Agreed. You get kudos for not being on the band wagon for this one. Your thoughts pretty much match my own on this movie. It was cute, but nothing ground breaking.

I feel this way about almost every movie that comes out. It's hyped so much that by the time you get to see it you're just like 'Oh...'

HOW TO MERCHANDISE YOUR SHIT AT WALMART...I MEAN TRAIN YOUR DRAGON.

Clash was fun but terrible, the original was too, so it was nothing unexpected.

That's great to hear! Me and my roommate were starting to feel pretty alone xD; Everyone at school is all like OH MY GOD HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON IS THE BEST MOVIE EVERS!! XDDDDDDDD O_O!!

and I'm just like...eehhhh

Yeah, honestly..I feel like Dreamworks only makes movie to get some sort of..merchandise marketing sort of thing going on. It's sad too, I kind of wanted to see about looking into the Dreamworks internship..but now I'm starting to lean towards Sony Imageworks.

Marketing and merchandising is a part and parcel of kids movies these days. Always has been. Just part of the industry. I had a friend who did a stint with dreamworks. Said they were actually really fun. So don't be put off by that! :)

Kinda how it was with avitar. does pocahontas ring a bell to the plot?

Lol, most definitely. Sadly though I enjoyed Avatar over HTTYD and Clash of the Titans, but not enough to get it on dvd.

Personally I think toothless looks really.. Well.. -->

He's pretty much the new Stitch. I:

I liked Stitch :<
Toothless is ew

I'm on the fence with this one...I liked HTTYD, but not enough to draw fanart or buy merch or go see it again (unless the ticket is free 8D). Still need to see Clash of the Titans.

My fave Dreamworks? It's close between El Dorado and Prince of Egypt.

Yeah, I mean, it's a cute movie and all..but it didn't do anything grounbreaking.

You should definitely see Clash of the Titans, I saw it twice!

Those are both two of my favorite Dreamworks movies too, I still need to get Prince of Egypt on dvd..

I want to SOBAD. Liam Neeson....<3

I need to get both DVD's, sadly.

We meant to go see Clash of the Titans but ended up running late and saw HTTYD instead XD

I like How to Train your Dragon, but yeah.
Not like
"HOLY CRAP THIS WAS THE BEES KNEES!"

It was cute.
So if that was it's purpose, to be a cute little kids movie, then it served it's purpose.
But it wasn't the best thing out there o____o;


Btw, did you see The Fantastic Mr.Fox?

The fact that you even used the phrase 'the bee's knees' makes you my hero of the day.

xD

X'D

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/3699550

See what you made me do?

Yeah, nicely put. 0:

I've seen the Fantastic Mr.Fox! Now that's one good movie, another movie I need to add to my collection.

Right there with ya :]

Prince of Egypt.

Good choice, I actually watched it a kind of recently. C: It used to scare me as a kid because anything highly religious creeped me out xD;

I appreciate a lot now though. 0:

Fair enough. I disagree, personally, but I can agree to disagree. This is exactly how I felt about fucking Twilight. XD
I just loved HTTYD myself. I loved everything about it haha. But it's cool. :3

...Twlight? LOL. I meant AVATAR. Whoops. Sorry. DERP.


Also. I like Shrek, Madagascar and HTTYD best, btw.

Lol Avatar xD; I had mixed feelings about Avatar. It was "okay", but also it also used a very generic plot line. Ferngully in space?? Meh. I would see it again though, mostly for those pretty graphics and awesome creatures they made.

But yeah, I agree to this fairness, everyone's got their own opinion. C:

I thought Avatar was good to watch like...eye candy. But in general the story was so overdone and unoriginal. More-so than HTTYD imo. Not even an hour in I don't think I was like, "....Pocahontas? ....HI JOHN SMITH! 8D".
With HTTYD I loved the music and characters and thought the animation was outstanding. I dunno, I just thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm dying to go again.



...But I am basically stoked for Toy Story 3. 8T And Legends of the Guardians or whatever. Geoffrey Rush doing more voice acting? Yes. Yes plz.

/Pointless banter you likely don't care about. ^^;

Oh geez..I'm so excited for Toy Story 3, you have no idea.

ANDY IS HOT NOW.

Technically isn't dragons "dances with wolves" (the other main Avatar "inspiration")... with dragons? I thought at least dreamworks veiled this story a little better than Avatar did.

eh,i liked it. im not about to go and do fan art of it,but i liked it. i don't think that those comparisons that you drew to other movies were necessarily true,but i do agree that the movie didn't do anything particularly interesting. i guess one thing we can take out of HTTYD is thank god it's not another tim burton movie.

Can you imagine if HTTYD was a Tim Burton movie? God, I'd likely die. His movies have gone so down hill. :c

you know what's worse i used to adore tim burton. like idolize him when i was a kid. but when i saw his rendition of planet of the apes i wanted to kick myself in the mouth.

Oh man I'd actually love to see Tim Burton's version of HTTYD, like if he were the guy who originally came up with it. I think the biggest part of his recent downhillness is that he hasn't done anything of his own, just re-visions to already existing things, rather than him losing his director abilities.

Lol, they're just silly sarcastic comparisons anyways. xD; hah.

Yeah, eh, Tim Burton is okay..but yeah, at least it's not another one of THOOSEEE movies.

http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/1308291/


I felt similarly :3

The Crow? That's not such a bad movie... Then again, maybe I'm thinking of a different movie?

The Crow..with the dude who died and when he comes back to life he kills the people who killed him and raped/killed his girlfriend? xD;

It's....definitely better than the crappy sequels I've been told about, but that movie is so heavily LOL GOFFIK BADASSERY it just kills me.

Oh, in THAT way! Then I understand =D

I saw it just yesterday and I was quite looking forward to it after hearing nothing but praises, but left somehow unimpressed. As far as Dreamworks movies go it was definitely the best, I loved the dragons and vikings but the story was kinda meh :/ few parts didn't make sense to me either but I guess it's just a cartoon so no one cares.

Lol, yeah you're telling me. There were so many parts they only covered like once and should have revisited. I: I could hear my concept teacher ranting in my head the whole time.

I feel like I have to disagree with you about Clash of the Titans here. How can you have characters develop when they barely have anything to develop? In my opinion the religious zealot and the hunters were the most interesting characters in the whole movie. Everyone else felt pretty genericly badass. The pacing of the movie bothered me, especially with Medusa. It seemed like, whoops we don't have a way for these normal dudes to get out of the Underworld...eh, let's just kill 'em all. And in all honesty I think the scorpions were the biggest challenge they faced.

But obviously you liked it enough to see it twice. XD Whatever floats your boat.

Idk, maybe I'm biased because I have a thing for Greek Mythology, but the reason why I say those guys are developed is because they kind of changed throughout the movie. Like, at least more than the characters of HTTYD did, they barely changed at all. Pretty much I was making comparison. xD; Like you know how in the beginning they didn't really take a liking to Perceus at all, they hated him, they wanted to get rid of him and were very rash. However, they came to realize that in order to save their city, they're gonna have to learn to get along with him. They also had a bit of change of heart too. Even if characters are minor in a story, they should still change. 0: At least that's what I've been told and tend to follow for myself.

I only saw the movie twice because I was dragged to it the first time, then some friends of mine in the area wanted me to come to the movies with them the next day..and to my surprise they all wanted to see Clash of the Titans xD; Which was fine, it helped me understand the movie a little bit better. I do agree with you with the troubles they faced, those parts felt a little rushed..a little too rushed. Especially the Medusa one, but there lies where that little change of heart came into play for all of them that I mentioned.

