The last time I saw a DreamWorks film, I was so horribly disappointed that I vowed to never watch another ever again. That movie was "Monsters vs. Aliens"*, a cartoon with a concept so awesome that it seemed entirely beyond the realm of possibility to fail. Oh, but fail it did. First you have a crowd of characters that make up the most distracting and unlikable comic reliefs since the gargoyles in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (I would mention Jar Jar at this point, but I'm better than that). Somewhere along the lines of making "clever" pop-culture references and having Stephen Colbert play a techno song on a keyboard for the alien invaders, DreamWorks completely forgot to actually have a story. Or characters. Or really anything worth anybody's time beyond basic silliness and constant references to old-time SciFi movies. To be fair, it had a few funny moments, and some clever shots at the SciFi genre, but altogether I was very unhappy with that movie.
Originally I wasn't even going to see this movie, predicting it to be just as bad as the other DreamWorks movies. But I need to go out with human beings and get my problems off my mind, so this made for a perfect little diversion. And boy was I pleasantly surprised.
"How to Train Your Dragon" is a great step forward for DreamWorks Animation. The endless and irritation parade of pop-culture references has thankfully been extremely limited here. Ray Liotta isn't put on the stand by Bee Jerry Seinfeld, the Madagascar animals don't put on a ridiculous 70s musical number for the penguins, and here I could go on listing the studio's failures forever. You see, DreamWorks isn't a studio that actually makes "family" films. Rather, each film is actually a Frankenstein combination of manic action to get the kids giggling, and annoying VH1-style pop-culture dredging to keep the parent's awake. Unlike Pixar, who find a happy universal theme for all ages to understand, DreamWorks is not a studio that seems to have very much faith in their own work, thus the need for all the annoying extras. But this time DreamWorks has something a bit different in mind.
The basic premise is that there is a village of Vikings living right next door to a nest of sheep-eating dragons, and so is in constant war with fire-breathing serpents. As Hiccup, the classic 'Nerd-Protagonist-You-Identify-With' mentions in the opening narration, the Vikings aren't very sophisticated, aren't very bright, and don't do very much well... except kill dragons. Unfortunately, despite being the son of the mighty village chief, King Leonidas from "300"**, Hiccup has absolutely no physical prowess whatsoever. Leonidas is so embarrassed/overprotective that Hiccup cannot even enter dragon killing training, despite his hopes to so. So being a bit different, everybody instantly hates him. During one dragon attack, Hiccup uses a custom crossbow to shoot down one of the dragons. Later finding the creature, Hiccup discovers that it is absolutely adorable beyond words (I bet somewhere out there the Pokemon monster design is slapping himself in the face for not thinking of that face first), so cannot bring himself to kill it. Instead he learns to ride in several extremely awesome skyriding sequences.
The plot isn't exactly all too solid or original, all too much of it relies on modern film tropes I think we're all a bit tired of. Hiccup is a nerd, so of course is guaranteed to eventually bag the hottest woman in his age bracket, its almost a fundamental law of universal physics at this point. I understand that losers are easily sympathetic, but simply having poor social skills does not automatically make you a good person. The opposite is true I usually find. Hiccup's girlfriend, Astrid, being a pretty skinny girl competing with men in an exercise of martial arts will naturally be far superior to the larger and more muscular boys around her. I mean, there's nothing inherently wrong with a story relying on clichés like this, but it does make things a bit too predictable and removes a lot of the dramatic tension for audiences. Or me at least, since I have the unique foresight of being able to divine most plot points several miles away. But even if the characters are a bit flat, the story is solid enough, the comic reliefs are funny without ejaculating their jokes on the viewers' faces, and perhaps most wonderful: the characters know when to shut up and allow the beautiful flying animation to show off. Too many animated movies are four-jokes-a-minute ADD fests that make me uncomfortable to even stay focused on the screen.
The real draw is the flying sequences, which are amazing. You get a real feeling of fast-paced racing energy and high freedom as you soar through the clouds with Hiccup and his cute dragon. The first-person fun of these sequences are obviously the best part of the entire movie. If only somewhere somebody could make a video game that could capture the excitement of riding on your dragon's back through the skies and between tight rocks over the blue ocean. Man, I want a dragon now.... Papa, I want a dragon and I want one noooww!!
