"How to Train Your Dragon"
I went to see "How to Train Your Dragon" this weekend. It's a good movie. I went to see it largely because Gerard Butler voices a great beardy viking, but that turned out to be a minor bonus compared to the rest of the movie. Consider:
1. A dragon that looks like Koolasuchus, but cute instead of satanic. I was often distracted from the dialogue by the thoughts of "kitty!" running through my head. Not all the dragons were cute, but the animation suited them well. No one looked ridiculous, unlike some movies I could name. Despereaux.
2. The characters are voiced by all the famous Scottish people(because Vikings are Scottish, I guess) in America, which turns out to be Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson. Scottish people who are famous in America are about as numerous as Nepalese people who are famous in America.
3. The overall plot is 'misfit figures out how to fit in", only written well. Even realistically, I would say, if one takes into account the setting. It's not like Hiccup does one new thing and suddenly everyone loves him; everyone is mad at him for most of the movie.
4. I liked the lessons it teaches. It advocates Science! Brain over brawn! Which is amazing, considering it's an American movie. Name me one other movie in the last year that triumphed thought and new ideas over punching people in the head(maybe Star Trek)(sort of Sherlock Holmes).
4. The flying-on-a-dragon scenes were great. They made similar scenes from James Cameron's Avatar look totally lame. It's like the difference between a Jackson Pollock painting and one of Renoir's: whereas watching a Na'vi ride a dragon is like taking an acid trip in a kaleidoscope, in the "Dragon" scenes you are not only amazed by the animation, but you can actually tell what's going on.
5. The 3-Ditude did not make me nauseous. I don't think it was absolutely necessary, but it was okay.
6. Hiccup's monotone sarcasm starts out annoying, but becomes an amusing counterpoint to the rest of the Vikings' gung-ho genre-blind earnestness. The caricatured characters weren't ridiculously caricatured, and there was an RPG nerd.
7. The dude who wrote the music for X-Men 3 did this one. Nice!
8. Considering the rest of the movie, I think it had a perfect ending: a happy ending in which actions still have consequences. Learn that, children!
movie haiku:
fire-breathing kitteh!
come to my house and be cute
you can eat the dog
1. A dragon that looks like Koolasuchus, but cute instead of satanic. I was often distracted from the dialogue by the thoughts of "kitty!" running through my head. Not all the dragons were cute, but the animation suited them well. No one looked ridiculous, unlike some movies I could name. Despereaux.
2. The characters are voiced by all the famous Scottish people(because Vikings are Scottish, I guess) in America, which turns out to be Gerard Butler and Craig Ferguson. Scottish people who are famous in America are about as numerous as Nepalese people who are famous in America.
3. The overall plot is 'misfit figures out how to fit in", only written well. Even realistically, I would say, if one takes into account the setting. It's not like Hiccup does one new thing and suddenly everyone loves him; everyone is mad at him for most of the movie.
4. I liked the lessons it teaches. It advocates Science! Brain over brawn! Which is amazing, considering it's an American movie. Name me one other movie in the last year that triumphed thought and new ideas over punching people in the head(maybe Star Trek)(sort of Sherlock Holmes).
4. The flying-on-a-dragon scenes were great. They made similar scenes from James Cameron's Avatar look totally lame. It's like the difference between a Jackson Pollock painting and one of Renoir's: whereas watching a Na'vi ride a dragon is like taking an acid trip in a kaleidoscope, in the "Dragon" scenes you are not only amazed by the animation, but you can actually tell what's going on.
5. The 3-Ditude did not make me nauseous. I don't think it was absolutely necessary, but it was okay.
6. Hiccup's monotone sarcasm starts out annoying, but becomes an amusing counterpoint to the rest of the Vikings' gung-ho genre-blind earnestness. The caricatured characters weren't ridiculously caricatured, and there was an RPG nerd.
7. The dude who wrote the music for X-Men 3 did this one. Nice!
8. Considering the rest of the movie, I think it had a perfect ending: a happy ending in which actions still have consequences. Learn that, children!
movie haiku:
fire-breathing kitteh!
come to my house and be cute
you can eat the dog