I like the crow >:

Haven't seen HTTYD yet but this is the first negative review I heard. But I will see for my self before I decide my stance on it.

My favorite DreamWorks movie is actually "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" xD But I think you mean animation so...

My favorite would be Madagascar I think :3 Just the first one. Lovely characters, very memorable film, very unique, with beautiful art.

Eh, The Crow is..alright, it just screamed LOL GOTHIC BADASSERY to me throughout the entire movie xD; I pretty much laughed at it the entire time.

Fff, any dreamworks movie is fine actually, it would be nice to suggest others actually C: Gives me some moves to add to my list of movies to see.

Maybe my opinion of The Crow is tinted by the fact that I was only 6 or 7 when I saw it. xD

You ever seen Meet the Fockers? xD It's a funny DreamWorks movie if you're into that kind of thing. I really like Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, but that may have more to do with the FANTASTIC sound track than the actual movie. As for their animations... Prince of Egypt has already been said, but Joseph: King of Dreams is great too. I also really liked Over the Hedge if you haven't seen it. It's an old, old plot (forest animals revolt against humans after their woods are taken over) but with a fun, original twist. The Road to El Dorado and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas were good, but only if you're into that kind of thing.

I probably just listed a bunch of movies you've already seen, but they're the only ones that came to mind immediately. xD

i really liked httyd, i dont think it was made as a gimmick and for comedy's sake, tho now i feel a bit lame for liking it after reading this.

Fff, no need to feel lame, it's okay! I'm just looking at it from the critical side because that's the kind of industry I'm hoping to go into eventually and from my experiences with story and character development so far, I'm very biased and put my knowledge to the test per say. So pretty much, don't mind what I have to say xD; Everyone's got their own opinions.

i really hope to go into the same industry one day (though australia has no suitable courses, least not the side im in anyway) and sometimes, a simple plot is all a film needs, but i dunno, it was intentionally made for kids, after seeing it second time, i could notice all the small artistic details and expressions that made me enjoy the film on a deeper level.

You are definitely not the only one. I loved toothless beyond words but the rest of the movie fell flat. From an animation standpoint, especially since i'm in college for that now, Dreamworks has never really blew me away with anything. They have this style that they stick in every movie they do, regardless of who works on it, that is just to corny, overused, and goofy to me personally. It was ridiculously rushed, and when it wasn't flying by it was at a dead standstill. While I adored Toothless' character design all the others left me unimpressed. You pretty much hit the nail on the head with the whole thing though. I was bored with the majority of it, only the scenes where toothless and hiccup interacted and the fight scene at the end caught my whole interest. Hiccup's voice was driving me crazy, this may just be me but I can't stand Jay Baruchel as a voice actor, it's too distracting and high pitchy.

I guess I enjoyed it for the most part but yet again Dreamworks has neither blew me away nor failed miserably *shrugs* I agree with your opinions on Spirit, and how Road to El Dorado was the best last heartfelt movie by them

Was Clash of the Titans good? I was going to see it but I heard such downer reviews about it.

We're on the same page with this <3 I also found Hiccup's voice acting to be pretty annoying and hard to follow sometimes. Did you find yourself asking why the entire time? I know I did, this was mostly because they left a lot of parts unvisited again, as in, they only showed something once and that was it. The biggest one was with the Dragons Cave. Why didn't they show that again instead?? Why didn't the Vikings have some epic journey up that rocky mountain instead of being lazy and blowing up the side of the wall? xD; WHY? How did they even know that was the right mountain??

I was so frustrated, I have never asked WHY so many times for a movie.

Clash of the Titans is actually just...hilariously bad, okay, but HILARIOUSLY bad and that's why I enjoyed it. If you like Greek Mythology, you'll enjoy it even if it's horrible. 0: The CGI will give you a bit of a headache though..

I think the biggest thing to remember that people, especially this fandom, is very susceptible to fads.


I still haven't seen it, no money :I

Well I definitely disagree with you on pretty much every level, but one reason I support it is because I would prefer Dreamworks made fewer movies that were all about pop culture references and milking cash cows. I felt this film had a lot more polish and attention to detail than their previous films, except perhaps Kung Fu Panda. But then Kung Fu Panda had a very thin story as well AND we were treated to funny talking animals for the bajillionith time. Was this a Pixar-quality film? Maybe not, I think Pixar has stronger stories typically (except Cars...) but it was one of their better designed films and I'm hoping any sequels this generates will be better fleshed out.
Perhaps part of the problem stems from its early development. The project had a real hard time getting off the ground, most of the film was nearly done before Sanders and co came on board and changed a LOT. Hence why Toothless looks so distinctly different than the rest of the film's dragons (Toothless being a Sanders design, the other dragons were by Nico Marlet). But ya know, I can't help but like even a Stitchified dragon. I'd feel differently if this was the billionth Stitch character out of a huge line of characters (that crappy tv series doesn't count) but I'm cool with expressive amphibian-based dragon with plasma blasts. He's like a living jet, with a flamethrower attached!
And the flying scenes were so pretty

oh er,i thought the emoticon was drool

*nod nod*

Oh yeah, you're definitely right about it having a hard time with it's development. I felt as though the advertising for this film only came up about...maybe last semester for me, or maybe even when this semester started. Then two months later it's been released. Idk, maybe that's just me.

Is this the first movie Dreamworks based off a book? I can't really recall. I can also agree that it is better than Shrek and Madagascar, but I like Kung fu Panda better than HTTYD. It definitely wasn't a pixar quality film, but like I said, I wasn't going in with any sorts of high expectations or anything. I will forever have great respect and high hopes for Pixar. They've never let me down.

Dreamworks..eh, I feel like they need to get their act together and it looks like they are. HTTYD is definitely a step up from what they usually do and it would be great if they continued to go in that direction. I just wish they would spend more time on development and pre-production, I always get this kind of rushed feeling with their stuff. I didn't feel that way with Kung Fu Panda though, it felt well developed to me.

I think KFP benefitted from a very simple story and a clear goal: kung fu movie lover letter. It boiled down to that. HTTYD is a step in the right direction though, where they start taking some of their good design sense and begin making less kitshy pop crap (omg SharkTale...hated...so....much) and more of a solid film. Though, the ads for Megamind have me doubting if they'll really change anything.

Yeah, exactly. God I hated SharkTale so much you have no idea.

I saw the ad for Megamind..I really don't know how to feel about it.

to be honest i wasnt expecting much, and in the end i actually enjoyed it.

THe animation was good in my opinion, including the little minor details in expression, and the dragon flight.
The only thing that i wasnt to keen on was the fact that vikings never really wore horns on their head...but then again, there were no such thing as a dragon with retractable teeth - so not really much of a complaint X3

i guess it's just based on peoples preferences, i hear many people don't like it, but i for one was happy that i saw it.

I actually saw a behind the scenes video that commented on the horned helmets. The producers did some research and actually learned that vikings didn't have horns on their helmets, but it's become such a stereotype that they included them to cater to the audience's expectations.

i liked what happened at the end with hiccup, wasnt expecting that for a dreamworks kids film.
i agree, not the best film of the year - but an enjoyable family flick (i took my 8year old sister to watch it) funny cos even she pointed out that thing with the horns X3
only thing that spoilt it for me was the 12 year old brats behind me swaring their head of, kicking the back of my chair and talking on the phone during the film...
seriously...i wanted to inflict some violence >_<

lol lucky you X3
I love it when its quiet like that.

unfortunately, this was Easter break AND Orange Wednesdays (by one get one free tickets on an orange contract)
next time thres a film on, i will be attending the new adult only screening, and il sit there and enjoy the film with a glass of wine haha

there hardly is any fan art of him dude

i quite liked it :/ (saw with yesterday)

but i actually thought it moved kind of slow. I suppose its because i saw the ads for it and thought hiccup became friends with toothless earlier on than he did, so i was like... UM.... ?

but i found it quite enjoyable <3

The Vikings had Scottish accents XD

Also... I liked the movie, but what blew me out of the water was the digital effects and how special Toothless was. The plot was painfully simple and easy to read from the start.
I was also really pleased to see that Chris Sanders had part in this... then Toothless's design made sense XD He looked so darned familiar to me.

