How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

Tags

Action, America Ferrera, Animated, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Comedy, Craig Ferguson, Drama, Gerard Butler, How to Train Your Dragon, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Movie, T.J. Miller

could you eat this instead of me, please? thanks.

PG

Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Gobber: And with one twist, he took my hand and swallowed it whole.  And I saw the look in his face – I was delicious!  He must have passed the word because it wasn’t a month before another one of them took my leg!

After a young Viking, Hiccup (Baruchel), wounds a dragon in battle, he befriends it and begins to learn that the dragons his people have been fighting for years might not be exactly what they seem to be.

There’s a lot to like about this one, but a few things that hold it back from being one of my animated favorites.

First, the good.  The visuals are pretty amazing, and I’m sure would’ve been even more stunning in 3-D on the big screen.  Still, they’re impressive enough at home in HD.  Also great was the story of Hiccup befriending the dragon – which he named Toothless – and his realizations about all of the dragons’ true natures.  Obviously there are lessons here about getting to know your perceived enemy and understanding exactly why you’re fighting each other in the first place.

All that stuff was handled quite well, but what I wasn’t a huge fan of was the tired storyline of a single father with a son who is not living up to his expectations.  There’s nothing inherently wrong with that storyline, but it seems to be a fallback for animated films these days.  Off the top of my head, it’s used to some extent in Kung Fu Panda, Finding Nemo, and most obviously in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  It’s just such an obvious and predictable road to go down.

Also…Jay Baruchel’s voice bugs me.  I know that seems like a minor complaint, but in an animated movie where he’s the star, that can severely hamper a person’s ability to enjoy it at times.  The other voices are all fine.  His just got on my nerves for some reason.

Regardless, it’s a movie worth watching.  The dragons storyline is good, and the visuals are captivating.  Though, I’m still wondering why none of the kids had the same accent that all the adults had…

Always carry around a smoked eel if you think there’s a chance that you’ll encounter a dragon.

10 – 1 for the overused father/son storyline – .7 because Baruchel’s voice annoyed me – .5 because I think the script could have been a little wittier = 7.8

Kick-Ass (2010)

Tags

Aaron Johnson, Action, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Clark Duke, Comedy, Drama, Kick-Ass, Mark Strong, Movie, Nicolas Cage

trick or...treat?

R

Aaron Johnson, Clark Duke, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong

Dave: The comic books had it wrong.  It didn’t take trauma or cosmic rays or a power ring to make a superhero…just a perfect combination of optimism and naivety.

A regular high school kid, Dave (Aaron Johnson), decides to try to become a superhero.  It doesn’t go very well, but he still becomes an internet sensation while also making enemies with some very dangerous criminals.

I had heard a lot of good things about this movie, so I had high expectations going in.  Despite some up and down moments, overall my expectations were mostly met.  Especially in the second half of the movie.  It gets sillier, but very entertaining and even kind of moving at times.

After a rough start where we have to listen to A LOT of voice-over by Dave, telling us just how normal of a teen he is, things finally get rolling.  I liked his initial attempts at superheroing and how mostly he was a failure at it.  I wish the movie had stuck to that premise more.  I was a little sad to see everybody acting fairly superhuman by the end of the movie, but once I came to terms with that disappointment, I was able to just sit back and enjoy it.

Aaron Johnson is pretty likable in the lead, and it’s good to see Nicolas Cage using his oddness to good effect once again, but I’d have to say that little Chloe Moretz steals the show as Hit Girl.  She gets quite a few good lines (often obscenity filled) and is usually at the center of all the best action sequences.  Again, I would have liked to see her abilities be grounded a little more in reality (I don’t think an 11 year old could kick an adult male across a room), but whatever, it works.

As you can probably tell from the title, this is just a fun movie that sets out to entertain the audience in about any way it can.  It mostly succeeds, though I must say it was more violent and intense than I was expecting.  Yet, the comedy, seriousness, violence, etc are all balanced pretty well.  If it had stuck with the idea that real life people could never hope to emulate superheroes, it would have gotten an even higher rating from me.  As is, it’s still a solid recommendation…just don’t try any of it at home.

Body armor…always wear body armor when you do your superheroing.

10 – 1.5 for giving some of the characters too many superhero-like abilities – .7 for some unevenness in tone = 7.7