One Of Last Year's Best..."How To Train Your Dragon 2"

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Rated PG for violence and dragons!

Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Honsou

Directed by Dean DeBlois

The Story:

It's been several years since we last met the Vikings of Berk on the big screen, and as the film opens, it turns out they have adjusted to life quite well being dragon-riders.  Stoik (Butler) has designs on Hiccup (Baruchel) taking over as Chieftan of Berk, but Hiccup is too busy trying to find his way in the world and deciding what he really wants to be.  He's having too much fun exploring the world with Toothless and discovering all of the new lands.  It's on one of these adventures when he discovers two very important things:  there is an evil army collecting dragons in preparation for war; there is a mysterious dragon-rider who has ties to Berk and could help Hiccup unlock more dragon secrets than he ever imagined.

Dreamworks Animation has done it again.

If it sounds familiar, that means you read this review when I saw it in theaters last year.

Well, Christmas has come and gone, and it found its way under the tree.

That should come as no shock to anyone either, Dreamworks has been on a roll that the other studios haven't been able to match.

At least at our house, if not the box office.

I gave the nod to the original for my Top 10 of 2014 simply because I hadn't seen it before, so it was eligible.

Take it off the table, and Part 2 easily makes the Top 10 films of last year.

It's simply breathtakingly gorgeous, and the scope of the film grew tremendously since the first part.  Time has passed, the characters have aged and grown.

There will be a shift in the dynamics of the film by the time the credits roll.

Whether that's good... we'll find out in Part 3!

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: We own it, and are looking forward, sadly, to the final installment.

The Touching Tale Of A Girl And Her Dog... "Lilo & Stitch"

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Rated PG for violence

Starring the voices of Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Ving Rhames

Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

The Story:

Experiment 626 (Sanders) is destined for banishmen due to his destructive behavior, but escapes to Earth instead.  Meanwhile on Earth, Lilo (Chase) is having a hard time fitting in, being raised by her sister, Nani (Carrere) who faces the prospect of losing custody of Lilo by the new social worker, Mr. Bubbles (Rhames).  Landing in Hawaii, he is adopted as a dog by Lilo and renamed Stitch.  However, the galactic empire is coming to get Stitch back, dead or alive.

You know those critics that proclaim Frozen as the greatest film in a generation?

Let me offer up 2002's Lilo and Stitch as rebuttal.

Hogwash!

While this came after the Disney renaissance of The Little Mermaid-Lion King era, it more than stands on its own as one of Disney's best efforts at a time when every Pixar movie was a mega-hit and Disney was quickly becoming an afterthought.

Mixing several story modes at first might seem like a jumble, Sanders an DeBlois adeptly weave the tales of:

Galactic Prisoner Escape!
A Girl's First Pet
Custodial Issues
Despair Over Job Issues
Discovering Family

Into a charming, funny, and yes, sometimes even sad, tale that whisks the viewer into Lilo's world and holds you until the end.

Wisely, the movie was not a cutesy musical, but instead relied on Lilo's love of Elvis to provide musical narration for some classic comedy or cinematic narrative moments.

Also, the Hawaiian Roller Coaster original song during the surfing scene is a nice touch, again, a musical number without making the characters burst into song, nicely done.

The voice work is very well done, no distracting celebrity voice to possibly distract from the characters.

The great part about having kids of multiple ages, when you rediscover the good animated fare that you may not have seen for awhile as some of the kids have grown up and moved on.

Nice to see these two again after a few years!

Available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I already own it, but I'm glad it's streaming, that's what got it back on the radar!

How To Enjoy The Weekend Part 2: "How To Train Your Dragon 2"

How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

Rated PG for violence and dragons!

Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Honsou

Directed by Dean DeBlois

The Story:

It's been several years since we last met the Vikings of Berk on the big screen, and as the film opens, it turns out they have adjusted to life quite well being dragon-riders.  Stoik (Butler) has designs on Hiccup (Baruchel) taking over as Chieftan of Berk, but Hiccup is too busy trying to find his way in the world and deciding what he really wants to be.  He's having too much fun exploring the world with Toothless and discovering all of the new lands.  It's on one of these adventures when he discovers two very important things:  there is an evil army collecting dragons in preparation for war; there is a mysterious dragon-rider who has ties to Berk and could help Hiccup unlock more dragon secrets than he ever imagined.

Dreamworks Animation has done it again.

That's pretty much your spoiler-free review right there!

:)

If you loved the first one, and just about everyone who has ever seen it, does... well, you're going to love this one.

If you've missed the first one, I don't think you'd be too terribly lost.  The narration provides you everything you need to get caught up, but it doesn't feel like a horrid rehash of what has gone one before.

The animation is mesmerizing.  Such beautiful landscapes, it's absolutely breathtaking.

The voice work is top-notch, with several new characters being introduced alongside all of your favorites from the first film.

What can be said about Toothless?  Perhaps the cutest animal ever to appear on film.  Half cat... half dog...

All dragon.

The only piece of advice I might offer...

Don't be surprised if like over half of my viewing companions last night...

Tears might be shed.

You've been warned.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: It's a purchase...no question.  Only a few of the family will see it in theaters, the rest are waiting for DVD. 

Will there be a 3rd outing?  Hard to say, but if they choose to, we'll be back!

How To Enjoy Your Weekend..."How To Train Your Dragon"

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
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!

:)