I thought it was cute. Clearly for kids. GREAT movie to STARE AT!

Yeah, it's mostly a kids movie definitely! The animation was spectacular, and Toothless had a cute design..but asides all of that I just feel pretty unimpressed. q_q;

I think I know why you're unimpressed and why most of us old-school animation fans are more-or-less bored to tears and disappointed at times.
If I ramble, I apologize XD

This is just speculation,
but I think what may be the problem with animated movies and cartoons shows of today is that they will never EVER be the animated movies that we grew up with. Nothing will ever compare to that first time you watched The Lion King, or watched Transformers or Care Bears for the first time on TV...or David the Gnome or Maya the Bee, etc etc... But, without bias, if you watch alot of shows (for instance), alot of them are the same quality and almost the same humor. We can say that Duck Tales was the best show on television, but have you watched an episode of it now?...it really is kind of a crappy show and not even funny XD... but as a child I HAD to have my Duck Tales or I'd flip a nut. Spongebob may not be Rocko's Modern Life...but the animation and oddballery is somewhat similar...but of course all of us 80's kids are going to pick on Spongebob and talk up Rocko because that's what we LOVED as kids.
The kids of today are going to say "Hey remember the Suite Life of Zack and Cody?...boy those were the days, the shows on TV will never be that good ever again." And we're sitting here saying the same thing about My Brother and Me, Salute Your Shorts, etc <---and our parents were probably saying those shows kind of sucked compare to THEIR shows. XD

But the point I'm trying to make is that it's not so much that these new animated movies are really not that great, I think that we as long-time animation fans are trying to fish for that feeling we got from childhood that we got from the movies we had back then. But we will probably never have that experience again because we AREN'T the youth of today... we're just adults that are young at heart that are always groping for that feeling we got watching Fern Gully and planting seeds in the backyard right afterwards. We're old farts trying to find our youth again :]

HTTYD, the Princess and The Frog, etc etc we NOT bad movies (although there are very BAD kids movies out there these days but these aren't one of them)...they just aren't Aladdin, or the Little Mermaid, or Balto.... you know what I mean? Am I talking out of my butt at all, because I'm having a hard time summing this up XD Forgive me if I have some holes in this hypothesis. lol...if anyone has some thoughts totally jump in XD

<3

There is a truth to that in some sense, but things changed when producers realized OMG THIS MAKES BILLIONS LETS MAKE MORE OF THE SAME.

At that moment all artists and animators wept, because their creations became all about the marketing and not the content. Because of producers and moneymongering, animation storytelling stagnated, instead of growing with the times. When producers saw the new stuff not raking in Lion King size BILLIONS, they figured that it was because that no one wanted that, and then they started shutting things down.

This could become an even larger dissertation than yours, so I'll leave mine at that, but if you want to find out more, just watch something on iTunes called "Dream on Silly Dreamer", which is the personal accounts of animators in the huge crash and firings. (it's a few bucks, but it is worth it if you are into animation)

It's always been a fight between producers and filmmakers, or in layman's terms businessmen and artists.

Oh, now my interest is peaked! I need to see this. I might get emotional though.

And then I looked at the page of who I was replying to and immediately thought "hey they prolly know what I just said and then some". xD Let's just say it was for other people's benefit.

You know, I didn't know ANYTHING about HTTYD until I saw the mounds and heaps of merch at Wal-Mart. XD That says something huh.

And thank you :]

Oh no, I've actually already accepted that fact, with me going into that sort of industry and all. Movies and shows we cherished as children will always be in our hearts and there for nice nostalgia, but movies of today will never be like that. Sad, but true. People who make movies today are simply trying to move forward and I can come to terms with that. I used to really hate 3D movies, really hate them! Then I finally accepted that I was gonna be going into that field..sucked it up, watched some 3D movies..,mainly pixar ones, and well..just accepted that 2-D is never going to be the big thing anymore. I came to appreciate the work that goes into making 3D movies because it's really hard work. It's easy to learn how to traditionally animate, but have you ever tried your hand at 3-D animating? That's some tough shit, I decided to back down from it instead of giving it another go and instead go into visual development since I have a good chance there too.

I've actually thought about those things as well xD Like how kids of today are gonna be all like OH YOU REMEMBER THOSE AWESOME PIXAR MOVIES AND KUNG FU PANDA?? Those were the best!! Why don't they make movies like THAT anymore? It's going to be the same cycle because my parents do the same thing with the stuff they grew up with. They grew up with Star Wars, I grew up with the Lion King..and well..kids of today are going to grow up with Pixar movies and over awesome 3-D movies that have taken over. It's not a bad thing, it's just time for change is all.

I'm disappointed with Dreamworks movies because they have spectacular art and animation, it's really great but..you can have great animation and art direction and still have a horrible movie. U: Everything they do feels so..not pulled together sometimes. Kung Fu Panda was an exception to this, to me, it's one of their best 3D movies.

With the Princess and the Frog, it was great too, but still felt a little flat. Kind of like an awesome bottle of soda that's about to go flat but you can still drink it and be somewhat satisfied. That awesome soda used to be Disney's better movies and were great when you first opened that bottle of soda...then you let it sit out for a while..and you're getting movies like Princess and the Frog now. Still good, but not as great as the classics. Can still appreciate it though.

I love your "awesome soda that's about to go flat but you can still drink it and be somewhat satisfied" analogy! It's so true. See, they weren't BAD movies...just kind of....eh *shurg* Nice to stare at but doesn't grip you by the heart like Disney movies of yester-year. *sigh*

When you mentioned it I was reminded, when are you done with school?! Do you have any job offers? Or would you rather note this info? ;] I'm very excited for you that your going to work in animation, you deserve it! Good luck on that front!

But yes, I think we see eye to eye here :]

Lol they did xD

oh man, it wasnt just me then? :D

Haha, NOPE! I said right in the movie theater out loud "The Viking's have Scottish accents?!" I don't think anyone heard me but Roy. Pitty.
Big hairy blood-thirsty men have to immediately have a heavy Scottish brogue no matter what nationality they are. :]

I felt the same way about Bolt really, was cute but the hype was ridicules. I think it's hard to make a dragon movie original now a days.

Lol oh god..don't get me started on Bolt, I liked it but was so upset with it all at once.

Same here, It was one of those movies that was cute and nice the first time, then impossible to watch a 2nd.

Eh, I've watched it a few times but I haven't in a while. U: Are you like me and noticed the recycled use of plot from 101 Dalmatians 2 with a few minor changes? I think that's kind of what got to me a little, idk why, but it did. It's like they took Thunderbolt and redesigned him into a mini white gsd.

Ya, well I've noticed more and more that movie plots especially for all these animated movies are just being re-used. I think what really ruined Bolt for me was the excessive amount of smut here on FA, that and my 2nd time watching it I watched it with about 4 male furries, one of which started actually crying.

Bolt is better than HTTYD to be honest, since at least disney has more quality in their movies

I agree, it is better because I asked my mom to get it for me on dvd xD If I like something that much, I'm going to get it! Ragh.

