Friday, April 9, 2010

How to Train your Dragon- new eponymous 3D Don't miss!






4 stars! I give it full marks.

The themes of the unsure teenager being out of place and a thickheaded father seem clichéd at first. But as the movie continues with various kinds of dragons attacking the Vikings, the plot does not seem as one sided and straight as man-kill-dragons. When Hiccup, the unsure teenager, finds the wounded Night fury his life changes forever!


We are really in this world with him and Toothless. I love their bonding moments most. The gradual building of trust and dialogue are excellent. Hiccup’s voice is played by a 27 year old, which surprises me because he hasn’t got a voice break yet and sounds immature. You can literally contrast it with his father (Gerald Butler), a beefy countenance. Before I watched this, I noticed that people felt the vikings’ accent was not consistent: why doesn’t Hiccup sound like them? It wouldn’t be appealing to us if the boy talks like the adults. I bet Dreamworks made it like that. So don’t be too hard on those details. I am quite anti-stereotype and still I love the experience.


The Father and son thing is awesome: Pregnant silences, wanting his son to be a Real warrior, laughing at the wrong moments, his frustrations, worry that his son isn’t cut out to kill dragons are all endearing. Gerald Butler has always played the role well- Nim’s Island, 300. At times, I wished I could be there to knock sense into his thick skull. Finally, father accepts that his son isn’t a bloodthirsty, but a gentle intelligent tamer.

Shall elaborate on Toothless- the mighty Night fury! Dragon movies have become stale from Dragonheart to those movies making them evil… so stale I can’t even remember them, haha! The people aren’t so important to me, it’s the beasts.

He captured my heart immediately! His feline behaviour of snarling defensively at strangers and other dragons was comparable to a modern day wildcat. His relationship with Hiccup grew daily, such memorable snapshots. Boy tries to go near him- he’s mad, boy feeds him- makes him happy, playing the stick game together, until Toothless eventually lets him touch his snout. These snapshots will never leave me and to the target audience speak more than actual dialogue.

There are two climax moments but I won’t go into detail to spoil the fun. Boy is steep in danger and his dragon rushes to rescue him at the cost of his own life is a piquant flash to the Lassie effect similar as well to Bumblebee is captured when he rescues Sam (Transformers).You feel the rush of injustice.

I want to be a Night fury myself, precision strikes and agility not to mention that cute face. Will be collecting the Dvd for reruns of these moments.(but I am still pro-elf because of Hellboy II's Nuada Silverlance)

What can I say but hurrah Dreamworks! The Shrek franchise isn’t far behind in its success. Do you want to wait for the final Forever after? Saw the sneaks that it seems futuristic. Actually they are going to make a Puss movie too, and I was a bit disappointed it’s not out yet. Puss is sexy, voiced by Antonio Banderas. COMING SOON!