Movie Review: How To Train Your Dragon
I’m reviewing this movie pretty late in the game, and that is entirely my fault. To be fair, I’ve been hyping How To Train Your Dragon on my twitter account since seeing it a few weeks back. And now I’m reviewing it on this blog. How To Train Your Dragon is by far one of the best animated films put out by Dreamworks in the company’s history–probably because it is an adaptation of a series of books by Cressida Cowell. It’s a step in the right direction, I think, and hopefully we’ll see more films of this quality from Dreamworks in the future, since most of their films have been rather dreadful in the past. How To Train Your Dragon follows Hiccup, the son of a fierce viking warrior in a viking village plagued by dragon attacks. Hiccup isn’t like everyone else, as if the name didn’t give that away. He’s small, eccentric, an inventor, and everything that a viking is not. His father is ashamed of him and the village views him as a social pariah. When one of his contraptions causes havoc during a dragon attack, Hiccup is sent to dragon training in hopes that it will turn him into a mighty warrior like his father. But Hiccup, however, isn’t a total failure: during the last attack, one of his contraptions snags a rare and unseen species of dragon, and Hiccup sets out to prove once and for all that he’s not the loser everyone thinks he is. Where do I start? How To Train Your Dragon is one of the best films I’ve seen for kids (and adults). It’s adorable, thoroughly enjoyable, and, in a weird way, kind of beautiful, both visually and emotionally. From a narrative perspective, How To Train Your Dragon is predictable, but the way it plays with its cliches is quite humorous. There are a few moments in the film where characters refer to the dragons in RPG language (+5 to armor!), which for a geek like me is hilarious and awesome. The same is true of other elements of the story, such as Hiccup’s developing relationship with Toothless, the rise of the dragon-killer trainees, and so on. Don’t expect a purely original movie here, because this isn’t one of those, but it is a story that knows it’s a cliche and isn’t afraid to make light of that fact. Probably the strongest point of the film is how its characters interact and make you forget that you’re watching something that has been done before (unlike some movies–cough, Avatar, cough). Hiccup is nerdy and lovable and his relationship with Toothless (his dragon) is wonderful and heartwarming. It’s almost impossible to not find the two of them adorable in all the right ways. Even the other characters, from Hiccup’s father (Gerard Butler) to the handicapped Gobber (Craig Ferguson) to Astrid (America Ferrera) and the other trainees, mesh well from start to finish. The characters are typical, yes, but also wonderful for it. This is very much a character-driven movie, and How To Train Your Dragon is all the better for it. If one has to nitpick, probably the things that will bother people who see this film are its minor inconsistencies and some of its cliches. The accents throughout the movie are haphazard. Most of the adults are Scottish, for some odd reason, while all of the younger characters are American. It didn’t bother me as much as it should have, though, perhaps because the story is downright entertaining. Probably most damning is the Father/Son narrative that is painfully transparent and unfortunately very predictable–as I’ve indicated earlier on a broader level. I noticed it while watching, and it makes How To Train Your Dragon just a few strides short of perfect, but I don’t think the obviousness of its plot points detracts from the wonder of the film as a whole. The worst thing about How To Train Your Dragon, though, has nothing to do with the film itself: it has everything to do with Hollywood’s obsession with 3D. Do NOT see How To Train Your Dragon in 3D. It’s not worth the extra $3-$5, not because the movie isn’t worth that, but because 3D is really overrated, too gimmicky for its own good, distracting, and sort of lame. 3D sucks some of the color from the picture, which is terrible when How To Train Your Dragon is full of so much color. It can also take some time to adjust; I found myself somewhat disoriented for the first fifteen minutes before my eyes settled in. There are some cool moments, though, such a when ash particles appear outside of the screen, almost as though they are falling around you, but for the most part, the 3D is plain annoying. Don’t bother. See the movie on a normal screen. In the end, I think How To Train Your Dragon is a must see film for kids and adults alike. If you have a family, take them to see this one. It’s a little dark at times, but I think the adorable characters and the great character development make for a wonderful film that everyone can enjoy. If you haven’t seen it, then you should. It takes the cake as the best Dreamworks film yet to be created and the characters will stay with you for days to come. Plus, the soundtrack is wonderful! I have it on my computer now and it has a lot of wonderful melodies. If you’re a writer, it’s a good soundtrack to write to! Directing: 3.75/5Cast: 4.5/5Writing: 4.0/5Visuals: 4.25/5Adaptation: N/A (I haven’t read the original, so I can’t really make a judgment)Overall: 4.125/5Value: $9.00 (based on a $10.50 max)
The Skiffy and Fanty Show is Live!