I was just disappointed with the recycled use of plot for Bolt..

true, it did have that superhero type thing to it, but since John Lastter (love the man now that he runs both disney and pixar)had a small part in it, i cannot even hate it

DVD is worth it, escappaly the 2 pack dvd set with extras

true, it did have that superhero type thing to it, but since John Lastter (love the man now that he runs both disney and pixar)had a small part in it, i cannot even hate it

DVD is worth it, escappaly the 2 pack dvd set with extras

Did you know that Bolt was originally going to be directed by Chris Sanders? It was called American Dog then... Then the higher ups gave him the boot when he wouldn't step in line and... NOW HE IS AT DREAMWORKS and made dragons. and they lived happily ever after.

You know what? I remember that! A friend and I were really excited it about it then just reading about it....
Thennn they showed some pre-veiws

Oh I remember hearing about that, they should have left it to him. He probably wouldn't have made it a rip from 101 Dalmatians 2. I: Unless he was gonna be given the same script or something.

Personally, I liked it, but I thought the characters were a bit bland and didn't stand out that well (forgettable is what I'm getting at). Still, I think it was alright, though not one of my favorite DreamWorks SKG films.

Eh it's okay, it's just felt very flat all around. I think Toothless was the only character that stood out to me the most, but he still makes me think of Stitch. U:

only dreamworks movie that was good imo was kung fu panda tbh

I'd rather go see toy story 3 or any disney movie instead

I'd rather see Toy story 3 as well, I'm so excited for it! :D

since pixar has never failed once (must be luck) and that pixar's leader is runing both disney and pixar now, all is good

I thoroughly enjoyed the visuals and the lighting especially, I personally thought the story was strong in some areas and blandly generic in others. I never once thought of a Bug's Life though...mm. I can kind of see what you mean now. Anyway, it's good to not have a sheep mentality with regards to movies and art appreciation, so varying opinions are nice.. Even Dreamworks is aware that Wal-mart and marketing execs were especially whorish on this one. "ALL THE DRAGONS MUST DO SOMETHING SPECIAL AND UNIQUE AND BE LIKE POKEMON"...with the pokey and the mon and the guy runs around and a zip zop zoppity bop. XD

Yeah, and those bland parts made the rest of the movie very flat xD; I just..aughhh, I wish I could get my teacher's opinion on it! She would agree with me, she's so anal about these types of things and always so right. Some of the problems in this movie are actually listed in the book she wrote with Gary and some other dude. I need to look them up.

sdjhgsdf lol, that's an amazing analogy.

I personally only like the movie because I wanted Dreamworks to makes something a bit more... original for them. There formula has been snarky sarcastic pop culture references everywhere. Then they were exploring a new formula, snarky sarcastic goofy genre riffs. And now they have... generic adventure story, with things that are genuinely funny. I'd rather have the generic classical adventure then the rest of the stuff they made (ever tried watching shrek lately? Only a few scenes I really still find funny. :<

In short, I'm only glad to see that they are stepping back towards more quality storytelling (I'll allow originality to come later when they get their crap together). Then I saw the trailer for Megamind and skulked away disappointed. T_T

Well, another beef I have with this movie is that from my roommate I hear it's actually very similar to a movie called Dragon Hunters. I'm sure they were both based off the same book, but when I heard that that erased originality from my mind for this movie. I looked Dragon Hunters for myself and what do you know, they're both very similar. HTTYD just looks more polished because they have more money to do that I guess, but if you compare the two they are both very similar. Kind of like the Kimba vs. TLK debate really, that's how I feel about it. No one cares about how similar it is to another bumfuck movie from France, it's SO much better and that's what counts!! Right?? Eh.

Like I mentioned to Fable, I do appreciate the direction they're going in though. It's fantastic and I hope they continue to go in that direction, but spend more time on production and fleshing out on all the elements that bring the plot together. <_> That way their films won't feel so flat.

Heh, and all the hype was because the marketing for the film sucked pretty bad and all the animation geeks who check out all the animation blogs all wanted to help bump the movie (it's first week was REALLY bad for most of dreamworks fare.). The movie would've likely been forgotten without the hype and word-of-mouth buzz. Thus the OMG WE MUST HYPE THIS MOVIE rage that happened with the animation community.

i never saw a lot of advertising for HTTYD, and my formula usually goes: how much advertising there is = directly related to how shitty the movie will be.

avatard had more advertising than i cared to shake a stick at. that was one steaming load.

pretty much this as well |D from other animators to animation students like myself and others who have been dying for this to come out, then were 100% pleased with it... we want to bump up this animation and make sure it doesn't end like El Dorado, where dreamworks stops trying to do stuff like that because it didn't make enough :C

Exactly. I'd rather get dreamworks to do more of this then more of Madagascar. I cried when I heard children at the zoo referring to the giraffes as "Melmans". In contrast, when they referred to blue tangs as "Dory fish" and clowns as "Nemo" I had a warmer feeling.

And that had all to do with how I felt about the integrity of story.

Lol I see, yeah that happened a lot here amongst the Animation and Game majors here at my college. They were so HYPED AND PUMPED!!! I guess their excitement just kind of annoyed me..mostly because they were ready to defend the movie against anyone who had anything negative to say about it. They literally shunned anyone who felt indifferent about the movie.

HOWWW DAREEE YOUUU HAVE ANOTHER OPINION OTHER THAN MINE?? THIS IS MOVIE IS THE GOING TO BE THE BEST MOVIE EVER, IF YOU AS DO DARE TO OPPOSE TO IT I WILL SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE THROWN FROM THE 3RD FLOOR INTO A PIT OF FLAMESSSSSSSSS

Haha, that's like how it was with the Avatards at my school. :P

i loved httyd,

i agree the story wasnt ground breaking, but it was fresh. i totally did not see the adorableness of the dragons or the giant dragon, or the eventual end coming initially. i dislike dreamwork a lot usually, but in this movie i was genuinely surprised and pleased and was able to get into it.

i just wish Chris Sanders had designed more of the dragons.

maybe its just me, but yes you can fool me by having big huge lizards acting like big scaley cat/birds if you throw in a neat little plot additive (the huge dragon, they had to raid to feed that beast) along with a solid plot line.

i mean, i guess something along the lines of "dad you don't understand me > son proves himself > father/son/issue resolve" has been done before, but you can say that for any movie. i think HTTYD was able to take an old story of dragons vs people and give it a super fresh sweet new outlook. <3

Yeah, it was pretty fresh with HTTYD, I don't really recall Dreamworks doing a whole father/son sort of plot before..besides the little bit in Kung Fu Panda, but still, nothing groundbreaking. I:

I wish Chris Sanders did more of the dragons too, he would have done a better job too. The rest of them felt kinda..well........derp. Like, idk, Toothless just stood out SO much than the other dragons, it was kind of visually annoying.

i though the others were cute, but yes, it is annoying how he stands out so starkly.

How To Train Your Dragon was okay... not great but okay. Clash of the Titans, for me, was actually just as thinly plotted with as weak of characters as the Dragon movie.They both also lacked the necessary awe factor to where you sit there and say, "This is why I'm watching this." I mean I honestly didn't care what happened to anyone in either movie.

Honestly, when you sit there during the movie and think, "Friday the 13th had more characters I cared about" there's something wrong.

Lol, that's actually how I felt about Clash of the Titans when I first saw it, I was so "meh" towards it and stuff felt rushed and what not. ZEUS'S ARMOR WAS INCREDIBLY RIDICULOUS and Hades was so lol I am the shadow archetype for this movie, see how obnoxiously obvious it is.

