Film Review: How To Train Your Dragon

Dreamworks. The company that has always had to compete with PIXAR. Most of the time, these guys get a bad cred. You can blame that on duds like Spirit, Shrek The Third and Madagascar 2. But with films like Shrek 1 & 2, Over The Hedge and Kung Fu Panda, these guys show they can do great cinema. They just need to get talented people to work on their films. This one has Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois in the director's chair. These guys worked on the classic Lilo & Stitch. So is it any wonder this is the best dreamWorks adventure yet?

Hiccup (Jay Bruchel) is a small viking on the island of Berk. While his friends are always battling dragons, he's working with Gobber (Craig Ferguson) as a blacksmith. However, he catches the rarest of all dragons: a Night Fury. But when he see's it for the first time, he just CAN'T kill the little critter he dubs Toothless. And thus, a classic film friendship is born.

Let's face it. This story has been told time after time again. But...this one just seems fresher, perhaps because this is the first pet that, y'know, kills people! Toothless, however, comes off more cute than ferocious. In fact, he has some of the best expressions that I've seen in animation in a LOOOOOOOOOONG time. He and Hiccup do make good buddies.



The voices in the film are really well, Jonah Hill and Craig Ferguson being stnad-outs. Gerard Butler also does well as Hiccup's father. Jay is alright as Hiccup, much better than I thought he would be thanks to those pesky TV commercials. Toothless, thank goodness, has no voice actor. That's probably for the best as he does perfectly fine here silent.

The animation also does well here. The background are beautiful and the dragons look really good too. This film just gets everything right, fromt pacing to action to animation. A highly reccomended ride in 3D or 2D!!



Rating: 9.0 out of 10 or A

SYS

Blu-Ray Review: The Polar Express 3D

The Polar Express is the scariest film I have ever seen. The characters delve into the Uncanny Valley so much, you wonder why Mo-Cap is even being used. Thankfully, Avatar and A Christmas Carol have improved the technology vastly, but this film remains a sore spot for all fans of animation.

In this film, a young boy learns to believe again, thanks to a magic train that takes him and other children to the North Pole.

This film really has too much padding in it to relaly be called a full motion picture and probably works better on TV where it should be. Tom Hanks is a great man, but he's stiff in his film despite haveing 5 roles. The whole film feels like it's some wasted oppurtunity of both acting and visuals. This film could've been the pinnacle of Christmas films like Miracle on 34th Street...instead it's as flat as a stale Christmas cookie.

Rating: 4.8 out of 10 or D+

SYS

Film Review: The Princess and the Frog

when I was growing up, I had an Uncle who had a large array of Disney movies on VHS. Before I could walk, I knew how to operate those babies (Yeah, I know. I'm old). I would watch Snow White, Lady and The Tramp & Winnie The Pooh again and again. So when Disney announced in 2004 that Disney would stop 2D forever, I was devastated. Tears were shed and I sure as heck wasn't pleased that Ron Clements and John Musker were thrown out of Disney. What would become of the Feature animation Department?

But in 2006, John Lasstter arrived and put a stop to the CGI madness. He brought forth 2D. Ron N' John were rehired and they had a new musical in the pipeline: The Princess and The Frog.

In the tale, Tiana wants to follow her father's dream and open up the biggest Resteraunt this side of Louisiana. However, she has soon become a workaholic and ignores all her friends and family. Soon, she meets Prince Naveen. Thanks to the evil Dr. Falicier, he has become a frog and his valet Lawernce is posing as the handsome Prince. Once Tiana plants a kiss on the prince ,it turns out trouble and adventure await the duo as they cross the New Orleans bayou to meet Mama Odie who is their only hope of fixing the spell.



Tiana is a wonderful princess. However, no offense to her, but she may be the weaker part of the film. Her companions are delightful. Prince Naveen is the best Disney Prince of all-time, hands down. Most Disney Princes have no defining characteristics (the only negative thing that can be really said about them), but he has a lot of reliance on people and doesn't get life itself. Tiana changes that for him of course. Louis is a fun character, he being a crocodile who wants to be in a band. He really stands out. Dr. Falicier is the best Disney Villain in years and has an outstanding number in the middle. His voodoo friends are really well-done.

The delight of the film is Ray, the Cajun firefly. I myself thought he was the bathroom joke spouting character, like Hurley in G-Force. However, he is actually the wonderful guru of the film, knowing much about love. His romance with a star he dubs Levangrie is beautiful and touching. SPOILER ALERT!!! His death is crushing, as Dr. Flaicier crushes him with a foot. With the sickening crunch that guaranteed his death, the audience gasped and so did I. During his funeral, everyone was crying, including me! SPOILER ALERT!!!!

The music here really fits in perfectly with the Disney Canon. Randy Newman was a choice that I was skeptical about, but he does nicley here. There are many nice numbers, but my favorites are "When We're Human", "Friends On The Other Side" & "Don't Matter What You Look Like" will have you tapping out of the aisle.



Hands down one of the best films of the year & decade, The Princess nad The Frog assures you Disney is still alive and well. Although a frog hunting scene could've been cut, that's the only thing I say was wrong with this classic worthy of Walt Disney himself. A masterpiece for generations to come, The Pricness and The Frog proves Disney is back and better than ever!

Rating: A or 9.4 out of 10

SYS

May I Borrow Studio Ghilbi?

Hayao Myhizaki's company has new project coming: "The Borrowers"! The man from PRincess Mononoke and Ponyo is supervising it. Hiromasa Yonebayashi shall direct and the film will premiere in 2010 in Japan. Exciting.

SYS

There's Snow Queen Like The Snow Queen

Disney will release this Friday The Princess and The Frog (which is why our name has changed again). They had a film called King of The Elves set for November 2012, but story problems have delayed it to 2013. What'll take it's place?

The Snow Queen, that's what.

The Snow Queen was mentioned as early in 2004, when Diseny Animation was going all CGI after the bombs off Atlantis and Home on The Range. The Snow Queen actually would've followed 2010's CGI musical Rapunzel. However, the new head of Disney Animation (John Lasster) entered and stopped all the projects coming out until that point in their tracks.

I love this idea, and the fact that it will be in 2D like The Princess and The Frog shows Disney is coming back better than ever.

Plus, Disney has a project slated for 2013/2014: Joe Jump. This was another CGI project that was cancelled, but John loves the idea, so he's giving it a retool, a la' Bolt.

This makes me feel much better about Disney Animation. Story comes first. Then, your dolls and such can come rolling in.

Oh, and finally, someone else has joined that 2010 production of Rapunzel. Donna Muprhy will voice the witch in the film. Nice cast choice.

SYS