Near as I can tell the Movie shares some names and the basic premise of Dragons and Vikings and not much else.
Mind you based on the summaries of the books I can't say that's a bad thing
Yeah, I'm not complaining either. I'm glad that they decided to do their own thing instead of sticking close to the source material, and the changes they made, apparently (Hiccup being older, giving Toothless a totally different personality and appearance, having the dragons not speak to each other).
I also saw the movie last night, mostly due to the praise it's been getting around these parts. I found it really enjoyable all around. I liked how the dragons behaved more like real animals. The dragon didn't just automatically understand everything Hiccup said, he actually had to approach it more like you would a wild animal.
I also saw the movie last night, mostly due to the praise it's been getting around these parts. I found it really enjoyable all around. I liked how the dragons behaved more like real animals. The dragon didn't just automatically understand everything Hiccup said, he actually had to approach it more like you would a wild animal.
They're pretty much cats.
The grass that Toothless rolls in is catnip, the light from his hammer/shield like a laser pointer, the way they move while on the ground.
Smart, I think. The audience automatically understands the interaction between human and dragon.
maimed the protagonist. Ballsy for what is ostensibly a "kid's movie" these days.
Yeah, I went in expecting the whole "respect and understand" the dragons plot, but what crept up on me and surprised me was . . .
. . . what I guess I'd call the film's theme of "disability". Three of the main characters are "disabled": Gobber is missing his hand and foot, Toothless has an injured tail and in the end Hiccup loses his leg. That was a nice feature of the story.
Also, cooperation. Toothless can't fly without Hiccup to control the artificial tail stabilizer. And while it was only for a moment after first standing up, Hiccup relied on Toothless to help him walk. I was kind of hoping that Hiccup would be as dependent on Toothless as the dragon was on him, but going that far may have been a little too serious.
Hey, that reminds me, about the only thing I think they missed in the film:
Astrid could've had a more complex role. Have her always be in love with Hiccup, but because he's a pansy she doesn't respect him - so that makes her really hard on him. So hard, since she wants him to be someone she can respect, that he thinks she hates him. Could've also made the scene when she essentially is broken by Toothless diving and spinning more dramatic. Anyway, just something I thought about while watching.
I thought she gave in to Hiccup wanting to keep the nest a secret a little easily, as well. She went from being a badass to a sidekick in like two minutes flat.
Just saw it in "imax" 3D. Makes me realize that, while worse than RealD, the 3D technology isn't quite as bad as I originally thought. The people who did the 3D in Harry potter were just incompetent. And the 3D in this movie was actually pretty good too, they found a good balance between the gimicky in-your face methods and pixar's barely even there not worth it amount of 3D.
maimed the protagonist. Ballsy for what is ostensibly a "kid's movie" these days.
Yeah, I went in expecting the whole "respect and understand" the dragons plot, but what crept up on me and surprised me was . . .
. . . what I guess I'd call the film's theme of "disability". Three of the main characters are "disabled": Gobber is missing his hand and foot, Toothless has an injured tail and in the end Hiccup loses his leg. That was a nice feature of the story.
I was delighted by how they went about handling the tail thing. How Toothless needed Hiccup in order to fly, it made the whole concept of him tolerating Hiccup a lot more believable. It also does a wonderful job of showing Hiccup's ingenuity. And of course, how it makes that tie between them.
Also, I found the breast-plate helmet bit rather humorous.
I saw this and was hyped for it because of this thread and it was still amazing. I'm glad to see Dreamworks get it right.
Unfortunately Dispicable Me doesn't look like it's going along the same lines.
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Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited April 2010
To be fair, based on the minimal exposure I had to the movie before being swayed into seeing it by the RT score, I thought HtTYD was going to be horrible as well. And now it's up there with Pixar's best work.
The next Dreamworks movies really don't look very good, though.
I've noticed that a lot of good animated movies lately have had poor previews.
Hell, even Up! for the longest time had the most plain, boring, uninformative preview ever, and that movie was probably the best animated film I've seen in, like, ten years.
I thought this movie was quite enjoyable, but not particularly exceptional as I had heard. It seemed like pretty standard Dreamworks fare, only a little cuter. It's probably not something I would go out of my way to recommend like a number of Pixar movies.
Septus on
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
edited April 2010
This movie was awesome. In every possible meaning.
An example that made me almost literally smack my gob:
I'm a daydreamer who can't be arsed to get up and write most of the time. The Titanicus Maximus is basically one of the visions in my head--a dragon being chased by another dragon, the size of a mountain, or at least a large hill--come to life. In 3D and on a big screen it was outright astonishing.
Without checking the thread out of spoiler riskage, I wanted to know how worth it the 3D is. Is it more like Avatar or Alice, where you are missing if the point if you don't see it in 3D, or more like Clash, where the 3D is apparently pretty unimportant, if not distracting?
EmperorSeth on
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
This was made with 3D in mind, so the majority of it looks awesome, there's a few places where it's awkward, but I'd definitely recommend seeing it in 3D.
This is not like Titans where it was crappily added in as an afterthought.