Then I saw it again, wide awake this time, and was like hey this movie is actually okay..even if I couldn't stop being like Lol Jake Sully the whole time.

I'd probably feel the same way with HTTYD if I saw it a 2nd time, but I feel way too annoyed with it to see it again. q_q Maybe when it comes out on dvd I'll see it then.

Well one of the other problems I had with Clash was that it was trying way to hard plus was I the only one who sat there and said, "That's a lot of helicopter shots of guys walking, are they going to Mordor or something?" Also I think Clash needed more intrigue. Something to make the characters more human and flesh out some of the relationships and make me care about characters and all. In some respects I was more impressed with Percy Jackson than Clash of the Titans.

On another note what other movies are you looking forward to this year if any?

Yeah, they were trying a bit too hard and trying to be over the top, which was the most annoying thing about the movie. WE USE THE BEST EFFECTS, LOOK AT THEM!!! SO GOOD!!

Hm, one movie I'm looking forward to see actually is Despicable me, that movie looks like it's going to be fantastic. :D

Oh I agree. I also laughed when they started talking about how nobody could ride the Pegasus. To which I said... "Oh he'll do it. He'll ride that thing like he did the giant dinosaur bird thing, and had an android endoskeleton. What other impossible thing will Mr. Worthington do," Then I paused and said, "Turn Ellen Straight!"

I think Despicable me might be good fun.

Dragon had really nice flight sequences; some of the best I've ever seen. The plot was predictable and the characters were flat. I'm not sure I understand the idea of upsetting the natural balance of the dragons' lives by killing their queen or whatever. Isn't this a bit like trying to free the bees from tyranny by squashing their queen?

Clash was terrible, though. The CGI looked rushed, the central thesis of the film was completely muddled ("I don't need the help of the gods to stand as a man! BTW dad, thanks for the magic sword and flying horse. Couldn't have done it without you.") None of the actors really seemed to fit their roles, the women were just randomly thrown into the story because some executive in Hollywood was like, "The film needs some badass woman in it, because that's what action movies are supposed to have." And... there was a general sense of remaking something that never needed to be remade in the first place. Also the way he gets the girl? I understand Zeus is right there and Deus ex Machina is his shtick but... seriously, that's the best they could come up with?

Lol, you know, I can actually agree with you there about Clash. The CGI was actually giving me a head ache, a serious headache. Especially with the scene with the scorpions? Geez, please tone down those maps! It was kind of an eye sore and so were the wide desert scenes. I was just like

please

zoom

in

That and the random shaky camera. Argh. Idk, Clash had some really horrible things about it too I admit, but my bias towards the fact that it was a greek mythology sort of film made me like it more than HTTYD I guess. That and the fact that it was horrible made it more enjoyable to me because I tend to make snarky remarks when I'm watching a movie. So it was fun, as opposed to HTTYD...all I could hear was my concept teacher ranting in my head about all the parts they only visited once and I found myself asking "why?" a lot. The animation was certainly better than Clash's though and didn't give me that much of a headache.

I couldn't disagree more about the character development, being that that movie was a giant crock of loop holes, bullshit, and pretty graphics that almost look better WITHOUT the 3-D. I mean seriously, how can you do THAT BAD with a story that's all ready been written. Either way, I def see what the hype is about even with the simplicity. Great writing, great characters, great animation, unique designs, something both adults and kids would completely enjoy.

Also I think you might need to watch bug's life again 9A6 beyond the "I'm a different inventor that just wants to be like everyone else/accepted" which has been done in countless movies I don't see the correlation. That and that Hiccup decides does not want to be like everyone else and would rather pursue his own goals than the goals he feels would 'benefit the colony' so to speak...

Either way, no movie is for everyone :C I'm sorry you couldn't enjoy as much it just because people think it's amazing.

^Note that Im talking about Titans at the beginning |D what a pile of shit

Lol..I think I'm just a little biased because I'm a fag for Greek Mythology and can get into movies like that. I agree though, there were some loop holes in that movie and were bits of rushed parts, but I definitely wasn't bored though. That and the little changes from the characters in Clash of Titans seemed more..well, idk, more obvious to me than the ones from HTTYD. Then once again, I'm biased, probably not the best person to get an opinion on that movie xD; I love anything that has to do with Greek stuff.

Which is why, I guess, people liked HTTYD because it was all about dragons and that's what makes it COOL. According to a friend of mine that goes to school with me and her other little circle of friends. They have confirmed that the movie is TOTALLY AWESOME because it has Vikings and Dragons, because you know, that's what counts.

Yeah, you're right though, everyone's going to like different movies. xD I know some movies my friends are crazy about aren't necessarily my cup of tea.

it was nice and clear, a tad cliche but thats with any movie. The image they went with really complimented the plot. Nico marlets designs were hilarious and cute. Personally I preferred his designs to toothless, but toothless did what he was supposed to do, empathy wise. I think it's a good reaction to pixars latest films like up and wall e, keeping with the really straightforward story, and stylized quality. I see why everyone likes it and I like it too, but that's opinion

Yeah, I see what you mean. With all the hype that Pixar is getting I can see they want to get their act together and this movie was a very positive step. That doesn't mean they don't have competition though, Sony is starting to get up there too with their recent movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I loved that movie to death. U:

I too see why everyone likes HTTYD, and it's understandable. C:

*eloquence shattered* cloudy was the best : DDD I laughed my ass off my seat within 5 mins

I getcha with hype being somewhat unbearable, it does tend to ruin/ jade alotta things

I would have to say that my favorite Dreamworks movie WAS Up, but after seeing it so many times because my son likes it so much it's gotten old.

I actually didn't like the fact that Toothless was really similar to Stitch. It kind of made me cringe at times because I was expecting the cutest dragon character ever, and all I got was a different character with the same looks and personality as Stitch which kind of ruined both characters for me. )))):

Other than that., I REALLY love that one big dragon with the big chin that has to turn his head to see you, the Deadly Nadder. HEEHEEEEE

UP was Pixar, not Dreamworks.

Please never say this blasphemy again, thanks.

._. Fft... My bad.

Lol yes, Up is Pixar, which is why it's amazing.

I didn't like that either about Toothless, why was this okay? Why was this approved? I will never understand this and it's part of my copious amount of why questions for this movie. q_q;

I liked the red dragon..is that the one you mean? I forget xD;

Yeah, for some reason I thought I remembered hearing the Dreamworks introduction for Up... but I apparently was mistaken. xD lolol

UH UHH.. No. I think he's blue and sooo pretty. Here he is: http://movietimewallpaper.com/Pics/.....0Wallpaper.jpg

keheehee

I haven't seen it yet but still want to but as far as generic plots go that's something that's REALLY turning me off from seeing Avatar (which I don't plan on seeing any time soon if ever xD)

..honestly I liked Avatar better than HTTYD xD;; Avatar was horribly generic, but god damn those fucking graphics and creatures are so amazing. I have my beefs with Avatar too, really horrible nitpicky ones, but if I had to pick between Clash of the Titans, HTTYD and Avatar..I'd go with Avatar.

I really liked it, not just cuz everyone says so.

Well that's good!

The dad changed. and lol everyone in the village changed.

and now that you mention it, there are some significant similarities between HTTYD and a Bug's Life, but it isn't exactly the same (unlike how Avatar literally IS Ferngully/ Pocahontas/ Dances with wolves ) :B

and sure, it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen, it was by no means horrible, I'd actually say its the best I've seen from dreamworks in quite some time.

