"How to Train Your Dragon" Talkback (Spoilers)

I saw this on Saturday and I'd give it a 4/5. This is easily one of my favorite Dreamworks films now if not my number one. I'm surprised too, because the trailers I saw really didn't impress me (if anything they irritated me), but don't let it fool you because this movie is great. On a side note a couple scenes were clearly made for 3D which usually irks me, but I only really noticed it with the wave in the beginning and during some of the flight scenes so I didn't mind it too much. For those who haven't yet seen it, I really must highly recommend it as it truly is a great film with a few laughs, some touching moments, and a very good story.
 
Just saw it and I agree with everyone else here, this one is a winner.

The fact I saw it in plainy-Janey 2-D didn't stop the visuals from being absolutely mesmerizing. Wow, just... WOW. Hiccup and Astrid's ride with Toothless is one of the most magical animated sequences I have ever seen.

The characters were all proficiently and sincerely developed, with Hiccup being an enormously appealing male protagonist and Toothless being oh-so-cute (and oh-so-Stitch-like). The only real criticism I have is that their designs still retain the typical DreamWorks smugness, but this becomes insignificant when you get into the story itself.

I'm tempted to say that this film marks a positive turning point in the quality of DreamWorks' animated output, but I'm not particularly excited for what I've seen of Shrek 4 or MegaMind. The greatness of HTTYD is because of the sheer amount of bonafide talent brought together to make it.
 
When I heard that Bonnie Arnold (producer of Over the Hedge) and Chris Sanders were involved in this I got excited. I really enjoyed Over the Hedge despite it's Dreamworks qualities (Ironic main character, pop culture jokes) as the story was good and the characterization was the best I had seen out of the studio. Seeing that team turn around and work on Dragon made me quite happy.

I'm glad to see critics commenting on how mature this movie looks for Dreamworks Animation as it should encourage the studio to work on more of this type of movie.
 
I saw this last night with my older brother. It was in the 50/50 range for me, I like the fact that Dreamworks decided to do something different for a change. And the bonus for me liking this is not only Chris Sanders directed this, but also there is NO pop culture joke whatsoever. The only flaw that I had with this movie is that some of the voice acting in this doesnt suit most of the characters. Am I the only one who thinks this?
 
I liked the movie a lot. It definitely looked good in 3D. Ultimately though here is my problem:

I feel the third act relevation and having a truly evil dragon sort of dilutes and ruins the message of the movie.

Also, it's weak that the big dragon is able to control and summon all the others, and yet at the end the dragons are willing to turn against the giant queen dragon and work for the humans. Is it just that the dragons enjoy being subservient? It didn't work to me.

It feels like they were trying to enforce this peaceful pacificistic message, yet the ending basically kills that message.
 
Can't see the DVD cover art but after going to the site, it looks great. I'm not buying the film but it'll be great for those who want an early gift before the winter holidays kick in.
 
I finally saw HTTYD, curious about its quality and whether it really was one of the best Dreamworks movies, and I gotta say--YES! Yes, It freakin is!

Prince of Egypt still has my heart, but as far as CGI, this one holds the top spot. The "Boy and his [insert pet here]" has been overplayed, but it was done in a fun, charming, and sometimes heart-wrenching way (the ending mostly. It was definitely unexpected, but needed). Probably what I loved the most was the quality. Not just the effects, but story wise there were no pop culture references, no forced gags, and no overrated licensed music. Heck, throughout the whole film I was thinking "I must get this soundtrack."

Overall, this movie was very heart-warming and enjoyable. I'm extremely curious to see how the animated series on Cartoon Network will go. Pleaaaaaase do it justice!
 
Album of the year, IMO! I saw this movie opening day. I'm not much of a DreamWorks fan, but I had a feeling that this movie was going to be something special. When I walked out of the theater, not only was a shocked at how much I enjoyed a DreamWorks movie (I cared about the characters, and I cried), I couldn't stop thinking about the soundtrack. I as soon as I got home I bought it, and I've played the hell out of it ever since. According to my iTunes, I've played every track, 150 times or more. And I've played Romantic Flight 490 times as of this post. But I loved this movie overrall. I saw it eight times in the theater, and I bought it the day it came out on Blu-ray. It's to bad they followed up such a great movie with Shrek and Megamind.
 
That's good to hear about the soundtrack, seeing as how the only animated films whose soundtracks I love just as much/if not more than the movie are Studio Ghibli, Prince of Egypt of course, and a few classic Disney films. I've replayed the credits about ten times since this afternoon just to hear the songs :D
 
I watched this movie for the first time ever last night and I was totally blown away at the CGI animation and the awesome story that was told, in my opinion this movie is a true gem and really deserved the to a lot bigger than it was. Usually I shy away from these CGI flicks because I feel that most of these films are poor quality when it comes to story and 90% of these CGI movies that I've seen I was disappointed by, but How To Train Your Dragon was not one of them, the story was so much fun and the huge fight scene at the end blew me away. I seriously hope that they are planning a sequel at some point because I feel that there could be so much story to tell, this could be a huge franchise for Dreamworks, even though Shrek (which I hate) is their gem I would really like to see the studio put some effort into this franchise and put out some more merchandise based around the movie. I do remember hearing that a sequel may be coming out in 2013, so that sounds promising and I also remember reading that the entire voice cast has signed on to do the second film, so that makes me happy.
 
Back
Top