Rated PG for violence and dragons
Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristin Wiig, America Ferrera,
Directed by Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
The Story:
On the island of Berk, the Vikings are led by Stoick the Vast (Butler). What these Vikings do is try an survive and kill dragons when they are attacked. Stoick's son Hiccup (Baruchel) is not exactly the Viking his dad had hoped he would be. Very imaginative, but not very...Viking-like...Hiccup wants to help out, but nobody really wants him around. When he uses one of his contraptions to actually shoot down the elusive Night Fury dragon, Hiccup will go to prove that he's got what it takes to be a Viking. However, when he finds his dragon, he is going to discover that everything the Vikings thought they know about dragons...
Is a lie!
Better late than never is one way to approach this film.
My kids have adored this movie for the last 4 years, and they always begged me to watch it. I would always come up with some excuse or another to not join in the festivities, so this one remained unseen by me until recently.
However, with a sequel set to come out today, and the kids hoping that I will either take them, or maybe go with them, there was no time like the present to give this one a shot.
Boy, am I glad I did.
Continuing in a line of impressive Dreamworks Animated films, this movie has everything you want in an animated movie:
a) It's absolutely gorgeous
b) The voice cast is great, but not overbearing in stunt celebrity casting
c) The story itself is enjoyable
d) There is a deeper heartfelt aspect to the movie that proves it's not just for kids.
Sadly, many of Dreamworks offerings are overlooked at the box office, but when they have a hit, it hits big!
It's weird at the feast or famine aspect of Dreamworks at the box office. This was every bit as enjoyable as Rise of the Guardians or Turbo, but those two were flops and this was a success.
At this stage in the game, Dreamworks should be celebrated like Pixar. They aren't, and that's puzzling.
I won't attempt to explain it, I'll just admit that I'm disappointed.
At the end of the movie, the film has resolved all of the issues that were raised during the film.
That they put their hero(es) as capable to save the day with a disability is an extra feather in the cap that Dreamworks should really be proud of.
As usual, my kids were right, and I'm glad they finally got me to come around.
It won't be 4 years until I see the sequel.
If you or your kids haven't seen it yet, or as a primer for this weekend's sequel, I highly encourage you to do so!
Final Grade: A
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I already own it. Looking forward to the sequel. And this marks the 2nd Dreamworks Animated film in the running for Best Films of 2014. If Part 2 is half as good, I may end up with 3 animated features from one studio all vying for the top spot!
Come back tomorrow and see how Part 2 fared!
:)
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