Fff, I actually didn't notice the similarities between Flik and Hiccup until my roommate mentioned it xD; I was just like oh god you're right!

Yeah, I mean, it isn't the worst movie in history or anything, but it is a very positive step for Dreamworks. I hope they continue in the direction they're going with their films.

I liked HTTYD primarily for art direction, animation and design aspects... as well as the fact that it was drastically better than most of Dreamworks' 3D features (sans Kung-Fu Panda, which I swear gets better every time I watch it). One thing I absolutely LOVED was the texturing and the details on the characters - the BEARDS omg. And the freckles. And the sunburns. And Hiccup had a tiny scar on his chin that they never drew much attention to but you could tell it was there and AUGH. So awesome. HTTYD was also the first movie I saw in 3D, and those flying scenes were phenomenal.

On the downsides, I agree that the story was pretty generic and the character development could have been improved (I wanted more of the twins ). The other problems I had with it were some of the "familiar moments"; Toothless and Hiccup took Astrid flying = Aladdin's "A Whole New World" sequence. Hiccup holding out his hand and Toothless nosing it = "Spirit". Hiccup chasing Toothless around with the harness = "Spirit" again. The whole "Toothless is a black dragon and has a drastically different look than the other dragons" = Temeraire (but I think that one is a longer shot because I don't know how many people have read Temeraire, haha).

I kind of wish there was some 2D in HTTYD though... it seemed like that was kind of becoming a fad a couple years ago, putting little 2D animated sequences in 3D movies (Kung-Fu Panda, Horton Hears A Who, the credits in Pixar movies and Bolt, etc.) Seeing the dragon concept drawings in the credits was awesome, though.

Also there was a "crap my pants" joke and I was like, ok dreamworks was that completely necessary

As far as fav. Dreamworks movie, I liked KFP, El Dorado, and I do admit I start sobbing every time I watch "Spirit". That opening sequence omg.

El Dorado and Antz have to be my favorite Dreamworks animated films. Or rather, the only ones I genuinely enjoyed. The rest are all good for a cheap laugh or two, but the writing never really rises above just mediocre. :p

I hardly think that "Prince of Egypt" had cheap laughs.

Well what do ya know, I never realized that film was also made by DreamWorks.

HTTYD is what I expected. I read the book and it was clear from the previews it was going to be NOTHING like it. I watched it, and it was pretty. Toothless is cute as can be and fun to draw, but yeah, the story was predictable and so-so.

I much prefer the books story. (which was thankfully lacking in Hiccup getting the marty-sue of dragons and girl vikings.) It's written for 10 year old boys for the most part however.

The book was lacking in cheesy romance and had more feather bombs made of gull feathers and underpants. :D

Overall I felt all the character development was rushed. Astrid took to Hiccup too fast, Toothless took to Hiccup too fast, Hiccup learned to fly an injured dragon way too fast, Hiccup became a dragon master way too fast.

On that note, I still really liked it. It was cute brain candy and an enjoyable way to spend an hour and a half.

well, that is the beauty of opinions. everyone's is different :)

i enjoyed the movie. i wasn't expecting some groundbreaking life changing film experience; i just wanted something fun and pretty and that is exactly what i got.

i also enjoyed Kung Fu Panda very much, and Avatar, so praps i'm just not deep enough to criticize this one. fine by me. i got what i came for.

Heh, I liked HTTYD but I didn't understand the hype. I think it was the story that really bugged me a bit. Something about it was just rushed. I don't care if stories are cliche. If people can pull off cliche then that's fine. But the story for HTTYD seemed rushed like they were trying to fit it into a specific amount of time and they had to cut out a lot to make the deadline.

Toothless is cute but the one thing that pisses me off about his design are his teeth. The deuce...it's like they needed a reason to name him toothless so they gave him retractable teeth instead of no teeth like he's supposed to have...*facepalm* I haven't read the books but I know that in the book he's supposed to have no teeth (as well as other differences in design...drastic differences...XD).

I will say that I like that Hiccup wasn't completely okay at the end. It sounds really bad, but every other freakin' kids movie has it so that main character gets in a brutal fight...main character gets injured in a way that would completely destroy the body of a real person but holy crap...main character's completely okay! Stuff like that always bugs me to no end so I'm happy that Hiccup was injured. Added a tiny bit of "realism". ^^;

also, i don't really see the similarities to Bug's Life aside from the basic protagonist wants to fit in premise, which is quickly dashed in Dragon but continues on with Flik in Bugs Life. that is my least favorite Pixar movie. i found it unwatchable then and hope to never have to watch it again. same thing with Antz. good lord, we should build a pyre and set that one ablaze.

Bugs Life, Monsters Inc... Two of the worst Pixar films ever. I flee when I hear someone is going to watch them.

As far as HTTYD goes, I enjoyed the movie based solely on its entertainment value. I didn't go with the mind to analyze the art or the plot production. I went to see it because a friend dragged me along and was like 'I'll pay for your ticket'. I do agree that the plot felt a little rushed in certain places, and I felt that at times, there were, not major, but key plot points left out. Certain parts of the story kind of left me wondering how we'd gotten to that point so quickly.

I don't really feel like there is a lot of hype over this movie, personally. I feel like there are a lot of fans screaming about it, but nothing more, really. Then again, I don't watch TV, so maybe I'm out of the loop. But even after the movie, when my cousin wanted to go see if she could find a Toothless plushie at WalMart, there were hardly any HTTYD products there. :/

Character design - cute, but not new. As far as Toothless looking like Stitch - I personally see it as more the artist's style than the characters actually looking similar.

Plot progression - Rushed, but it does well for being a kids movie. As unfortuneate as it is to say, this probably would have done better a few years ago. At this point, we're conditioned by newer, less kid-friendly Disney movies and the whole Shrek dynasty by Dreamworks. We're used to those studios putting out movies that appeal more to our adult tastes and senses of humor by now, and I feel like the major disappointment with HTTYD is the fact that it really is geared towards kids. I mean, it came out right around spring break so that the target audience would be available to go to the movies and rake in the money.

All in all, would I see it again, certainly. It wasn't horrible, but I never paid for it in the first place. Would I buy it, maybe. Would I watched it as obsessively as I watch The Incredibles or Star Trek, no way.

I give it a 6 out of 10, I suppose.

APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR LOTS OF TEXT. But I had a good think about this after reading your post and I didn't want it to go to waste, lol. I broke it up and used grammar though, for readability's sake. Derp.

I understand where you're coming from, but I disagree almost entirely, haha. I ain't gonna try and change your opinion or nothin', but I'll at least let you in on why I like it. C:

The characters had a refreshing sort of character arc. They didn't get a complete personality overhaul and they didn't become more awesome than they had previously been, but that makes sense. You don't just become an entirely different person because you make friends with a dragon. Mostly Hiccup just gained everyone's respect - his dad started paying attention to the words coming out of his mouth, Astrid and the gang realized that yeah, he wasn't very tough, but he was still worth getting to know and paying attention to. But it was only after he started being honest that he fully gained Astrid and his dad's respect; he was able to fool some people with lying, but the ones he really cared about weren't having any of it.

Everything I like about the movie kind of cycles around this. It was realistic in what it expected of its characters, and everyone did exactly the sort of thing that they would do in their respective situations. None of the characters were molded around personality flaws the size of the moon - they were just people, doing what people do, and by the end of the movie they were a little wiser and a little friendlier to each other because that's how people work.

