May 2010

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)

I saw Iron Man 2 last Friday with a group of friends, praying that it would live up to its hype and be able to follow its predecessor without falling into the gutter. Hollywood is not all that great at producing sequels. Transformers 2 was an utter disaster, and numerous other sequels in Hollywood have flopped or done well, despite being dreadful. Sequels are territory that few directors or writers really should tread into. Only the most talented can pull it off. And that’s exactly what Jon Favreau has managed to do in Iron Man 2. The second movie in one of Marvel’s most popular franchises is both a decent movie and a decent sequel. The second film takes place six months after the events of the first. Iron Man has, more or less, “privatized world peace” and become a target for the U.S. government, who want to seize his suits and designs in order to produce a fleet of Iron Men for the military. Stark, however, is not interested in giving up his pride and joy. To make matters worse, a new corporate rival is doing everything he can to supplant Stark from media fame, and Stark’s health is taking a downward spiral that has nothing to do with his drinking habits. And if that weren’t enough, Iron Man has found a new enemy in Ivan Vanko, a Russian with a chip on his shoulder–a very big chip. While Stark is busy keeping the government off his stuff and convincing people that the world is safe, Vanko is busy building the weapons he needs to take down Stark for good, with a few friends in high places to help along the way.Iron Man 2 is far from perfect, but it does succeed in a number of areas. The visuals are fantastic, and they are significantly more complicated here than in the first film. If you’ve seen the trailers, then you know what I’m talking about. There are dozens of new suits, a new bad guy, and a lot of action that succeeds precisely because the visual effects are superb. Iron Man, War Machine, and Vanko’s various suits are believable from start to finish and the various action sequences flow well and look beautiful. Likewise, the cast is right where it should be, with some exceptions. The banter between Stark, Pepper, his body guard, and the various other characters who make an appearance in this film, is often hilarious and perfectly timed. But, you probably already knew that having seen the first film. Where the film’s cast succeeds is in its additions. Mickey Rourke as Vanko is a perfect choice; his accent is spot on and his presence on the screen is menacing and dark. Throw in a little Sam Rockwell, who plays an eccentric business man, and you’ve really got a recipe for success. Rockwell is hilarious, ridiculous, charming, and deliciously hate-able. It’s unfortunate, though, that so little was done with Don Cheadle as Rhodey, but I suppose the film was too packed to make much use of the various secondary characters, particularly since the primary focus is and always has been Stark. Beyond this, however, Iron Man 2 does have a few problems, which, I would argue, don’t ruin the film, but do give it a rating less than 4 out of 5. The plot, while not as absurd and convoluted as that of Transformers 2, does get carried away. There are a lot of things going on, and some of the major points don’t aren’t resolved in the finale. Hopefully we’ll see more resolutions in Iron Man 3, but as a viewer, I did want to see a bit more from the ending and from the middle sections. The inclusion of S.H.I.E.L.D. in this movie was particularly problematic because it introduced new conflicts in Stark’s life that, while important, really needed more time for an adequate resolution. The plot is thick enough with Vanko, the U.S. government, Stark’s health, his life as Iron Man, and his relationship (or lack thereof) with Pepper. Now we have S.H.I.E.L.D. doing whatever they do, Stark’s daddy issues, and a whole lot of connected stuff that seems a little convenient. We all know Stark is a smart cookie, but I felt like the film could have given us more of the genius we saw in the first movie. Instead, there’s S.H.I.E.L.D., which existed, I felt, to waltz in and give Stark the answers to some of his questions. Lastly, I had one minor issue with the final battle. While overall the fight is rather lengthy, the actual face-to-face fight between Iron Man and Vanko was, in my opinion, a little too short and anticlimactic. Here we have the villain of the movie spending little more than a minute or two fighting the hero, despite the fact that the villain is brilliant and, I think, slightly more wicked than Stane from the first film. We needed more. Reducing a conflict like that to a few minutes, especially when you consider that Vanko is essentially given a second chance to take a shot at Stark, is really unfair to the character and to the audience. Still, the battle was entertaining, just not as long as I would have liked. Overall, I enjoyed Iron Man 2. It had some minor flaws, sure, but I think its positives helped dispel much of my misgivings about the film. It has a lot going for it. With a great cast, wonderful visuals, and a plot that manages to entertain, despite its flaws, it’s not hard to see why Iron Man 2 is selling loads of tickets. It’s definitely a film I would recommend seeing on the big screen, if you have the chance. If you’ve seen the film, let me know what you thought of it in the comments! Directing: 3.5/5Cast: 3.75/5Writing: 3.0/5Visuals: 4.5/5Adaptation: N/A (I haven’t read enough Iron Man to make this judgment)Overall: 3.6875/5Value: $7.00 (based on a $10.50 max)