Saw this recently in 3D and I was blown away by some of the scenes (plus I found out that my girlfriend looks pretty cute in the big glasses, but that's by the by).
As a Viking fan / ex-scholar, I had a big shit-eating grin on my face for most of the film - I loved the whole aesthetic and the humour, and the dragon designs were pretty cool, even if
they were in part designed for the pairing off of student to dragon at the end. My girlfriend went one further with this idea by claiming that the "I saw myself in the dragon" thing that Hiccup has going on is a Viking-age literary theme which is also seen in the last third of Beowulf :P
The 3D will definitely improve your watching experience. But improve it 7-10 dollar's worth? That's up to you.
One of the things I enjoyed about the movie was the terrific musical score. I hadn't given it much thought during the movie but randomly caught a track on youtube and it was very compelling.
I saw it with an audience full of kids too, but they were all right. The little girl in the row in front of me was really sweet. I think she slept through most of it, but at one point she was standing up (only small) and reaching towards the characters, going "hello! hello :-) .. hello!"
Saw it with my daughter, and it was pretty great. Didn't see it in 3D, because I don't consider it worth the extra few bucks (no, not even for Alice).
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I ended up seeing the 3D version. Besides, it was on 45 minutes earlier, so it was more convenient. Oh, in my case, 3D means 3D IMAX, so it is even bigger and costs even more. I was quite impressed, but I'm worried about something. I'm a wannabe screenwriter, so I'm starting to get that "film-analyzer" brain. You know, tracking the acts, comparing the movie to my own stuff, and so on. Objectively I would say that it's not as good as the top tier Pixars, but it was a very impressive movie, especially visually.
EmperorSeth on
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
It was nowhere near as good as your average Pixar film. It was awesome, but it was a popcorn movie. Dreamworks films aspire to be nothing more, but that's fine - popcorn movies need love, too.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that Gerard Butler did the voice of the dad. I heard him speak, and I was all, "Oh sweet, it's Leonidas!" He has an excellent bad-ass voice. Even when he's doing rom-coms, he sounds like he could kick your ass.
ElJeffe on
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Looks like word of mouth is taking this movie far. And seeing as how there are no animated/family films on the horizon for a long while, I think it soar even higher.
The 3D will definitely improve your watching experience. But improve it 7-10 dollar's worth? That's up to you.
One of the things I enjoyed about the movie was the terrific musical score. I hadn't given it much thought during the movie but randomly caught a track on youtube and it was very compelling.
Yeah I was the same way. One of my friends really loves the soundtrack and he eventually goaded me into downloading it for $8 from Amazon. Well worth it! Some really strong themes from Powell. Also loved his stuff from the Bourne movies.
RandomEngy on
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Mind you based on the summaries of the books I can't say that's a bad thing
Yeah, I'm not complaining either. I'm glad that they decided to do their own thing instead of sticking close to the source material, and the changes they made, apparently (Hiccup being older, giving Toothless a totally different personality and appearance, having the dragons not speak to each other).
They're pretty much cats.
Smart, I think. The audience automatically understands the interaction between human and dragon.
Shows what good word-of-mouth can do. At this rate it might go beyond $200 mil.
Hey, that reminds me, about the only thing I think they missed in the film:
I'm suing.
Also, I found the breast-plate helmet bit rather humorous.
Unfortunately Dispicable Me doesn't look like it's going along the same lines.
The next Dreamworks movies really don't look very good, though.
Hell, even Up! for the longest time had the most plain, boring, uninformative preview ever, and that movie was probably the best animated film I've seen in, like, ten years.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
I went with a group of 6 people. There were only about four other people there. I'm expecting that's because HtTYD isn't a drinking movie.
Kick-ass opens up next week, I think it'll be a tad more packed for that.
An example that made me almost literally smack my gob:
edit: well, not 'winy', more like 'monotone'.
Frankly I fully expected them to have one line that gets repeated multiple times in the movie. That's all over movies lately.
Really really.
Besides,
This is not like Titans where it was crappily added in as an afterthought.
As a Viking fan / ex-scholar, I had a big shit-eating grin on my face for most of the film - I loved the whole aesthetic and the humour, and the dragon designs were pretty cool, even if
One of the things I enjoyed about the movie was the terrific musical score. I hadn't given it much thought during the movie but randomly caught a track on youtube and it was very compelling.
I saw it with an audience full of kids too, but they were all right. The little girl in the row in front of me was really sweet. I think she slept through most of it, but at one point she was standing up (only small) and reaching towards the characters, going "hello! hello :-) .. hello!"
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
There were like a dozen musicians playing the war pipes - that's a properly Viking-sounding instrument, if geographically inconsistent.
Looks like the little dragon movie is back at the top of the box office.
Looks like word of mouth is taking this movie far. And seeing as how there are no animated/family films on the horizon for a long while, I think it soar even higher.
Yeah I was the same way. One of my friends really loves the soundtrack and he eventually goaded me into downloading it for $8 from Amazon. Well worth it! Some really strong themes from Powell. Also loved his stuff from the Bourne movies.