That aside, I can totally see why you felt things were moving too fast. The cutting in that movie was rather odd - I decided after a bit that it was more or less following my train of thought. Eg, when Gobber was saying that dragons always go for the kill, and we think "Well wait, Toothless didn't," and then bam, cut to Hiccup off in the forest musing the same thing. It was telling us what we needed to know, I guess, but it's such an unusual way of cutting that it took a while to get used to.

As for generic plots... I can't help but notice you mentioning that you liked Kung Fu Panda (I did too, haha). Now THAT'S a generic plotline - mediocre-average-guy-with-flaws dreams of greatness and ends up saving everyone. Actually, that rather applies to HTTYD. And Lord of the Rings. And Harry Potter. And Star Wars. And so on. Everything has the same loose framework when you get right down to it, but it doesn't necessarily make for a bad story.

But I disagree that it was a complete copy of Bug's Life. The beginning is damned similar, I'll give you that, but their conflicts are resolved by taking two opposite directions; the ants learn to fight back in BL, but in HTTYD the Vikings stop fighting to resolve their conflict. It doesn't seem like much, I know, but for a resolution to be believable it has to be wound through the whole story. If HTTYD was exactly like BL, the Vikings would have killed the big-ass dragon with one of Hiccup's inventions, and driven the dragons away from their island for good; by the same token, if BL's plot was the same as HTTYD, Flik would never have gone to find the circus bugs, and would have instead befriended one of the grasshoppers and, I don't know, started a grasshopper/ant guerilla anti-dictatorship-of-Hopper hit squad or something.

And when you look at it that way... if the plots of the two movies were flip-flopped like that, neither of them would have felt right to me.

Does it HAVE to be groundbreaking?

It does if you are an animator and want to see that the companies you admire are actually pushing their way aggresively into possibly oscar winning (I'm talking best feature IN GENERAL oscar), allowing animation to finally be taken seriously as a medium of filmmaking and not just another genre for the kiddies...

In other words, yes, if you want there to be any growth or value in film in general.

If you are solely a viewer... You won't really notice too much. Only artists and film buffs will go "meh".

>:I

I'm getting pretty tired of people taking apart EVERY movie I enjoy like this, though. Everything. Not every single movie that comes out ever HAS to be THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER, hype or no hype, and everyone doing this - including my sister - makes me less likely to watch movies in general.

Bottom line is: they can't hear you. If they wanted it to be a cute movie about dragons and nothing more, then that's what it is. If they wanted it to be an astounding masterpiece that will change the genre of animation forever, then.. yeah. The only way they'll win oscars and be taken seriously is if THEY do something about it, not the masses of people picking things apart and bringing down the enjoyment level of people who watch a movie.

I watched the damn thing in 3D minus a contact and I still enjoyed it.

heheh see you are watching it the way I try to watch movies the first run. I watch it to see if I love it as a movie: in other words, whether or not I identified with it and the characters.

Then all us animation/film buff types go for our SECOND VIEWING (although this often happens at the same time as the first, I like to think of it as separate sessions), and we tear the sh** out of film until it is at its bare bones, because we love studying how it is made. We study and notice how intricately the camera leads the viewers eye around the screen, we observe how the animators (or actors in live action) moved the characters about in a believable (as opposed to realistic) action and emotion, then we disect the color theory behind each sequence, noting the shift in hues as they subtly toy with the audiences subconscious, and finally see if we can see evidence of the auteur theory, that is, that the director's voice can be heard through the film.

And we love doing that.

Because we like knowing WHY we like it, and WHY it could be better, and then we ask WHY wasn't it. Even the best films have flaws. Even movies I enjoyed incredibly have huge flaws (ie. for me, Cat's don't Dance is a movie I love personally to enjoy, but I can rip the sh** out of its story, characters, animation, etc... I still love the movie though!)

And I apologize, we don't mean to make other people not enjoy it. We just like analyzing the why and why not, and hopefully learn how to make it better. Or, as a viewer, how to avoid watching it in the first place (every ticket you buy tells a producer that you want that kind of movie made again.)

And honestly, i KNOW that there are artists at dreamworks who want to create great works. Here is a list of blogs of their employees... http://parkablogs.com/content/blogs.....-and-animators
They work hard to get into that company, and they don't do it just to make kiddy fare and make a buck. If they did, they would have been choked and throttled by someone who had more passion and wanted the job more. So I know they probably think the same thing sometimes about their work. They have to, because they have that passion. :3

Yup, pretty much. U: I mostly agree with what nsolitaire said and it's true.

We get recruiters here at my college all the time, people from all kinds of companies including Pixar, Sony, Disney, Dreamworks, etc. They all come here looking for specific things in potential students they want to hire. Amongst those things are, originality, being able to adapt to different styles well, good character design, your work ethic, and how good of a storyteller you are. They don't want to hire someone that's pretty much recycling the same thing over and over again, and that goes for story as well. When they come here, they want the best students the major has to offer.

One thing they'll do though, to test this, is assign you an animatic to do. They give everyone the same story to direct, but, they're interested in seeing out your take is on the story. Is it generic? Is it something that hasn't been done before to tell this story? They take all of that into consideration. This is why I finally understand why my concept teacher is so nitpicky and anal about story. You think I'm bad? You should listen to her talk about movies, she rips apart movies I enjoy myself. Along with the other concept teachers too. They have to be rough, and it's even better if you're rough like that as well.

So from those classes I took, it's set me up to be very critical as well, about my own work and work put out by companies. It's a good thing too, because it makes you work harder. So my outlook on movies will be kind of..critical. Doesn't mean I won't have anything good to say about it. 0: I also still accept other people's opinions on it as well, everyone's not going to enjoy the same movie.

i usually hate dreamworks films, and i actually really enjoyed this one.
as for plot/ characters, it's a kids movie. i knew that going in, so i knew not to expect dynamic plot, or unique, round characters. for its category as a children's movie, i think it was excellent. of course i had to turn off my analytical side of my brain for two hours, but it was well worth the laughs.

You gotta love Shrek though, that had a great story and character developement as well.

I guess it's each to their own. xD I liked it a ton, but I also liked The Crow so I suppose it's more of what your personal tastes are. |3;

It wasn't anything special, honestly. I think I gave it a B. I very much enjoyed the animation and character designs (totally thought of Stitch the first time I saw Toothless, tho), but I personally can't stand Hiccup's voice actor. While it definitely had the "pre-teen, wimpy kid" ring to it, his voice is so, so monotone. :| Like, annoyingly so. The voice acting for the rest of the cast wasn't quite as bad, but I do agree, the movie felt very rushed and lacked development. -shrug-

So yeah, you're not alone in thinking that it wasn't all that great, but I think I rate it a bit higher than you, haha. I'll buy it when it comes out since it was cute and I liked the dragons. :3 Just not my fav Dreamworks film ever!

I'm just glad they had Jay barouchel rather than yet another animated Shia lebouf. (can't spell their names, don't care if I did it right or not.) It will be Michael Sera's turn to be the next pathetic animated teenager. =,=

For me, it was special, but as someone in animation I may be entirely biased. The thing that got me with this film was the character acting. It really touched me in a way many other animated movies missed by a long shot. Archetypal plots are found all over the place, and no plot is unique, so I kind of roll my eyes when people dismiss a story because it's 'too much like something else.' Frankly, if you can find ANY book or movie that cannot be compared to another in storyline, I'll eat my hat.

Anyway, that's my take on it. No, the story wasn't groundbreaking, but the characters touched me and I related to them and so I enjoyed watching it. That doesn't mean everyone else has to love it, but I definitely understand where the hype is coming from.

Heh, ever read "The Screenwriter's Bible"? He mentions very specifically... (paraphrasing)
Shakespeare's plays are all copies of the classics of HIS time. If Shakespeare could steal, what makes you better than him?