It almost makes up for the price of an IMAX 3D ticket... almost. Unfortunately that ticket happens to be twenty bucks!! Twenty bucks for a movie ticket?? Seriously?? That's an incredible rip-off! Yeah, the 3D looks great in an IMAX theatre, but I can't say looking back at the movie if I even really found it all that much more immersive. I could mentally accept a 2D screen showing a movie, the difference isn't that groundbreaking. All it really means is a more expensive ticket and watching the entire movie in unbelievably "fashionable" 3D glasses that make me a bit seasick after an hour. I made sure to keep those glasses, even though there was a woman who was quite firm in her insistence that I return them to the cinema. I however, had just spent thirty bucks altogether to see one movie, so I was not giving up my glasses. When you make somebody pay twenty bucks for a ticket, the glasses should come complimentary. So I told her calmly "I like these glasses, I'm keeping them." and together we walked out. One of my friends then told me that she seemed to be calling security. By the time we reached the car, nobody had come to take back the glasses. As I type this sentence, I'm wearing my 3D glasses, my little symbol of triumph over severely over-priced movies.
So ultimately, is "How to Train Your Dragon" a "WALL-E"? No. Is it a "Coraline" or a "Ponyo" or even an "Up"? Nope. This is still a rank below all of those. But the important thing is that DreamWorks is getting there. Its an enjoyable movie, which I think all age groups can be entertained by (or "that the whole family can enjoy" but I won't say that because it transform my body literally into a giant cornball). Is it a life changing movie? Nope. But is it fun? Oh yeah. Its definitely got my movie itch scratched until "Iron Man 2" comes out.
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* That movie should actually be better named "Monsters vs. Alien" as there is only one alien in the whole movie. I guess they made it plural so that it would not look anything like "Alien vs. Predator", and completely divorced from the "Alien" series. But interestingly, "Monsters vs. Aliens" just goes ahead and proves the old maxim that any movie with "vs." in the title and does not include Godzilla is guaranteed to be terrible.
** No exaggeration, Gerard Butler is doing his exact same performance here as he did in that movie, inexplicable Scottish accent and all! It almost makes me want to see "300" again... almost. Unfortunately nothing will even be able to pull that off, because "300" was more a cartoon than "How to Train Your Dragon".
My sis saw this movie. The best movie I've seen recently by Disney, was definitely Up. It was seriously just incredible imo, with the whole adventure theme, and how the beginning shows them aging, and the grandpa slowly losing everything that has ever meant anything to him. That was incredible. I know you've seen it, but dayumn. Just was awesome.
ReplyDeleteWall-E was good too, and I agree with you waiting for Iron Man 2. The first one blew-me away more than that Batman movie, hopefully it will be good.
It's sad that this movie doesn't follow the books one bit, Tuffnut doesn't have a twin, Fishlegs got hickup's personality and Snotloud's build, Snotloud isn't nearly as annoying, Toothless has teeth and is suddently a super-rare dragon instead of a miniature version of the most common dragon there is, Hickup can talk Dragonese in the books and doesn't use grass, eels and other things to scare dragons, etc... It would take less time to say what didn't change. Also, the Dragons' Nest has somehow gotten merged with the Fire Mountain from the fifth book and the giant seadragon from the first
ReplyDeleteIt is so good you don't live in New York, Blue Highwind. Just for a regular movie ticket in Queens I have to pay fifteen bucks. For 3-D it's around twenty, depending on the place, but most places don't charge for glasses, and they just recently started to collect them after the film. I remember when I first saw Nightmare Before Christmas is 3-D the glasses cost extra, but that was because we got to keep them.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you want to see a film in The City, you better be packing a hundred dollar bill or two. The price of a small popcorn in my favorite Manhattan movie theater? Nine dollars. Luckily, one comes free if you bring your student I.D.
In Sweden, a ticket to a regular 2D film is about 10$(95 Crowns), and a 3D ticket is about 120 Crowns(~12$)
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