For those of you who follow this blog, you might be interested to know that the podcast I was working on with my friend Weirdside has officially gone live! You can find the first episode here. If you listen, we’d love to hear what you think (love it or hate it). We’re new to this, so, you know, if you have criticism to help is improve, we’re happy to hear it! Alright, announcement over! Note: The first episode splits the audio. I think I know how to fix it, so hopefully the second episode will not be split.
Haul of Books 2010: Stuff For Me v.7
Well, another edition of the stuff I bought for myself. You’re all so very interested in this, aren’t you? A little narcissism never hurt anybody. I actually purchased these books during a huge sale that Night Shade Books was having about a month or so back, and I actually got lucky with one of the books below. Apparently they ran out of paperbacks, which were the cheapest, and so the fine folks at Night Shade sent me the hardcover instead. How’s that for service? But enough about that. Below are the books (after the fold): And the books are, from left to right, top to bottom (take from Amazon.com and Night Shade):1. Dark Mondays by Kage Baker (signed limited edition) Kage Baker, celebrated creator of the Company novels and the standout collection Mother Aegypt now brings together pirates, primates, eldritch horrors, maritime ghosts, and much more in Dark Mondays. This captivating new collection of fantastic short fiction is sure to cement her reputation as one of the most original storytellers working in the fantasy and speculative fiction genres today. Dark Mondays features five never-before-published stories, including the forty-one-thousand word pirate novel, “The Maid on the Shore,” which chronicles the lesser known aspects of Captain Henry Morgan’s infamous sacking of Panama City. 2. Mother Aegypt and Other Stories by Kage baker A brand new short story collection from Kage Baker, including an original novella set in her ongoing series of The Company, “Mother Aegypt.” The Company novels are being released by Tor, and include The Graveyard Game and The Life of the World to Come. 3. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire by Glen Cook Before there was Black Company, there was the Dread Empire, an omnibus collection the first three Dread Empire novels: A Shadow of All Night’s Falling, October’s Baby and All Darkness Met. 4. A Fortress in Shadow: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire by Glen Cook Once a mighty kingdom reigned, but now all is chaos. In the vast reaches of the desert, a young heretic escapes certain death and embarks on a mission of madness and glory. He is El Murid – the Disciple – who vows to bring order, prosperity, and righteousness to the desert people of Hammad al Nakir. After four long centuries, El Murid is the savior who is destined to build a new empire from the blood his enemies. But all is not as it seems, and the sinister forces pulling the strings of empire come into the light. Who and what lies behind El Murid’s vision of a desert empire? 5. Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams Famine, Death, War, and Pestilence: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the harbingers of Armageddon – these are our guides through the Wastelands… From the Book of Revelations to The Road Warrior; from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today’s most renowned authors of speculative fiction, including George R.R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King, Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon. 6. Eclipse Three edited by Jonathan Strahan To observe an eclipse is to witness a rare and unusual event. Under darkened skies the sun becomes a negative image of itself, its corona transforming the landscape into a strange space where anything might happen, and any story may be true… In the spirit of classic science fiction anthologies such as Universe, Orbit, and Starlight, master anthologist Jonathan Strahan (The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year) presents the non-themed genre anthology Eclipse: New Science Fiction and Fantasy. Here you will find stories where strange and wonderful things happen – where reality is eclipsed by something magical and new. 7. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi In this Time Magazine top 10 book of the year, Anderson Lake is a company man, AgriGen’s Calorie Man in Thailand. Under cover as a factory manager, Anderson combs Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories. There, he encounters Emiko. Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. One of the New People, Emiko is not human; instead, she is an engineered being, creche-grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in a chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe. What Happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits, when said bio-terrorism’s genetic drift forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? In The Windup Girl, award-winning author Paolo Bacigalupi returns to the world of The Calorie Man; (Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award-winner, Hugo Award nominee, 2006) and Yellow Card Man (Hugo Award nominee, 2007) in order to address these poignant questions. This title has been nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula awards. This title was also on the best book lists of the year for Library Journal and Publishers Weekly. 8. Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher Ian Cormac’s Early Years! Raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and a vicious alien race, the Prador, Ian Cormac, is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn’t remember. Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help restore and maintain order on worlds devastated by the war. There he discovers that though