Maybe... I dont know NOTHING about animation and character designs and stuff

but I really liked "Madagascar"
and I dont really even remember if it is from DreamWorks or not xD;


But I think All the movies are for entertainment. For the kids... for the family.
Not for someone who is thinking about similarities in other movies.
All of that stuff is entertainment.
And I like it.
I don't really mind if it is inspired in something else or not.


btw I LOVE the Road to el Dorado too.

Yeah, but it's important if you're going into that field. xD; My teachers told us from the very beginning to watch as many movies as possible, disect them, learn from them, learn what NOT TO DO from them. It's kind of in my nature now, it wasn't before, but now it is.

If I saw this movie a few years ago I probably would have pissed my pants over it too since I was just an average viewer, but now that I know better..well, I won't call it standards, but I just have this critical outlook on most movies now. I was even this way with Princess and the Frog, but it wasn't anything huge for me to say something about it, mainly because I was happy that Disney gave 2-D another chance.

I love The Road to El Dorado too ; ;

Well, I haven't seen the movie yet but I have to say that I was disappointed to see that they had changed the premise of the book "vikings riding dragons" to "boy and his magical macguffin". I mean to me the original idea feels much more fresh than the idea they chose, it feels that it's like the stantard plot device that practically ensures lots of drama and stuff.
I guess I can't really blame them, but yeah.

I have to say that I've been bit put off by the recent fawning over of this movie, I originally was going to see this because I like dragons and it had nice 3D and flying sequences and that was all that I expected, but now that eveyone and their mother has been saying the movie is so friggin' awesome I feel that I'm destined to be disappointed about it.

Also The Crow smells of GOFFIC BADASSERY because it INVENTED IT! >:D

Oh boy, I hope all of this won't skew your thoughts when you see the movie xD;

Lol, see, I haven't read the book and I had no idea they changed that. I mean, it's kind of obvious but how disappointing. I think that would have been more interesting, but then again..this is a movie geared towards the younger audience.

I was in your shoes as well before I saw the movie, I was so confused from all the hype, both online and from some of the Animations and Game Design majors here. They were practically going nuts over it and still are. Even to the point where they will hate you automatically if you say anything BADD about their beloved movie. I had a feeling myself I wasn't going to be too impressed either..

Haha yes, I can see it was that movie that invented it, it was just so...painful.

Aaah well I don't remember when was the last time I wasn't disappointed by a kiddie movie after hearing praise about it so at least your journal balances things a bit :D

Actually I haven't read the book either, only looked it from the internet so it's not that bad but yeah, I'd still wished that they'd gone with the original idea bit more.
But man I hate that sort of blinding hype. You should've seen when the Bayonetta game came out and one community post was about the main character design... If you even dared to say that you personally didn't like the design, you had ten people jumping to your throat because obviously not liking one tiny part of the game meant that you hated the game as a whole, and it took a whole lot of effort to convince people that no, you're not saying that the game sucks or isn't fun to play, you only said that personally the character design isn't to your tastes.

And I'm already seeing it in this journal too, you mainly said that it wasn't exactly worth the hype (is anything, really) and here people are going "this movie isn't for people like youuu who think too much".
Remember kids, in the internet you can't disagree without being a hater.

And oh if you want PAINFUL... Watch the Crow tv-series. I daaare you. It's like the movie's slightly retarded little brother who drools too much.

I LIKE TOOTHLESSSSSSSS LAWL :D the way they kinda made Dragons kinda cat-like warmed my heart to pieces :)

I'm....the complete opposite of you
I thought The Clash of the Titans was shit. The story was..stupid, it felt like everything was rushed and I'm also crazy for Greek Mythology. I hated the actors and I was so disappointed with that movie.

HTTYD however, yeah it wasn't anything WOW AMAZING BEST EVER but I really enjoyed it. Not because Toothless was kawaii or anything like that but the animation was beautiful, I got really attached to the characters and I thought the movie was well put together. Granted there are some rushed parts I felt in the movie as well but I still really loved watching it.
Now, saying that, I think it is a little over hyped with Toothless fanarts EVERYWHERE.
I agree with you that the characters in the movie didn't change, but that doesn't mean they weren't good characters. I don't think there needs to be character changes in every movie. Hiccup learned, he grew and became more confident in himself and who he was. His father learns to accept Hiccup for who he is and not to force him into something he's not, Astrid yeah okay, she liked hiccup a little too fast "OH DRAGON RIDE YAY I LIKE YOU NOW" and I think most of the character developments were with Hiccup and his father.

BUT I'm not trying to be a bitch here ): You have your own opinion. I just...hated Clash of the Titans. so much.

My favourite dreamworks film...that's hard to say. Probably Road to El Dorado. The animation was just...mmmmffff

Lol, it's alright, opposites can attract you know.

I think, this is why I liked Clash of the Titans so much, it was hilariously horrible. I remember cracking up so bad when I saw Zeus' armor. ARMOR OF THE GODS!!! I have a thing for lol bad movies and if it's just that, I'm going to love it. It was really terrible, things were rushed and the CGI made me want to overdose on tylenol or advil or something. But for some reason I just..liked it, and so much more enjoyed it then HTTYD. It's alright though because everyone has a movie they like and someone else won't like it xD; Half the movies my friends like I don't like particularly.

But yes, those are my beefs with HTTYD, also have you heard of Dragon Hunters? They're both based off the same book..but that movie was first and the style is similar, not completely similar, but very..reminiscent. That's another thing that kind of turns me off.

However though, one thing I can really appreciate about the movie is that it is different than what Dreamworks usually does and is more than likely a response to Pixar and a step towards getting their act together. I just hope they'll pull out that great storytelling they once had for their delicious 2-D movies and put it together with their 3-D movies.

Yeah I can agree with you there. I think the reason I like HTTYD so much compared to other dreamworks films is because it's different from the others, like they really focused on making a good movie, despite...the few mess ups but they tried at least. Cross our fingers that they continue to improve..

LOL Zeus' armor, I cracked up in the theatre when I saw that too, it was just...lol.

I liked HTTYD. It's not an original story or anything special but I felt it was fun and lighthearted.
Avatar, Aliens, District 9, and LOTR on the other hand I did not like. They're good, I just never want to see them again

I DON'T KNOW, I personally got away different vibe from it than a Bug's Life. I LIKED A BUG'S LIFE A LOT and I LIKED HTTYD A LOT TOO! I think in the beginning, it's very much the same idea but then they go in two very different directions. I think HTTYD is one of the stronger animated films to come out lately but rofl that's just how I feel. Toothless was a lot like Stitch but really, this doesn't stick out as a major flaw to me? It just is what it is.

I'LL BE HONEST, I felt like movies like Madagascar and Bolt and even Up were movies I could watch once and then never really need to/want to watch a second time but I want to buy HTTYD because it I DON'T KNOW IT ENTERTAINED ME, IT WAS UNIQUE AND IT MADE ME FEEL FEELINGS!!

I understand that you're critical considering you want to go into the animation industry (?) but the film is still a product they have to sell to a certain audience and even if something isn't a mind-blowing masterpiece, surely someone aiming to get in the field would still appreciate these big steps in the right direction, you know? :D

It was formulaic in a lot of ways, but the pacing was so good I didn't really stop to think about that. And the animation was a good distraction from that, too. It was only until after I had left the movie that I realized it hadn't brought very many new things to the table ...

Although I did really like how it didn't go with the "disabled people will never be happy!" trope that Avatar fell into, what with giving Jake working legs at the end and all.