movies (i.e. The Incredibles). The crazy amount of detail put into every little thing just goes to show how meticulous and dedicated these animators are and I find it incredibly hard to believe that they made this movie in a little over a year. Quite the accomplishment when you consider how long animated movies usually take. The designs of people and dragons in particular are the most amazing part of the movie. The people have freckles, hair on their arms, overbites, scars, eye bags, glorious beards, etc. And the dragons all have a different pattern on their scales - Toothless actually has spots if your eye is good enough to catch them. I’ve always thought DreamWorks was better with animation than Pixar, but I’m so obviously in the minority.
Next thing I want to talk about is the character development. Some movies can have really beautiful and grandiose environments, but the characters tend to fall by the wayside (*cough*Avatar*cough*). How to Train Your Dragon managed to perfectly combine the two. With the exception of the very, very minor characters (and Gobber), pretty much every character has their fair share of development. I’d wager that Stoick, Hiccup’s father, has more character development than his son. That‘s not to say that Hiccup doesn‘t have development in spades, just that I felt Stoick has more substantial development. He starts off a very cynical man in regards to his son and how he's acted. He often mocked him outright in front of the other villagers but even with all that, you know that he still cares. He just doesn't know how to properly express it since he seems unable of living up to what a viking should be. By the end of the movie, however, he's grown enough to trust his son and realizes that strength doesn't always come from what you can do with an axe.
Going along with the character development, is the emotional aspect of the movie. As I said earlier, this movie was beyond pretty much everyone’s expectations, my own included. I often times compare this movie to Toy Story 3 (because both movies made me cry), but Toy Story had fifteen years to garner that response from me and upon rewatches, the emotional impact is no longer there. How to Train Your Dragon only had a little over an hour and a half to get you to care about these characters and even after many subsequent viewings, it's still able to get a reaction out of me. Just thinking about how symbolic and poignant Hiccup‘s injury is and how everything between Hiccup and Toothless comes full circle in that one moment is enough to make even grown ass women like myself shed a few (okay more than a few) tears.
Last but not least, is the music. The score (composed and conducted by John Powell) is an absolute powerhouse and does wonders for this already amazing movie. For me, there are a few specific moments in the film where the score is perfection personified. In the scene just after Hiccup and Toothless crash land, the music is somber and melancholy. When Toothless unfurls his wings to reveal that he was able to save Hiccup, the music swells and you can’t help but fight back tears (maybe that’s just me). At this point in the scene, soft piano starts playing and you think all is well. It’s sad, yet…it’s also somewhat hopeful. It assures you that, despite Hiccups injury, everything is going to be okay. Also, in the very next scene, the way the bagpipes and the drums come in as Hiccup straps into the saddle is just beautiful and triumphant. It sends chills down my spine every single time I watch the movie and John Powell was unceremoniously robbed of an Oscar.
To be quite honest, there are no visible flaws in this movie. At all. The animation, the music, the characters, and the voice acting are all solid. Sure the romance aspect between Hiccup and Astrid is a bit rushed and poor Astrid's character seems to suffer slightly because of it, but there’s really not enough focus on it for me to be really peeved about it in the movie as a whole. Never has an animated movie touched me as deeply as How to Train Your Dragon has, not even old school Disney or the early days of Pixar. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has not seen it yet (even though I may have spoiled a few things), because it really is worth your time.
My Rating: 10/10
__
Edit - 3/30/10
I saw the movie again yesterday and I noticed that Hiccup has a scar on his chin. I love little details like that!! I also noticed something a little peculiar...
Apparently, Hiccup discovered time travel roughly 1000 years before Doc Brown.
I try to not watch a movie on my computer if it's currently playing at the cinema...but I just had to point this out! Never again for this movie. I swear. I will gladly give this movie every last penny I have.
Edit - 1/23/11
I replaced my old review with one I wrote for English 1010...that I got an A on :D Yay me.